Emergency...leftover eggs are peeping! UPDATE, FOUR OUT, NEW PICS!

[damselfish]

I had two guineas sitting eggs on one nest. The first three keets hatched three days ago, and the moms have now left to take care of those. At night, & part of the day through yesterday, they were still covering the nest.

OK, so today the moms seem to be totally gone, and I went to throw the eggs away, but decided to candle them as a learning experience...figuring they all must be dead or infertile. Well, most of them appear to be full of keet, and one or two were actually peeping at me!! Ack, I can't throw them out now.

So I put them back in the nest, turned a heat light on them (from far away), tossed a damp rag over them, set the thermometer down next to them, and came running in here!

Help, what should I be doing here?

I'm going back out to check temp and make sure I don't cook them, be right back...

 

[damselfish]

OK, it's about 90 degrees on the floor next to the eggs. The damp cloth on them feels cool to the touch, though.

 

[BirdMom]

If the moms aren't setting them, bring them in your house, put them in a cardboard box or styrofoam cooler and put a light with a low watt bulb a foot or two above them. Keep a thermometer in with them to check heat, (keep them around 100-102) and a dish or two of very warm water for humidity. Cover the box somewhat if you can to keep the humidity in. The light bulb should probably be only 25 watts or so. I found that higher watt bulbs made it much too hot. If you don't have a lower watt bulb, just put the light much further away so it doesn't cook them.

At a guess, if you can't cover the box, you might be successful with a warm damp cloth on them to keep them from sticking, or if you have a clean spray bottle you can fill with hot water and mist them occasionally, you could do that.

Sounds like you should have some new keets soon! Get a brooder ready. Their moms probably won't take them, and most guineas aren't the best of moms, but the babies are hilarious to watch in a brooder. We've raised a couple of batches of them in the last year and really enjoy them.

That's what I'd do (if I didn't already have a couple of good homemade incubators!) if I were in your place.

Hope you get some cutie keets soon!

 

[walkswithdog]

They need 98-100 degrees to hatch.

Stuff em in your shirt/bra and take em indoors. You need a good sized box, a desk lamp if you have it and a container about four inches across for water or sponges for humidity. You want the temp in the box right around 99-100. Some heating pads will do that but check often they can ramp up without warning. You can take hay for a nest with them or place them on a towel - it'll get messy.

90 will kill them eventually it's too cool.

 

[damselfish]

Thanks you guys I will get right on it.

I love BYC.

 

[ChickenTiff]

LOL Must have someone take pictures of you with the eggs in your bra thats for darn sure hehehehe

 

[damselfish]

OK, they're in a styrofoam cooler, on shavings, with a tupperware of water and a damp paper towel over them. Temp is about 102, I'm still fussing with the desk lamp & have just raised it up a tad.

And as of now (about an hour after I put them in...), I hear the peeping again!

I'll keep you posted...

 

[dancingbear]

102F's a little too hot, try to get it down to 100F. Good luck!

 

[sred98]

OMG! How exciting!

I can't wait to see how this turns out.

Shelly

 

[michelle1017]