Hatching guinea eggs

[Zullo]

my female guinea has been on her nest 25 days. Lately she has been returning to eat, drink and return. I really don’t know when to stop her brooding. And what to do if they do hatch or don’t hatch.
Recently I removed two eggs from the nest because there were broken eggs surrounding it.
Now I don’t even know how to handle the eggs I am incubating. I have tried candling and have little success.
I will own the fact that I am not well versed in egg hatching or guinea fowl but am trying my best to do what is right.
Any help or advice is appreciated.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

Guinea fowl eggs generally take around 26-28 days to hatch. When they do, the broody will raise them; be aware, however, that keets are easily chilled and can die from chilling, so something as seemingly innocuous as them following Mom through a dewy pasture can be dangerous for them. Keets (in my experience) also seem to find creative ways to kill themselves.

If possible, I'd keep them in a run of some sort until they're at least a couple of weeks old and better feathered before allowing the hen to take them free ranging.

As far as candling, this BYC article may be helpful. It's focused on chickens, which have a 21 day incubation period, so guinea eggs would be slightly behind where chickens eggs set the same day would be.

Additional BYC resources:
Incubating and Hatching Guinea Fowl
Introduction to Keeping Guinea Fowl

Best of luck!

 

[Zullo]

Guinea fowl eggs generally take around 26-28 days to hatch. When they do, the broody will raise them; be aware, however, that keets are easily chilled and can die from chilling, so something as seemingly innocuous as them following Mom through a dewy pasture can be dangerous for them. Keets (in my experience) also seem to find creative ways to kill themselves.

If possible, I'd keep them in a run of some sort until they're at least a couple of weeks old and better feathered before allowing the hen to take them free ranging.

As far as candling, this BYC article may be helpful. It's focused on chickens, which have a 21 day incubation period, so guinea eggs would be slightly behind where chickens eggs set the same day would be.

Additional BYC resources:
Incubating and Hatching Guinea Fowl
Introduction to Keeping Guinea Fowl

Best of luck!

Unfortunately a predator got the hen and all her eggs. All her diligence was for nothing. I still have 2 in the incubator and am keeping my fingers crossed since I am an amateur.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Unfortunately a predator got the hen and all her eggs. All her diligence was for nothing. I still have 2 in the incubator and am keeping my fingers crossed since I am an amateur.

I’m so sorry that you lost your hen and potential babies! I have guineas sitting on a nest in their coop right now. Apparently, it’s so common to lose the hens when they incubate in their outdoor nests! We had so many predators eating their eggs when I was slow to find their outdoor nests. After a bobcat ate a guinea, I penned them in a coop and run for ten days, and they finally started a nest in the coop.

 

[Zullo]

I don’t think any of the four I have left are hens. Being inexperienced we left the “mom” to her job. I guess we should have moved her to the coop. I am so sad this happened.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I don’t think any of the four I have left are hens. Being inexperienced we left the “mom” to her job. I guess we should have moved her to the coop. I am so sad this happened.

If you like having guineas, maybe you could get more and add to your flock? All male flocks are supposed to be quieter though! We have an 8 member flock that I think is too few and too female to really do well with predators, so we are adding to our flock. My goal is 15 members total with a more even sex ratio...

 

[Zullo]

Can you add to an existing flock?

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Can you add to an existing flock?

I haven’t done it yet and hope to be adding chicks from within the flock, but if you search the guineas forum about “integration” I think that there are multiple posts. People basically do the same “look don’t touch” of six week olds (or older) as they do with chickens. If your remaining guineas are all male (confirm that none make the female’s two part “buck wheat” call), they will probably be thrilled to add to their little group...

 

[Zullo]

Now it seems I have another concern. I rescued 2 eggs from my lost hen and eggs. One has hatched and one has not. Will the single keet be ok if the second egg doesn’t hatch? I am on day 30 and did the water candling. There is movement but no sound from inside the egg. I am driving myself insane trying to make this work. Is there anything I can do for this single keet? Will it survive?

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Now it seems I have another concern. I rescued 2 eggs from my lost hen and eggs. One has hatched and one has not. Will the single keet be ok if the second egg doesn’t hatch? I am on day 30 and did the water candling. There is movement but no sound from inside the egg. I am driving myself insane trying to make this work. Is there anything I can do for this single keet? Will it survive?

Wow! Well, I’m sure it will do much better if it’s sibling hatches too...