May Hatch-a-Long!

[yeye5]

I am still new. My first broody was in Feb. Now I have 2 more and I just bought the incubator because I got shipped eggs and received more than my little broody could handle and I didn't want to waste the eggs.

With your location Feb is very early for a broody. She must have meant business! Was it still really cold then?

 

[yeye5]

Yeah! Peafowl eggs for me!!!!! First time hatching them. I've read that done on here keep at 100 degrees and 55% humidity. Any suggestions?

That is very exciting!
How long is their gestation? I've heard the larger the bird, the longer the gestation. Is that true?

 

[yeye5]

It's day 7 for me. Started with 36 mixed eggs, and looks like 26 are dead. This really sucks. I have never had this happen before. I have hatched 100's of chicks. Just don't know what went wrong. Had a small temp spike on day 3 but really didn't think it would kill them. They all have blood rings in them from day 3 til now. I know 5 of the 10 are alive but the other 5 are to dark to see in. I give my neighbor some eggs about 2 months ago and the same thing happened to them they only hatched 2 chicks. This is my first time hatching from this group of chickens. Now I'm wondering if it's my eggs. I really don't know what could be wrong with them. They are very healthy chickens I feed them fermented feed and they free range every day. I guess this things just happen.

So sorry to hear this!
Have you hatched eggs from these same hens before with better results?

 

[jnckids]

With your location Feb is very early for a broody. She must have meant business! Was it still really cold then?

It was even though we had a warmer than average winter. The chicks hatched 3/12 & 3/13. My first broody and she was a first timer. She was about 7 months old and had only laid 11 eggs total at the time that she went broody.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Oh my. I'm sorry the guinea in the woods encountered a problem!
Did she come in with any chicks? Or did the predator get them? I'm saying a prayer plus my fingers are crossed for her and for you!
I know nothing about guinea behaviors. I have been fascinated by them ever since I lived on a farm (in Brazil) that had what seemed like 100 guineas. The birds stayed where they lived and it was awesome.
Back stateside, over the years I've bought adults then juvie guineas. They refuse to stick around. In fact my last attempt (some years back, same place I live now) I quit when I watched the pair I had bought calmly walk down the road AWAY from my property! I don't know what I was doing wrong but they refused to stick around.
How many eggs approximately does your guinea hen wait to have before she goes broody? 
Do you think she's aware of the "magic number"?
I had my most broody silkie, Mima,(in my profile pic) stack up 20+ eggs and keep them in layers in a nest without going broody. But when she's in the mood, she'll sit on a few rocks.

I never was able to find her nest. She went back to the area several times and I followed her but I think all her eggs were gone. She seemed rather distraught, especially when I locked her in the run last night. I think she wanted to go check again, but with the spot on a predator's radar I wasn't going to take that chance. The eggs were only ~10 days into development, so no babies yet. I feel bad for them though She and guinea hen #3 were both very interested in the guinea nest under the coop, and I almost thought they would try to take turns sitting on it.

I counted the other hen's eggs yesterday and there were 19 in there. Last night she slept on the nest so I suppose she is officially in mommy-to-be mode. She was not happy about not getting to leave the run with the rest of the guineas this morning, though. I think mainly she wants her mate by her side, but he left this morning. He wanted back in to be with her but I couldn't get him to come to the gate before I had to leave for work. Hopefully I will have 19 little keets running around in 4 weeks.

I don't think it's an actual magic number, per se. When I found and collected one hen's eggs last year there were over 40 in the nest and she hadn't gone broody. At the end of the laying season last year I finally let two go broody and they each had somewhere from 15-20. I think it's a combination of hormones and maybe something is triggered by the level of pressure underneath them on the nest telling them its full, maybe. I have had chickens go broody on a single egg (real or not), but not a guinea.

I did get to candle the eggs under the Brahma bantam yesterday while she was out taking a break. I really thought they would be dead because she went back to the wrong nest last week and she was off of it for at least a day. There was movement in all of them, though, so maybe they will be okay. I am pretty sure they should hatch this week. Their development looked good. I thought the air cells looked a bit big, but considering I don't know exactly what day they are on, its hard to judge accurately. I think they should hatch by Thursday, though.

 

[two j farm]

So sorry to hear this!
Have you hatched eggs from these same hens before with better results?

No this is the first time I have hatched from this hens.

