I want to hatch 2 guinea fowl, how many eggs should i order?

[foxypoproxy]

Hi,

Eventually i want to hatch some guinea fowl for tick control as well as pets.
I want to raise them from day old keets so i can try and make them as tame as possible.
I only really want 2 keets but i know shipped eggs don't always survive, so should i just order more (how many) and if extra's hatch, just sell/giveaway the extra keets?

 

[Cherstin]

Good luck with taming them ... I've heard it can be done, but I almost wonder if they aren't easier to tame as singles. I hatched a pair a few years ago, and they were the wildest little creatures I've ever seen in the brooder. I hand-fed them, moved slowly, came from below when I'd approach with my hand, but they never settled. Maybe two just isn't the right number?

I'd be curious to know from others about the pairing, and if others have had the same issue with just having a pair. If you still want two, I'd order four to play it safe. Even if the four hatch, you can still choose your two tamest from those and give the others away. Good luck ... they are awesome-looking birds, but our remaining one ended up flying away. Crazy! Lol

 

[foxypoproxy]

Quote:
Thank you!
4 does sound like a good number of eggs to get.
hmm...i was hoping getting 2 would help in the way that we could give them special attention to tame them...but if it didn't work for you, maybe i should research it more O_O
We have waaaay to many hawks to free range them, so were going to try and merge them into the chickens coop and run (i know they should normally free range but i don't want to take the chance of losing them).
I knew someone who kept them in a coop and run and they seemed fine.

 

[Cherstin]

That might work better. They sure can fly! We lost one at just a few weeks .. I'd put them into a pen in the side yard (which is lower than the rest of the property) for some fresh air and sunshine. By mistake, as happens in Florida, it began to rain. I was inside and didn't hear the guinea keets cackling up a storm ... but a hawk did. Although I had a pallet over the pen, the hawk came down and tried to get at them thru the plastic sides, which scared the heck out of both of them, and one of them ended up drowning the other in the rainwater as they were both in a corner of the pen and the one was jumping on the dead one's body to try to get out of the pen.

It was a sad, sad day that day. They'd been standing in about an inch of water, and I guess the stronger of the two was trying to use his friend to gain height out of the rain.

The one who survived really grew into a beautiful bird. He would perch on the roof of the house, or sometimes he'd fly over the house and perch on the roof of my minivan ... always convenient when the county would drive by, considering I'm zoned residential.

I have seen videos on YouTube of them being very tame ... I just don't know what people's trick is. If you figure it out, let me know! I had purchased them for the same reason: ticks on my dogs. It definitely helped. Are you thinking in terms of colors at this point? The lavanders are awesome. Ours were just the standard brown type. They do make for terrific protection for your flock, though. I guarantee, if anything gets in your yard that isn't supposed to be there, you're going to hear about it!

 

[yinepu]

the number of eggs is really hard to pinpoint since we don't know what your incubating skills are and have no idea how the post office will treat the eggs in shipment or if the seller will package them properly..

other than that.. i have had hand tame guineas.. I think the trick is to just handle them alot!
I know they are insane birds ... but our first ones were more like noisy puppies.. later on we got some that we never handled as much and they were wild and crazy..

I did a quick google search and found this page.. haven't looked at the rest of their site so no idea about the rest of it (have no reason to since we no longer have guineas).. but some of the pics are cute!
http://www.guineafowl.com/fritsfarm/guineas/tamed/

 

[mstricer]

I don't think they are tamable, It takes them a long time to know where to sleep, I heard you have to lock them up in their coop for months and even then, they don't always go there to sleep. It probably would be easier to train them in the winter when they have to stay in. I would like to have quineas also, but I know they would just roost in the trees. In the winter, I would have a problem, due to my pines aren't mature enough to shelter them in the cold. Good Luck I would order at least 6 eggs.
Michele

 

[foxypoproxy]

Quote:
Sorry to hear about some of your bad luck with keets

Hawks are relentless around here. I just don't trust them!
My old dog use to be really good at keeping them away.
But after she died they got out of hand.
And now, are new dogs don't keep hawks away

If i had a choice, i'd like some shade of blue or lavender guinea's.
But i'll settle for any color.
I've had chronic lyme disease and co-infections for about 10+ years now and so its really important to me to get some tick control.
I'm tired of being afraid of my own yard lol!
I know my chickens will eat ticks but with guinea's its suppose to be their specialty.
Pets that eats ticks and alert you of predators, doesn't get better then that

 

[foxypoproxy]

Quote:
This would be my first time incubating.
I got advice on how to turn my fish tank into an incubator.
For chickens, i would normally let a broody silkie raise them for me.
The only reason i want to hatch guinea's myself is so i can "try" to tame them.
Are keets harder to hatch them chickens?

I will probably look somewhere in my state to find hatching eggs when i'm ready so i don't have to worry about them being damaged.

Ya, i found that website also!
Ive been trying to read as many books and online sites as possible so i'm prepared.

 

[foxypoproxy]

Quote:
I wouldn't say that they aren't tamable, because i knew someone with tame guinea's.
And there are a few people online who say they have had success taming keets.
I think they are just really hard to tame.
Might have alot to do with the individual personality of each bird, so its not going to work every time.

Ya, i know that normally you have to lock them up for a while or they will run/fly away and never come back.
I will most likely be keeping mine in a run/coop, so thats not a big concern to me.

 

[Cherstin]

I've used my incubator twice: the first time was with bantam sultans, the second was with the guineas. If I remember right, I had early hatches both times, which I attribute to the incubator ... there's really no room for human error as it controls temp, humidity, egg spin, etc.

The guineas were fast hatchers. I went to Lowe's and came home to find two had hatched, so the time from initial zip of the shell to being fully hatched must've been less than an hour. They are hardy little things, like wildcats.

Although mine were never friendly, I still enjoyed watching them "do their thing." They have big personalities, and I'd gotten so used to chickens that the guineas were a real treat to watch. They reminded me of dogs, the way sometimes if you put some strange object in the middle of the floor, your dog might be scared of it for a minute and walk around checking it out before getting close enough to sniff? That's the way the guineas were with everything in the yard if I moved it. If I happened to be sitting outside one day and moved a chair, the next time the guineas saw it, they'd be all angry that it was "in their space."

It sounds like you're doing your homework, and I wish you well with them. I really did enjoy them, and would consider having them again but possibly trying to clip their flight feathers to prevent an escape. Like someone else said, though, they were very fond of perching in the trees, which was always a cool sight.