Keets hatching soon, now what?

[rosawoodsii]

So, I wanted some guinea fowl to take care of the tick population. I couldn't find any adults, so I got eggs to incubate. A couple of days later, I found an adult pair. The hen is laying eggs in one spot now, but not setting. Eggs in the brooder are due to hatch next week. Can I put the newly hatched keets in with the adults, or will they kill the keets?

Chickens are so much easier...

 

[racuda]

Newly hatched? NO! The baby keets need warmth until they are feathered out. The adults won't take care of them, and will probably kill them. You need to brood them for at least 4 weeks.

 

[txchickie]

Quote:
They really are pretty much the same. Would you put chicks in with adult chickens? Nope.....

 

[rosawoodsii]

Actually, I've taken chicks and put them under broody hens and they've adopted them just fine. Now if she'd just go broody in the next week...

 

[robin416]

You are stuck with raising the keets. But if your girl goes broody at the right point where the keets are old enough to go in to a secure area in the coop the male might adopt them. But it takes time and timing.

Years ago I lost my female but hatched a bunch of her eggs. Once the keets were old enough to go in to the coop I put them in a cage in there. After a week or so the male kept trying to get them to come out. I started letting them in to the coop with access to the outside pen. A few days later the male was parading them all over the property. At that point they were almost two months old.

The chance of having the female adopt the keets you hatched is zero. She will kill the keets because they are not hers.

Keep repeating Guineas are not chickens. What we get away with with chickens usually does not happen with Guineas.

 

[rosawoodsii]

Quote:
So you are saying that guinea hens never adopt chicks, even if she's setting? She would absolutely know they weren't hers?

 

[robin416]

Guinea hens know when you've added an egg that is not theirs. They don't have a problem with other females laying in the nest but if you come across an errant nest and put the eggs in a girl's nest she'll shove them all out. So no, one will not accept keets hatched outside of the flock.

A female Guinea is ferocious when it comes to protecting her keets. Anything that is not hers she will attack and kill.

Guineas wild genetics are very much in play in their flock dynamics. First and foremost is survival at any cost.