First Time Setting Guinea Eggs.....

[rgvchicks]

hello everyone, i just set 35 guinea eggs day before yesterday. this is my first time with guineas, i was told its the same temp as chicken eggs and that it takes 27-28 days of incubation. i was told they are white guineas eggs and not more than a week old, so i should be allright incubating them in my GQF cabinet. any tips are greatly appreciated.....thanks

 

[critters]

do you have any guineas already?
if not, you will fall in love with the adorable keets...
.
I have a question for you.....you said they are "white" guinea eggs....
all my eggs are shades of tan/brown...
are you sure they are guinea eggs?

does anyone else get white guinea eggs??
maybe I am wrong.....surely someone that knows their stuff
will chime in...

anyway, enjoy and congrats on the eggs!

 

[rgvchicks]

do you have any guineas already?
if not, you will fall in love with the adorable keets...
.
I have a question for you.....you said they are "white" guinea eggs....
all my eggs are shades of tan/brown...
are you sure they are guinea eggs?

does anyone else get white guinea eggs??
maybe I am wrong.....surely someone that knows their stuff
will chime in...

anyway, enjoy and congrats on the eggs!

hello. no i dont have any guineas, this is my first time attempting to hatch. a friend of mine was in uvalde, tx and saw a sign of Fresh Guinea Eggs For Eating and Hatching so he stopped and got me 35 eggs. Regarding the eggs, they are like you said, a shaded tan color. the stock he got them from were white guineas according to my friend....anyway, everything incubating the guineas is more or less the same as chickens....right? except for the number of days.....am i correct regarding the temp and humidity?

 

[JanO]

Guinea eggs are much more forgiving than chicken eggs in my opinion. I keep my humidity a bit higher, like 55% during incubation and 60% at lockdown. When they start to hatch the humidity will jump so keep an eye on that when the time comes. Other than that I think it's pretty much the same except for time. Mine hatched at 25 days, so even that's not set in stone.

 

[JLeigh]

Lockdown humidity is better at 65 - 70% in my experience. I've had the humidity at 75% and the hatches did well. My last hatch began hatching on day 24 - 26. And I agree with JanO, guinea eggs are a lot more forgiving of temp/humidity variances than chicken eggs.

When candling, look for slanted air sacs and internal pips on day 23, 24, 25. If you see any internal pips, put them into lockdown. If you don't see those signs early on day 26, go ahead and put them into lockdown anyway. Bump the humidity up in lockdown. Have everything ready to go on day 23 or 24.

BUT, PeepsCA is the one to listen to. She's hatched hundreds of keets and I consider her the one to follow.

Here's what I believe in though - backup thermometers and hygrometers. I have 2 Genesis 1588 incubators - both only a year old - and both have different temp and humidity readings. After a very bad hatch, I did a hygrometer calibration (again at Peeps' suggestion and instruction) and everything was off by a few degrees and more than a few percentages. So if you can't buy really accurate ($$$) backup thermometers and hygrometers, do the calibration test and make adjustments. Calibration test info can be found on the internet. It's easy.

I wondered why my hatches were better at 80% humidity, and now I know the reason - my electronic "can't fail" readings were high. The actual humidity was just right. When I had the 'bator readings right where they should be, my hatches suffered. Does that make sense?

...need....more....coffee.....

 

[rgvchicks]

Thanks JanO and JLeigh for your info. Like I said before, i been hatchng chicks for awhile and been pretty good at it but this is the first time with Guineas so I'm a little nervous. I use a GQF 1202 cabinet and been hatching chicks and quails I have a wet bulb at 80% and temp at 99 for them and its been working perfect. On lockdown i semi close the upper and lower vent when i see the first hatch and bring the humidity up to 90% until most of the chicks have hatched then I once again open the vents halfway to bring the humidity down and let more fresh air come in to dry. Now my concern is this. Will my Guinea eggs do well at this conditions?

 

[PeepsCA]

I'm not sure how the keets will do with the vents being closed up some for the hatch, they really need that fresh air coming into the hatcher, but also higher humidity at the same time... IMO you are better off opening the vents more during the hatch, and adding additional humidity/moisture with wet sponges or additional water pans etc. You can also mist the eggs a few times a day with a fine mist spray bottle.

 

[rgvchicks]

I'm not sure how the keets will do with the vents being closed up some for the hatch, they really need that fresh air coming into the hatcher, but also higher humidity at the same time... IMO you are better off opening the vents more during the hatch, and adding additional humidity/moisture with wet sponges or additional water pans etc. You can also mist the eggs a few times a day with a fine mist spray bottle.

Thanks PeepsCa for your info regarding the humidity and fresh air at the same time........if i add the sponges to the water pan while having the vents halfway open like i have them for humidity at 80% will them sponges be good enough to bring the humidity up?.........i've also heard on other threads that its not safe spraying the eggs while lockdown???......

 

[PeepsCA]

I can't say for sure if just adding sponges will do the trick... depends a lot on your ambient RH. That may do the trick, you may need to add another pan of water. Here the RH is always very low, you'd get a kick out of how many pans of water (and the size of them) that I have to use for my hatches, lol.

I have always misted my Guinea eggs during hatch, and even sometimes during incubation with no ill effects... and so far my Turkey, Peafowl and Silkie/Showgirl eggs have all done fine with it too (I am hatching in an older GQF, not sure of the model or age). In the instructions for my new Dickey incubator it is recommended to mist the hatching eggs every few hours during the hatch tho (when you hatch in the hatching tray at the bottom of the cabinet... which I do not do, too messy). But be sure to just mist the eggs, don't soak them. If you are only setting clean eggs there shouldn't be a huge bacterial infection threat. I would not mist poopy or dirty eggs if that's what you're setting tho.

 

[rgvchicks]

hi everyone......one more newbie question.......do you candle the guinea eggs the same as chicken eggs, i mean when is the first day you can candle the eggs?........thanks