Chicken hen raising guinea keets?

[MyCozyCritters]

I have a hen who is setting on 7 guinea eggs that i bought through the mail. I am wondering if I should take the eggs right before they are due to hatch and put them in an incubator and raise them myself in a brooder...or if the hen could raise them herself, free range or in a coop away from other guineas or chickens?
And which would be the best way?
I've always hatched the eggs in an incubator and raised them, but just wondering how the hen would do with them!
Any help appreciated!

 

[R2elk]

I have a hen who is setting on 7 guinea eggs that i bought through the mail. I am wondering if I should take the eggs right before they are due to hatch and put them in an incubator and raise them myself in a brooder...or if the hen could raise them herself, free range or in a coop away from other guineas or chickens?
And which would be the best way?
I've always hatched the eggs in an incubator and raised them, but just wondering how the hen would do with them!
Any help appreciated!

When I let a chicken hen brood guinea eggs, I let her actually hatch them. The hens that I have used did so much better than I can using an incubator. Mine always hatched 100% of the viable eggs and they would all hatch on the same day instead of across three days like they do for me in the incubator.

I do recommend taking the keets as soon as they are dry and fluffy and putting them in their own brooder without the hen. I have found that allowing keets to be imprinted by a chicken removes their ability to undersyand that chickens are not guineas. When the guineas are adults especially during breeding season they revert to their instinctive ways. Other poultry do not understand guinea ways and it can cause the other poultry extreme stress.