Baby Guinea trying to survive

[Helpless owner]

I need some help. after many attempts of incubating guinea eggs, I have been unsuccessful. long story short. I have a baby guinea who hatched on time but needed help piping. all other eggs died. Baby guinea appeared to lack vitamin e so I added a capsule to his water. He is still in incubator and it has been 48 hours. we plan to move him in his brooder tomorrow. he needs assistance drinking the water. for instance, I tapped his beak in some vitamin water so he would know where to drink from and checked on him 8 hours later and he didn't drink any. so I tapped his beak in the water again and he drank like crazy. I also added a few game starter food crumbs in the incubator on a paper towel. he will not eat it and I even softened it and he still wont eat it. he is slightly small and I am not sure what else to do.


here is the background. all my other guinea eggs will go to 28 days and not hatch out but look fully developed. they die just before hatching out. however this guinea started to pip and stopped. didn't make any more progress within 24 hours so I thought my last shot is to at least help it since every other egg died on me. I peeled the shell half off and the baby guinea was alive and it started to bleed. so I stopped helping him. he then lay in his shell for about 12 more hours still breathing. finally he came out and at first he kept walking on his elbows. now he is half walking on his elbows half feet. he is doing better but just wont eat. I feel he was lacking something and needed some extra TLC. I have been helping him the best I can but this is our last one and I don't want him to die on me. what else can I give him to make him eat? im clueless.

 

[redsoxs]

Welcome to BYC - sorry you are having some struggles. I am a rookie hatcher so I'd advise posting in the link below...some knowledgeable folks hang out on that thread. Good luck to you!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/5/incubating-hatching-eggs

 

[PeepsCA]

There's are a ton of factors that could be affecting your failed hatches... how were the eggs handled and stored prior to incubation, how old were they before you set them, were the temp and humidity correct and stable during the entire incubation without any fluctuations, were the eggs turned enough during incubation, were the parent birds healthy and on an adequate diet for the breeding/laying season, was there too much inbreeding in the flock etc etc... it's sometimes impossible to narrow it down. Guinea eggs in general are very easy to hatch tho.

Dipping the beak of weak keets in water with vitamins and electrolytes in it can help build up their strength, but I like to leave weak keets in the incubator until they are completely up on their feet. The temp, humidity and traction of the wire incubator floor are all helping the keets at this stage. IMO/IME if a keet is not healthy/strong enough to get up and around in the incubator, it's not ready for the brooder yet... and unfortunately sometimes there are keets that just fail to thrive, for unknown reasons. A hard hatch takes a lot out of a keet (especially one where they lose some blood), and sometimes they just don't pull thru now matter how much we try to help them.

Hope your little guy pulled thru and is eating, drinking and moving around fine by now. If it's not eating yet and still is not drinking be sure to keep dipping it's beak on and off thru the day and you could try tapping the starter feed with your finger, or sprinkling some of the starter feed right in front of the keet to stimulate it to eat it.

I'd do a serious double check on all of the factors that could be causing your unsuccessful hatches, and hopefully next time you won't have any issues. Best of luck.

 

[Helpless owner]

Thanks! He has been drinking great still when I dip his head. No progress within the last 24 hours. The heat stayed at 99 degrees. Humidity may be a big factor because I cannot tell what it is. I just keep the water filled where you are supposed to put the water. I guess I need to get a hydrometer. I moved the baby guinea to its brooder today so I could clean out the incubator as he kept pooping in it. I have softened the food with his water and he still wont eat it. im thinking he may not make it but im still hopeful. he is still having a hard time walking completely on his feet alone. I will move him back to the incubator once I get the temp back up. Thanks for all your help.