Day 24

[melroseladi]

Today is day 24 since Sophia started setting on her eggs full time. Since I haven't been able to candle any of the eggs I have no clue if they are viable or not BUT I am hoping that she will becoming a momma soon. I am getting very excited as are my grandchildren. I went out yesterday in search of a resource for medicated game bird starter and after going several places I found a feed store that carries it and isn't to far from where I live. Sophia only came off of the nest once yesterday, last evening, she ate, drank and went right back on the nest. I noticed yesterday that the males are "blocking" the entrance to her dogloo when I go into the pen now. Maybe they know hatching time is getting close.

Keep ya'lls fingers crossed that we will have some baby keets soon.

 

[TarheelBirdy]

Good luck! How exciting! Do you plan on putting the keets in a brooder?

 

[melroseladi]

Quote:
Thank you. I am not sure yet. I have her in a heavy duty chain link dog run. I just finished putting netting on the walls this morning and will put netting on the roof this afternoon, when it cools down some. I think I will see how she does with them and take it from there. Definitely no free ranging for them when they are little though.

 

[PeepsCA]

Hope all goes well for you ladi, after all they put you thru the least they can do is give you a nice healthy batch of fluffy keets for all of your fretting!
You may want to lock the males out, they can sometimes get stupid and kill the keets. Hopefully they are just one big happy family tho

Good luck!

 

[melroseladi]

Quote:
Thanks PeepsCA, couldn't have gotten this far with them had it not been for you and the others advice and guidance. Will it be okay to leave the other hen in with her?

 

[PeepsCA]

It's possible the other Hen will play the role of the nanny Hen and help coddle, teach and round up the keets right along with the Momma Hen, (the males can even take on this role too), but you may want to sit and watch everybody after they all hatch. Sometimes things can go perfectly smooth, sometimes all it takes in one Guinea to snap and you'll end up with a bunch of dead keets, real fast. Sometimes even the Momma Hen can go bonkers and wipe out all her keets. Don't mean to scare ya, just be sure to prepared for anything that might happen.

 

[melroseladi]

Quote:
LOL, well one thing I have learned when it comes to guineas is to be prepared for anything, if that's even possible with guineas. I still have the divider gate in the run so I can easily get any of them to that side if they should not act nicely towards the keets. Since I am home most of the time I able to keep a close eye on them.

I was able to candle one egg just a minute ago, one from the center. I only had a flashlight but I couldn't seen anything other than the fat end which was translucent but the rest of the egg was very dark I couldn't see any light coming through it at all, other than the fat end.

I had her locked on the other side of the run hoping I could candle all of them but she was having a fit so I put the egg back, let her back in. She looked around the dogloo to make sure nothing was in there, then climbed back onto the nest and fluffed all out over the eggs.

 

[PeepsCA]

LOL, well at least it wasn't a clear egg you picked up.

Hope the hatch goes well, sounds like she is a very determined broody Momma, so I bet you get lots of keets. (LOL @ her giving you h*ll and you giving in and letting her back in -- that's just a teeny sample of how she's going to act once they hatch). Oh well you tried, lol.

 

[melroseladi]

Update day 27

I went out to release a wildbird from the netting on the dog run and heard some tiny peeping. I went into the run and lo and behold there was a baby keet, out of the nest but still in the dogloo. I put it back in the nest and it ran under Sophia. I am sooooo excited, to even have 1 baby is such a thrill. Sophia is still setting and boy she made some growls at me when I put her baby back in the nest. The baby I saw was all fluffed and dried and very steady on it's feet.

 

[PeepsCA]

She's probably sitting on more hatched dry keets!

Congrats