After several tries, two broody guineas finally hatched eggs in their coop nest. There were two viable eggs, but one was dead in the shell. They did ok at first, protecting the keet from me, showing it food, and staying in a run apart from the rest of the flock. Keet was 5 days old yesterday when they abandoned it. One went to roost instead of hanging out in the nest with the keet two nights ago, and both went to roost last night. I got them down and they looked at the peeping keet, but still flew back up to roost. That keet has tried so hard to keep up with these crazy moms; I’m so very sad for it! It’s now in a brooder box all alone with a mirror and stuffed animal that it’s ignoring, peeping it’s head off for the moms, who are happily foraging with the flock and not calling for a lost keet. A single guine egg in my incubator looks like it will hatch in about a week, so it’s going to take awhile to get it a friend. So my question is: under what conditions do guineas successfully care for keets? I know they didn’t free range with them well. But do they often abandon them? Is one keet too few to stimulate their mothering instinct? Or was it the lack of males, as I only have one male with a largish harem? The other adults didn’t attack the keet, but they also ignored it and didn’t make much of a fuss over it... Any insight from people who’ve successfully brooded keets with guinea hens appreciated...
