Guinea keets just hatched - need advice - First time raising from eggs

[keeturpawsoff]

Hi All,

My polish hen went broody, so I stuck some guinea eggs under her to keep her happy. We don't have any roosters, but we do have male gunieas so I knew the guinea eggs could be fertile. Well she has been sitting on 13 of them for quite some time. I wasn't really organized with this and didn't date the eggs or anything (lesson learned) and when I went down there to feed the birds this afternoon, there were 3 guinea keets running around in the nesting box. I've raised day old keets before, but never with a hen....this is my first flock. What do I need to do now? Do i need to move the hen and the keets into the basement like I would if I was raising day old keets? Since all the chickens and guineas share a coop/run area, are they in danger from the larger hens? I'm assuming the keets probably aren't safe around the male guineas....
Right now I have the hen and the keets locked inside the coop. There are 2 other hens in there, but all the others are roaming in the yard.
Any fast advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance for your time!

 

[R2elk]

Hi All,

My polish hen went broody, so I stuck some guinea eggs under her to keep her happy. We don't have any roosters, but we do have male guineas so I knew the guinea eggs could be fertile. Well she has been sitting on 13 of them for quite some time. I wasn't really organized with this and didn't date the eggs or anything (lesson learned) and when I went down there to feed the birds this afternoon, there were 3 guinea keets running around in the nesting box. I've raised day old keets before, but never with a hen....this is my first flock. What do I need to do now? Do i need to move the hen and the keets into the basement like I would if I was raising day old keets? Since all the chickens and guineas share a coop/run area, are they in danger from the larger hens? I'm assuming the keets probably aren't safe around the male guineas....
Right now I have the hen and the keets locked inside the coop. There are 2 other hens in there, but all the others are roaming in the yard.
Any fast advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance for your time!

Once the eggs are done hatching, I would isolate the hen and her keets away from the rest of the flock with food and water and grit. Guinea males can be a helpful part of the family or they can view the newly hatched keets as food.

My chicken hens hatched 10 of 13 and 13 of 13 guinea eggs this year. Because I was selling the keets, I took them from the hens and placed them in a brooder. I have in the past allowed a chicken to raise a keet and she did fine isolated from the rest of the flock.

 

[keeturpawsoff]

So, Since it may take a few days for all the eggs to hatch, would you leave them in the coop (other birds go in at night) or go ahead and take the nesting box (it's removable) eggs, keets, and hen and put them all in isolation? I am assuming this is the best course of action, I just didn't want to disrupt her too much if I didn't need to. She's not real fond of being messed with at the moment.

 

[R2elk]

So, Since it may take a few days for all the eggs to hatch, would you leave them in the coop (other birds go in at night) or go ahead and take the nesting box (it's removable) eggs, keets, and hen and put them all in isolation? I am assuming this is the best course of action, I just didn't want to disrupt her too much if I didn't need to. She's not real fond of being messed with at the moment.

That is an acceptable option. I didn't have that problem with mine because they all hatched on the same day. The one that hatched 10 of 13 hatched them all on day 28 but she also spent more time off the nest than the other hen. The hen that hatched 13 of 13 hatched them all on day 26 just like her mother did last year.

Good luck.

 

[amberngwin]

did anymore hatch? I had to isolate my two hens with their clutch also.