Incubating Their eggs...

[Hope Hughes]

Ok so we thought one of guineas got eaten by predator.. as we were tearing some trees down we noticed it hunkered down in some bushes. Do hubby went and looked he said it was on a big pile of eggs!!
So after pulling the big tree down I went to investigate. Thought maybe it was broodyso tried to move her and the.....40!!!! Eggs she was sitting on. (I couldn't leave her out there I'd she was broody with the coon/bear problem we have been having.)
This was a HUGE shocker to us seeing how we thought we have 3 males.
Now we think(with the help of my awesome friends on here) we have 2 males and one female.
So the eggs are fertile.

Now not knowing if this is true, I have heard that guniea eggs are hard to incubate
I have tried to incubate them, but that was a long time ago and I had never incubated anything before. And they didnt take, and I know they were fertile, we got them from the breeder we bought the gunieas from. He had not collected eggs when we got there so he just gave us the eggs that were in their cages. So this nobbie was all over it.
But still nothing. None of them took

Now that I always have a Bator full I feel more confident trying.
Is there anything I need to know or that will help me?
Now we don't know if the eggs are even fertile, we have NEVER seen them mate.
So this is kinda just a test to see if they are and if they are get them going.
I know all 40 are not going to be good we will be float testing them before incubation.
Thank you in advanced!
​

 

[hmarg06]

We once found a nest of about the same size and ended up with them in the incubator. It rained really hard and momma gave up and went for shelter. The eggs were cold when we brought them in, but we though "why not?" We had at least one if not 2 huge temp spikes, and somehow one of the clear windows got knocked out of the top and the bator was way under temp for at least a day, and all but 2 hatched. We have found Guinea eggs to be tougher than chickens eggs many times.

 

[R2elk]

Ok so we thought one of guineas got eaten by predator.. as we were tearing some trees down we noticed it hunkered down in some bushes. Do hubby went and looked he said it was on a big pile of eggs!!
So after pulling the big tree down I went to investigate. Thought maybe it was broodyso tried to move her and the.....40!!!! Eggs she was sitting on. (I couldn't leave her out there I'd she was broody with the coon/bear problem we have been having.)
This was a HUGE shocker to us seeing how we thought we have 3 males.
Now we think(with the help of my awesome friends on here) we have 2 males and one female.
So the eggs are fertile.

Now not knowing if this is true, I have heard that guniea eggs are hard to incubate
I have tried to incubate them, but that was a long time ago and I had never incubated anything before. And they didnt take, and I know they were fertile, we got them from the breeder we bought the gunieas from. He had not collected eggs when we got there so he just gave us the eggs that were in their cages. So this nobbie was all over it.
But still nothing. None of them took

Now that I always have a Bator full I feel more confident trying.
Is there anything I need to know or that will help me?
Now we don't know if the eggs are even fertile, we have NEVER seen them mate.
So this is kinda just a test to see if they are and if they are get them going.
I know all 40 are not going to be good we will be float testing them before incubation.
Thank you in advanced!
​

When I was getting ready to incubate my first guinea eggs, one of the articles that I read was that guinea eggs were the easiest eggs to incubate. I have to agree.

The quickest way to find out if the guinea eggs are fertile is to sacrifice one. Break it open and check for the bulls eye or the lack of the bulls eye. Bulls eye = fertile. Of course if you open an egg that has already had development start, you will see the veins. Guinea eggs normally are thick shelled so can make it difficult to observe early development without a good strong light to candle them with.

I recommend 35% to 40% humidity during incubation and 65% to 70% humidity during lockdown. Guinea eggs are known to hatch from day 26 to 28. I move mine to lockdown on day 25 but others move them on day 24.

Good luck.

 

[Hope Hughes]

When I was getting ready to incubate my first guinea eggs, one of the articles that I read was that guinea eggs were the easiest eggs to incubate. I have to agree.

The quickest way to find out if the guinea eggs are fertile is to sacrifice one. Break it open and check for the bulls eye or the lack of the bulls eye. Bulls eye = fertile. Of course if you open an egg that has already had development start, you will see the veins. Guinea eggs normally are thick shelled so can make it difficult to observe early development without a good strong light to candle them with.

I recommend 35% to 40% humidity during incubation and 65% to 70% humidity during lockdown. Guinea eggs are known to hatch from day 26 to 28. I move mine to lockdown on day 25 but others move them on day 24.

Good luck.

Awesome thanks for the information!! I have incubated so many chickens ducks and a billion quail but never Guinea eggs so it will been an experiment for me!!
Again thank you for the information...
​

 

[Hope Hughes]

We once found a nest of about the same size and ended up with them in the incubator. It rained really hard and momma gave up and went for shelter. The eggs were cold when we brought them in, but we though "why not?" We had at least one if not 2 huge temp spikes, and somehow one of the clear windows got knocked out of the top and the bator was way under temp for at least a day, and all but 2 hatched. We have found Guinea eggs to be tougher than chickens eggs many times.

Just seeing this sorry for the delay!!
That's some craziness going on for the hatch! I'm hoping for the best!
Even just a few would be awesome!!
​

 

[hmarg06]

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

 

[lazy gardener]

How difficult are guinea eggs to candle? If you can candle a guinea egg, do so. I would absolutely not float test an egg that I wanted to hatch. Too much risk of bacteria being driven through the pores and contaminating the embryo.

If faced with this scenario, I'd get the bator up and running, then remove the eggs, candle them, and set the viable ones.

 

[Hope Hughes]

How difficult are guinea eggs to candle? If you can candle a guinea egg, do so. I would absolutely not float test an egg that I wanted to hatch. Too much risk of bacteria being driven through the pores and contaminating the embryo.

If faced with this scenario, I'd get the bator up and running, then remove the eggs, candle them, and set the viable ones.

Ok! I didnt even think about the possibility of bacteria getting in there from floating!!
Thanks!!
I may just do that, throw them all in the bator and candle a few days out and see what I have...
I have candled alot of them and there aren't any veins so I really don't think she was "sitting" on them just yet ​