How adorable!

[WestKnollAmy]

I have 20 new keets hatched out this morning. They are so cute. I usually hatch out chicks and ducks but this is the first time with Guineas. My friend brought me 5 dz and said to hatch them. I get to keep half.

Some are a purple color but most are the usual brown striped. I really do not care what color as long as they do the bug patrol here on the farm.

Sure is funny because I just had one show up at my farm a bit over a week ago and is now cooping up with my chickens at night. All these years on the farm with no Guineas and as soon as I set eggs in the 'bator one decides he can come live here. Now he will have friends. Although, I heard another Guinea calling last night back in the woods. Whatever neighbor is getting them must not realize grown ones will wander off if not keep penned or raised there.
I hope to get mine to stay close. I must have the right conditions for the one Guinea to have shown up and make himself at home.

The purples/lavenders are really cute.

 

[9farmgirl9]

Can you tell me what you did, i have tryed several times and never had a good hatch

 

[emptynester]

Quote:
yay! They are cute! I keep telling myself One day, when we get out of the neighborhood and actually on some land. My neighbors are fine with my chickens, not so sure how they would be with guineas.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Quote:
Do you hatch chicken eggs?

I hatched them along with all my other eggs. Chicken, duck and Guinea went into my big Sportsman then into the Genesis styrofoam for hatching. My Sportsman runs pretty well so I do not even have a hygrometer in it anymore, but that really is a mistake.
Actually, yesterday was supposed to be the day to put them in the hatcher and before I could get them moved over one had already hatched and fallen down to the bottom of the Sportsman. I fished it out (they are always in the far back where I can't reach well, hence the styrofoam hatcher) and moved the others into the hatcher as many were already pipping.

There are still 2 eggs to hatch from the Guineas in the Genesis and in my friend's old still air styrofoam bator the eggs haven't even started to pip but I expect that. I lost a good many when I candled those and wonder if it is the 'bator or the eggs since they were from a different person than the ones hatching now.

I use a hygrometer/thermometer from Walmart in the hatcher and in the still air. I put it down in the Sportsman when I think about it and leave it for the day. I run the temps around 99.9-100.9 and humidity bounces around between 40-50% until I put them in the hatcher about 3-4 days before hatching (depending on what else I need to set

) when I raise it to 60-65%. My humidity has dropped in the Sportsman down to 25% before I realize it and fill the 2 trays again. I have one tray on the top and one on the bottom but the one on the bottom is usually always dry and not very safe. If this keet had dropped into a bowl of water it may have died though I have a big sponge in there. I always keep sponges in the 'bators water bowls but not the hatcher.

Another thing, I never go into "lock down". I open my 'bators and hatcher constantly. Not so much the still air because it is goofy anyhow but my friend could not get anything to hatch in it and I am on my third hatch for her. Not as good as my 'bators but still better than what she was getting with them. I keep saying I will install a computer fan in it but it isn't mine and I don't have the time.

Over a year ago I decided to hatch duck eggs for the first time and did everything the "experts" old me to. My ducks developed but never hatched. I said phooey and just set them with my chicken eggs and I am getting a 90% hatch rate with mine and my friends' duck
eggs.

Not everything works the same for everyone. I had a great mentor to show me how to hatch as she hatched for me for about a year and then I took the plunge.

Good luck on getting keets to hatch!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Quote:
I asked the neighbors before I got the Guineas even though we can have any kind of poultry out here by county law. But to be a good neighbor I asked them all except one that barely likes himself. I don't care what he likes since his dogs bark all the time.
Everyone said they were fine with them or even peacocks should I choose to get any.
Good for me!

 

[PeepsCA]

BEAUTIFUL babies

Congrats on a successful hatch!

 

[9farmgirl9]

Quote:
Do you hatch chicken eggs?

I hatched them along with all my other eggs. Chicken, duck and Guinea went into my big Sportsman then into the Genesis styrofoam for hatching. My Sportsman runs pretty well so I do not even have a hygrometer in it anymore, but that really is a mistake.
Actually, yesterday was supposed to be the day to put them in the hatcher and before I could get them moved over one had already hatched and fallen down to the bottom of the Sportsman. I fished it out (they are always in the far back where I can't reach well, hence the styrofoam hatcher) and moved the others into the hatcher as many were already pipping.

There are still 2 eggs to hatch from the Guineas in the Genesis and in my friend's old still air styrofoam bator the eggs haven't even started to pip but I expect that. I lost a good many when I candled those and wonder if it is the 'bator or the eggs since they were from a different person than the ones hatching now.

I use a hygrometer/thermometer from Walmart in the hatcher and in the still air. I put it down in the Sportsman when I think about it and leave it for the day. I run the temps around 99.9-100.9 and humidity bounces around between 40-50% until I put them in the hatcher about 3-4 days before hatching (depending on what else I need to set

) when I raise it to 60-65%. My humidity has dropped in the Sportsman down to 25% before I realize it and fill the 2 trays again. I have one tray on the top and one on the bottom but the one on the bottom is usually always dry and not very safe. If this keet had dropped into a bowl of water it may have died though I have a big sponge in there. I always keep sponges in the 'bators water bowls but not the hatcher.

Another thing, I never go into "lock down". I open my 'bators and hatcher constantly. Not so much the still air because it is goofy anyhow but my friend could not get anything to hatch in it and I am on my third hatch for her. Not as good as my 'bators but still better than what she was getting with them. I keep saying I will install a computer fan in it but it isn't mine and I don't have the time.

Over a year ago I decided to hatch duck eggs for the first time and did everything the "experts" old me to. My ducks developed but never hatched. I said phooey and just set them with my chicken eggs and I am getting a 90% hatch rate with mine and my friends' duck
eggs.

Not everything works the same for everyone. I had a great mentor to show me how to hatch as she hatched for me for about a year and then I took the plunge.

Good luck on getting keets to hatch!

How do you set your eggs in your bator(in egg carton, on their side), and do you turn them. And is your bator a big one that has like 3 trays?

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Quote:
My Sportsman 1202 is 3 shelves that turn automatically. I can fit 180 eggs in there at one time in the plastic trays I set eggs in (I can set more if need be but try not to). I set pointy end down and when I put them in the hatcher as you can see in the photo above I set them in cardboard trays with the bottoms cut out (for air circulation) and they hatch in that.
As the chicks hatch out I reach in and take the eggs shells out so I can keep count before they crush them and if from my own breeders then I write the rooster's name down on an index card and mark how many chicks hatch out from eggs set. That is how I record what percentages my birds lay and hatch. And those index cards follow the hatch through the brooders and the chicks get tagged with zip ties in different colors to watch as they mature.

But I have hatched the entire process from my Genesis 1588 (with an egg turner) with no problems other than duck eggs using the "experts" advice. I now hatch duck eggs right along with my chicken eggs as far as temp and humidity and get very good results. I did the Guinea eggs the same but like the duck eggs they just took longer.