Guinea goes broody - New Pics Added

[PeepsCA]

LOL nice and cozy!

 

[zazouse]

Hope you get lots of babies.
All my guineas have communal nest, many times i find ducks,chickens and guineas sitting together, talk about a staged hatch. LOL

 

[tomingreeneco]

Went to lock up the guinea today and look what we found. The eggs have started to hatch! Will post more pics as more hatch.

 

[PeepsCA]

Awww, congrats Tom!

Can't tell for sure but that one looks like a Buff Dundotte to me!

 

[tomingreeneco]

Saw one more today (some kind of pied). She seams to be watching them pretty close and stays on the nest almost all the time. She came off it late in the day and before I could see how many have hatched her helper was on the nest. I'll try for more pics tomorrow

 

[tomingreeneco]

Well it looks like only 4 eggs will hatch. The momma guinea quit sitting and that is how many hatched. This is fine because anymore and I would have to find homes for them. Tried to get some pics today but momma is very protective and it is hard to get too close to them. Hope she stays with them on the floor tonight to keep them warm. Pics of three of them below.

 

[PeepsCA]

Congrats Tom, nice to see they CAN do it, in the right set up

Nice looking flock!

I have a broody Guinea (well 2 actually, on one nest), and I just swapped out the marked incubator duds I've kept in the nest to keep them laying there for a mix of 18 viable fertile eggs on Memorial Day. The nest is not in the best spot, but it is at least inside my fence line, and 2 Hens are sharing the brooding job, the rest of the flock hangs close. I am anxious to see how well they do. This will be the first time in 7 yrs that I've actually let a Hen or Hens raise keets... hope they can handle it. It'll be an easy way for me to replenish my free range flock if they can manage to keep the keets safe and alive.

 

[tomingreeneco]

The mom seems to be doing a good job. It got down in the 50's last night and I was worried she would roost and leave the babies unprotected. No, this morning she was in a corner of the coop laying on the babies. When I went to lock them up tonight she was back in the same corner laying on the babies again. If she can keep this up for a few weeks we will have some permanent additions to the flock.

As a side note, while all this was going on I had 10 duck eggs in the incubator. Nine have hatched so now I have 9 new ducks in the office. Should get real noisy soon.

 

[PeepsCA]

What a good momma!

I hope my Hen is as successful as yours has been!

 

[tomingreeneco]

Mom took the babies outside for the first time right before lock up. Two followed her back in the coop, but two had to be given a little help. Will try to get better pics, these were taken right before dark.