I have a guinea egg mountain

[Tad]

I have a guinea egg mountain and I just got done hatching a batch of chicks, I am wondering why not grab a full bators woorth of guinea eggs and try and hatch them...or should I just let the momma do it and work on another batch of chicken eggs?

 

[ma2babygurl13]

I think I'd take some or most of the eggs... mountain would be alot for one hen to cover, and from what I've read guineas don't make good mommas... but remember they take 28days not 21

 

[Southerngirl]

I would take 1/2 of them too. You never know with guineas, they could hatch out 2 or come around the barn one day with 30 babies!!

 

[dancingbear]

Two of my guinea hens hatches eggs this year. One hatched 17, the other, 2. The one with 17 did great for over 3 weeks, I thought they were home free. Then raccoons invaded, and she has 3 left. I trapped all the raccoons for now, but not before they got the 2 the other hen had. One of my dark Cornish hens hatched some keets, and I gave some to a friend, she lost 1, and has 4 left, who are half grown.

What's the moral of this story? It's unpredictable. If you hatch and raise some yourself, you improve the odds that there will be some to survive and grow up.

If you have a lone hen, she probably won't be able to raise them. Guineas don't parent alone like chickens, they work in teams. Even confined, lone hens have not done well raising keets. The loose ones with flock support did much better.

 

[ColbyNTX]

Get a bigger bator and hatch them all!!!!

Everysince I got a Dickey's cabinet, I have something in it all the time. I have Guineas, Texas A&M quail and BBS Ameracanas in right now.