Getting ready to incubate more guinea eggs

[JanO]

My last batch of keets are just over a month old now and doing great. I'm amazed at how fast they have grown and how big they are in such a short time. I let them out of the brooder cage a few hours a day so they can explore the coop (24x12) and they go crazy checking things out. It'll still be another month or so before they are out of the brooder cage for good, unless they outgrow it first. Our evenings have been quite chilly lately so I feel better knowing that they have the extra warmth if they want it In the meantime letting them into the coop allows them to move around more during the daytime hours and a couple of them will even fly up to the roost or higher nesting boxes. But when the sun starts to go down they don't hesitate to go back into their cage.

I hope to put a minimum of 30 eggs in the incubator this time and hopefully at least half of them will hatch.

 

[critters]

Happy incubating!

once you start incubating guinea eggs it
seems so very hard to stop...just one more
batch.....well maybe this will be the last...
and you're hooked!!

Good luck and enjoy!

 

[PeepsCA]

LoL critters, it's not just incubating Guinea eggs that's addicting... some of us just end up addicted to hatching, period, lol. I think all the eggs I was getting from my Guineas (and hatching) was definitely a major enabling factor that turned me into a hatch-o-holic tho, lol. I have to force myself to put eggs in the fridge each week to eat. And then I have to stay distracted, go outside or go somewhere so I am not tempted to get them back out and set them

Congrats on your growing babies JanO, and best of luck with your next hatch (and your next one after that, then the next, etc etc, LOL).

 

[nailladi]

Well I am not quite there with you PeepsCA on eating them, think I am well on my way to being hatch-o-hallic, (she says as she warms up the 5th incubator) Ok, maybe already there.. Can't eat them yet, Ate 2 eggs that were double yokers but that was hard enough. I felt so guilty!! Maybe after I sell to all on my waiting lists I will slow down a bit, doubt it..

 

[PeepsCA]

LOL I felt guilty for years, couldn't eat ONE Guinea egg because I knew it could be a keet if I incubated it. But not any more... just the price of feed justifies Guinea egg consumption for me these days! (And sometimes getting 40+ eggs a day and having double layers cooking away in 4 incubators all at once helped too, lol).

 

[JanO]

LOL I think if it wasn't for the fact that I'm still buying eggs to hatch I'd have a few more incubators running. Next season, if all works out as planned, I'm going to have to invest in another incubator or two or three. I get plenty enough chicken eggs to eat and sell, so of course all those guinea eggs will just have to be incubated, right?

 

[PeepsCA]

LOL JanO, of course! Buying incubators is just as addicting as hatching is... they kinda go hand in hand, and enable each other, lol. Oh and then don't forget there's the brooder, grow-out pen and coop building that follows. It never ends once you get hooked, lol. I've been eyeballing the 10 acres that's for sale across the road from me... and envisioning several free range pastures and a bunch of new coops set up over there too... LMAO. How scary is THAT for an addiction, lol

Starting next season buying eggs should be a distant memory for you... you will be too busy egg/nest hunting and stalking your Hens so they lead you to their nests. You won't have time to think back to this season or have any time to order/buy eggs (plus you won't have any extra space in your incubator collection to set any purchased eggs!), lol.


I really do prefer eating Guinea eggs (especially free range eggs) vs chicken eggs tho (plus I only have a few Silkie Hens, no regular laying Hens for eggs anyway). They are richer and have better flavor to me, even if they are a PITA to peel!

 

[JanO]

Ahhhh yes, the daily egg hunt. My hens have recently decided that they don't like the nesting boxes in the coop and have started laying "somewhere" else. It seems that they like to do this at least once a year just to keep me guessing. Next year when I have guinea hens to track down too will be double the fun. LOL

 

[JanO]

I've got the incubator up and ready to turn on, and will pick up 30 guinea eggs later today for the next batch of keets. I know it's about a month before any hatch, but I'm excited just thinking about it. Is that crazy or what?

If all goes as planned, meaning that my incubator doesn't have any problems during the next 24 hours, I'll be setting eggs tomorrow afternoon. I'm also seriously considering investing in an egg turner this time. Turning them by hand makes me nervous. I'm always afraid that I'm going to either drop one by accident or damage them without realizing it. However my husband keeps reminding me that until I start selling keets I promised not to invest in anything more than eggs.

! I hate it when he does that!

 

[PeepsCA]

I've got the incubator up and ready to turn on, and will pick up 30 guinea eggs later today for the next batch of keets. I know it's about a month before any hatch, but I'm excited just thinking about it. Is that crazy or what?

If all goes as planned, meaning that my incubator doesn't have any problems during the next 24 hours, I'll be setting eggs tomorrow afternoon. I'm also seriously considering investing in an egg turner this time. Turning them by hand makes me nervous. I'm always afraid that I'm going to either drop one by accident or damage them without realizing it. However my husband keeps reminding me that until I start selling keets I promised not to invest in anything more than eggs.

! I hate it when he does that!

Congrats on the next 30 eggs!

Egg turners are worth their weight in gold to me... and I know a promise is a promise, but maybe you can tell your hubby that you only have to sell 10 keets or so to pay for an egg turner, and a turner might increase your hatch rate!