I'm happy to report that of the 12 fertile eggs we had 100% hatch!
Despite dirty eggs and much stress on my part whether I intervene or not, we had a highly staggered hatch.
2 on day 24
3 on day 25
4 on day 26
1 on day 27
2 on day 29 about 30 minutes ago.
I couldn't have asked for a better...
I started with 12 fertile eggs. 5 hatched on day 24, 2 hatched on day 25, and 2 more hatched early this morning (day 26). Hatched 9 out of 12 so far.
For context, the guinea hen did not go in the coop one night, so we went and found her on a nest. She usually gives up after a week to 10 days...
I was going to use 50/50 peroxide, but realized I had only a few drops left. 😕 So I used a cotton ball, mostly plain water, and rinsed them under a tiny stream of water.
Ack! I woke up to a big surprise this morning. He's way early. I thought I had 2-4 days left (we're just starting day 24). No one else is even pipping.
I took the turner out and put him and the eggs on the mesh. Of course his egg tipped over and he climbed right out.
If no one else hatches...
UPDATE: 7 days left and ALL 12 keets are still moving in their shells! Now it's time to reread the how-to articles and get ready for hatching. So exciting!
Side note: Apparently, my guinea hen is sitting on another nest, but we haven't found it yet. She hid it really well this time and we...
UPDATE: day 8 and I candled the eggs.
12 out of 14 have significant growth. 🤞
2 are clear. ❌
And I definitely saw 5 or 6 embryos moving. 💪
So egg-citing!😁😁😁 I can't wait to have more noisy little guineas!
Buckwheat! Buckwheat!
I read the guinea hatching article and set the days and temp to match. 28 days and I think it's 100.5 or 101.5 for the temp (still air). I read 2 articles and they were 1 degree apart, so I split the difference. 🤷
Our guinea wasn't in the coop last night and we found her sitting on a nest. We put her in the coop and brought the eggs inside to potentially incubate.
We've let her sit several times and she gives up after a few days, so they don't stand much of a chance under her.
Unfortunately, it's...
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