Incubating guinea eggs.Sigh.

[MagsC]

Is there any "secret" to it? I have only incubated guinea eggs successfully ONCE.

I am trying again, have 31 eggs.
The incubator is completely disinfected. The thermometer/hygrometer has been calibrated.
I have been incubating them at 99 degrees and 60 percent humidity.
I REALLY want some keets out of this bunch so keeping my fingers crossed.
On a funnier note, I talked to my aunt a couple nights ago. The guinea keets I hatched out from chickenlittle32 are doing great and quite the characters around the farm! They eat with the ducks and ride on the goats backs and sleep with the goats in the barn!
So its going to be quite difficult for any predators.
She says they are the best birds.

 

[robin416]

Your humidity is too high. It should be closer to 45%. 60 should be reserved for the end of the hatch.

If you are using a still air incubator your temps should be 101.

 

[featherz]

I am also incubating guinea eggs (never done it before). I have a hovabator with a fan and turner and I'm keeping it at 100F/45% humidity (day 2). I hope that's correct!

 

[robin416]

Quote:
It sounds really good.

 

[Akane]

Guinea eggs are quite durable so I'm not sure why you'd have problems. The humidity does sound a little high but it depends on your climate and incubator. Some incubate great at only 30% and some run it over 50% both with equal results. If either person switches to the method of the other they get worse hatches. You have to experiment. Also helps to break open any eggs that didn't hatch. If the chicks pip the membrane and then die without pipping the shell they might have drowned from too high of humidity during hatching and water collecting in the air sac. If they don't manage to even break the membrane then things may have been too dry making the membrane too tough. That's a rough guide though since it's entirely possible for chicks to pip the membrane and then get dried to it before they break the shell. To find the correct humidity during incubation you can also go by weight of the egg. I'm not sure about the numbers for guinea eggs but chicken eggs should lose 10% of their weight and duck eggs 14% during incubation. Too little weight loss is too little moisture loss and too high of humidity. To much weight loss is from too low of humidity. Some also outline the air sac with a pencil once or twice a week to check the amount of moisture lost.

 

[MagsC]

Thanks! The only reason I have kept it at 60 percent humidity is that I was told guinea eggs needed higher humidity?
I did plan on adjusting things this time around. And yes, the incubator is a still air. I kept it at 99 as best I could because the temps always seemed to creep up a degree or two, no matter how the incubator is set.
Its quite frustrating but if I change it just a little, maybe it will help.
I turn the eggs three times a day (manually) and the incubator is in a room with a steady temperature.
So what you are saying is that incubating guinea eggs is more like incubating chicken eggs than waterfowl?

 

[Akane]

They do seem to need higher to hatch but they still need it low enough during incubation to lose moisture. I haven't done many guinea hatches yet but I'd incubate at the same humidity you do chicken eggs and then raise it 5-10% higher than you do chickens when you stop turning them for hatching.

 

[robin416]

Yes, I incubate my Guinea eggs the same way I do my chicken eggs. I've had both in the bator at the same time.

Don't ask me why I said anything about the still air temp but I did and now you know you could have two things going on to reduce your hatches.

Do you candle at all to confirm fertility or growth?

 

[MagsC]

I havent had any success candling guinea eggs because of the thickness of the shell. Though I could tell a little bit during my successful hatch. But it wasnt easy.
I do TRY to candle two or three times during the incubation process.

 

[ColbyNTX]

I have found that guineas are about the easiest eggs to hatch. My last batch hatched 34 of 36 eggs. Only 1 of the 36 was not fertile and I threw out at 2 weeks when I do my only candle. 45% durring incubation and 60% at lockdown. I even had 2 power failures thet lasted 1 to 1 1/2 hours durring that batch.