Guinea Advice

[KAZROB]

Hi, I have a Guinea fowl sitting on many eggs which are due any day now.....She has made her nest in the paddock, which is enclosed, she is relatively safe. Generally my 3 guinea go into their enclosure at night and co exist with my ducks, my chicken's have their hut near by...In the day they are let out and 'all' free range together...I have made a hood over my guinea whom is sitting and that was to give her shade and some protection if it did rain.....my questions are as follows:

Firstly I have never had baby keets before and I am hoping she will hatch a couple...She did sit on 30 plus eggs and never got one, she was a very loyal sitter and I did crack some of the eggs open and they did have babies in them, so they were fertile, just didn't stay viable She obviously is desperate to be a mother as she waited a couple of weeks and then the two hens made another clutch and I counted 40 plus! and once collected she has sat and sat and very rarely leaves the nest.

1. I will be putting them on chick starter feed. do I need to supplement with anything? Do I need to watch out for anything with baby keets?

2. Do I need to keep the keets and mum away from the other fowls such as chickens, ducks, drake and two other guinea's or can they just free range when born?

3. Is there anything I need to be aware of, I really do not know much about them, I have had them for a little while 2 hens and one male and they are well trained and very settled and run to me for food and treats and put themselves to be in their enclosure at night and then locked up and let out each morning. Of course the hen that is sitting doesn't go in at night she just stays out on her nest.

Would love to get as much information as possible from those who have guinea's...

 

[txcarl1258]

I have had guineas hatch and raise their own young before. However most are not very good at it. I only had a pair and much to my surprise the male was very involved with the keets. If she does hatch any I would leave her enclosed in the area she is at until the keets are ar least two weeks old. I fed mine purina flock raiser and they did fine.

 

[txcarl1258]

Forgot to add something. Part of the reason that her eggs may not be hatching is the sheer number of eggs she sits on. 40 eggs is a lot and she may not be able to cover them all properly. When she rotates them she may be pushing viable eggs to the outside causing them die. This could happen enough whereat of the eggs die. The next time she sets I would limit her to no more than 15. Broody chicken hens are very good at hatching guineas as well.

 

[Hotcookie]

I've had my females hatch out eggs by themselves, also.....inside their coop. The rest of the flock more of less left the baby keets alone, but I'm not sure how the chickens and ducks (especially the drake) would react to them. I always made sure that mama and babies stayed inside for 6 weeks before letting them out to free range with the rest of the flock. Not easy to do, but is necessary because they are just too young to be outside so soon. Keets are very vulnerable to pneumonia when little - rain is not their friend!!

I agree with txcarl1258.......sometimes there is just too many eggs for the mama to sit on. But I've never taken eggs away from mine (usually she'll go broody when there are 30+ eggs) and I end up with a dozen or so keets. Once they start hatching, she'll start worrying about the little ones and stop laying on the other eggs.

Good luck and post pics when they start hatching!!

 

[KAZROB]

Oh Hotcookie and txcarl1258 thank you so kindly for the advice. I too wondered if I should take some eggs away, but she is such a loyal mum that she barely leaves her nest in the paddock, and I have been reluctant to take some thinking she may get upset and abandon her nest? And yes both times she has only sat once she has collected at least 30 eggs with the help of her other female friend whom kindly adds to the collection until she sits and strangely when the one that is clucky is sitting the other doesn't lay? Both the female that is not sitting and the male visit daily to the mum on the nest, have a talk and then they are off again...Tonight for the very first time in a long time, the clucky mum was out with the others having a feast, she started sitting on the 18the Jan, so she shouldn't be too far away..

One other Question: Can I move them to a more protected area away from the others when they have hatched or best just to make some kind of enclosure where she is? She has a small roof over her head as that was to help with weather, as we in Aus have been having a heat wave and then I was concerned it may rain, which is nothing unusual for us to have all seasons in one day!

I will definitely post some pics and I am hoping to get some babies...I find it encouraging that you have had a guinea set on many eggs and still managed to get some keets, this is exciting for me so I will keep my fingers crossed. I also envision that my two other guineas will be involved too, as they are as I said always over hanging around mum checking in on her and then go on their merry way!

Once again thanks for the advice, is there anything that I will need to add to their food for supplement, I am not sure if I can get Purina Flock Raiser, but I will see if I can, other wise I can get chick starter feed, but then I wonder if I will need to supplement?

 

[txcarl1258]

Flock raiser is 20% protein. If you can find that you should be good. Even 24% protein would be fine, mom could use the extra boost from brooding.

I would keep them enclosed. If you can't enclose her where she is then see if you can gently herd her to a pen. If you try and grab a keet be ready for a fury of claws and wings!

If she gets off the nest again to feed see if you can grab some of the eggs to candle them. I would toss any clear eggs or ones that stopped developing, this will give you the best chance for a good hatch.

Don't forget the pics if you get some babies!

 

[KAZROB]

Thanks, my chick starter feed is 20% protein, so I suppose I shall stick to that! And I will see if I can candle them if I am fortunate enough to get the chance..She is due as of now, so fingers crossed and I will get some pics...

 

[R2elk]

Thanks, my chick starter feed is 20% protein, so I suppose I shall stick to that! And I will see if I can candle them if I am fortunate enough to get the chance..She is due as of now, so fingers crossed and I will get some pics...

See post #78 by PeepsCA in this thread

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/312682/raising-guinea-fowl-101/70

PeepsCA is/was the resident guinea expert but unfortunately has not posted since Oct. 2013. This forum really needs her presence and her wisdom.

She explains why guinea keets need a higher protein feed.

 

[txcarl1258]

KAZROB any babies yet?

 

[KAZROB]

Its Sunday morning here and I am just devastated, my beautiful clucky guinea fowl was found dead...I don't think I have cried so much...anyway I went to candle her eggs and I cant tell or see anything, I just don't know how to make heads or tails of any of it...... I have a broody hen, so I have placed most under her, some sounded very watery, so I discarded those...right or wrong I do not know, one keet had been born but was dead in the nest and then to my surprise I could here two peeping....what do I do? Do I just put the two peeping ones under and remove all the other eggs or do what...it is so so very sad and more sad because it was our family dog as her lock broke on her pen and she got out and so was loose in the paddock where my beautiful guinea was...I think she just died of shock, despite a few feathers missing, she was still in tact and I never heard her, as her nest was just opposite our bedroom...so so devastating and I just cant believe what has happened and she was so close to being a mum....so what do I do....as I said I don't know how to tell what is viable or not and I didn't have the heart to cull any eggs other than the watery sounding ones???