guinea people i have a question for you

[lcw1995]

i have 9 eggs in my incubator and 6-8 guinea eggs under my broody guinea in the coop
the 9 in the incubator are due to hatch the 29th-31st and the eggs under the guinea in the coop are due to hatch i think 2-3 days after
i would like to slip the 9 in the bator under her and have her raise them all
i dont want her to hatch the 9 in the incubator and get off before the rest are due to hatch a few days later
is that something i should worry about or will she stay on for a while affter the first start to hatch
thank you
cole

 

[leonphelps]

if you want them to live, keep them in the incubator and then get the ones under her out and put them in the incubator. night temps are low, so any possible chills could easily make the ones outside not have a chance.

you will need to keep the keets warm for a few weeks until they get the second feathers. if you dont, they will not stand a chance with the nighttime temps in the 30-40 degree range where you are.

 

[lcw1995]

my coop is insulated...

 

[darkmatter]

Quote:
You have a Guinea nesting in your Coop? How did you accomplish that, mine are use for insect control, so they fly out over the chicken run fence and do bug patrol all day, then fly into the Run/coop to roost. They always make their nests out in the fields; I have to hunt them down to collect eggs for incubating. No guinea at my place has successfully raised keets from a field hatching.

 

[PeepsCA]

Normally Guineas will not stay on the nest to hatch their entire clutch... they often get off the nest after just the first few strong keets have hatched and then the Hen will go parading around with them, which leaves the rest to go cold and die. Knowing how picky and unpredictable Guinea Hens are about their nests and their privacy during brooding, adding eggs due to hatch at a later date most likely will not work, she may not like the fact that you've added eggs and abandon the nest completely.

Unless the Hen is in an enclosed sectioned off area of the coop, you run the risk of your other Guineas killing the keets, and then there is also the risk that she will lose interest in keeping the keets warm... and end up roosting with the other birds leaving the keets on the floor to get chilled and die. All it takes is a few hours of being chilled, so if she stays off them an entire night the keets are goners, even if you keep your coop heated as warm as 70 degrees. She can also trample them if she wants out of an enclosed area, and she can also go nuts for some unknown reason and decide to kill them herself. Lots of risks.

Personally I wouldn't risk it if they were my eggs... even if she does accept the other eggs and hatches them all out in your insulated coop, the chances for the keet's survival, especially this time of year are pretty slim. Keets cannot regulate their own body temp until they are 6-7 week old and fully feathered. So you might want to consider how cold it is going to be (all the way thru to December) before you decide to let her raise any keets at all.

There are always exceptions to the rules when it comes to Guineas, but I've learned from personal experiences that they are few and far between. Murphy's Law and Guineas go hand in hand (If anything can go wrong, it will). Whatever you decide to do will ultimately depend on how important it is that you get keets to hatch from these eggs, and that they survive...

Good luck!

 

[lcw1995]

the guinea was raised by a hen all her life darkmatter
she loves the coop
i have looked behind the board and even moved her too see how many eggs she has and she is still sitting tight

okay illl take this into consideration and see what happens

thank you
cole