 

[yeye5]

It was even though we had a warmer than average winter. The chicks hatched 3/12 & 3/13. My first broody and she was a first timer. She was about 7 months old and had only laid 11 eggs total at the time that she went broody.

That's so sweet! She just couldn't wait to be a mom!

 

[yeye5]

No this is the first time I have hatched from this hens.

Is there any chance of some weird genetic combining? I mean that since they're all healthy, could it be that the combination/s produced by the roo and hens create a problem? I'd not usually go to that thought but you had said that someone else also had troubles with their hatch of the same eggs.
I sure hope you're able to figure out and resolve whatever is going on.

 

[yeye5]

I never was able to find her nest. She went back to the area several times and I followed her but I think all her eggs were gone. She seemed rather distraught, especially when I locked her in the run last night. I think she wanted to go check again, but with the spot on a predator's radar I wasn't going to take that chance. The eggs were only ~10 days into development, so no babies yet. I feel bad for them though

She and guinea hen #3 were both very interested in the guinea nest under the coop, and I almost thought they would try to take turns sitting on it.

I counted the other hen's eggs yesterday and there were 19 in there. Last night she slept on the nest so I suppose she is officially in mommy-to-be mode. She was not happy about not getting to leave the run with the rest of the guineas this morning, though. I think mainly she wants her mate by her side, but he left this morning. He wanted back in to be with her but I couldn't get him to come to the gate before I had to leave for work. Hopefully I will have 19 little keets running around in 4 weeks.

I don't think it's an actual magic number, per se. When I found and collected one hen's eggs last year there were over 40 in the nest and she hadn't gone broody. At the end of the laying season last year I finally let two go broody and they each had somewhere from 15-20. I think it's a combination of hormones and maybe something is triggered by the level of pressure underneath them on the nest telling them its full, maybe. I have had chickens go broody on a single egg (real or not), but not a guinea.

I did get to candle the eggs under the Brahma bantam yesterday while she was out taking a break. I really thought they would be dead because she went back to the wrong nest last week and she was off of it for at least a day. There was movement in all of them, though, so maybe they will be okay. I am pretty sure they should hatch this week. Their development looked good. I thought the air cells looked a bit big, but considering I don't know exactly what day they are on, its hard to judge accurately. I think they should hatch by Thursday, though.

I feel for that guinea hen. Poor dear! At least she's back and safe...of course she does understand that but it's still a good thing.
When you let the guineas out in the morning (keeping the broody in the run) would her mate stay in the run? I mean so that he's with her all day?
Until I witnessed the role the rooster plays in the broody time I had no idea that a roo would be so involved and supportive/protective.
I had heard from several sources that I should separate the male from a broody but I gave it a try to let them stay together and I'm so glad I did.

I guess guinea hens are bigger or more able to flatten themselves over their eggs than I assumed. That's quite a lot of eggs to cover!
I'm so happy for you that the nest your hen misplaced still has growing embryos! It's truely amazing what is possible!

 

[yeye5]

So this morning I left early to run some errands, got back around noon. It was warm enough to check on the chicks (it's been unusually cool in the early a.m. here this week).
One egg was 1/2 egg and 1/2 chick! I'm really not trying to be funny.
There was a chunk knocked out around the original pip hole that was at least 1/5th of the egg's surface.
Now I understand the "shrink-wrap" phenomena. It's pretty terrible.
The little baby was stuck. Worse, the shell was being treated lie an empty shell, as if a chick had hatched from it already and it was stomped and kicked around! So much so, in fact, that the little chick had dirt all over its face, one eye open, the other eye shut (probably due to having dirt/sand kicked in its face!)
It was making the motion of peeping but very little sound came out.
I carefully inspected the membrane, which had no blood vessels in it anymore; the membrane was separated from the shell. It didn't look dark but everything else looked pretty scary.
I got the chick out of the shell, dipped my finger inn warm water and tried to get some of the dirt off its face--eyes and mouth.
Once that happened it peeped louder, whew.
I'm really worried about this one.
It still hasn't opened the other eye (thankfully one eye Is open). We can deal with that however is necessary. I had a chicken that only had eyesight in one eye and she did just fine with that.
But is there anything else I can do for the chick? I know I can sound pretty crazy and high strung sometimes...I just care and love these little people so much. If they have been placed in my life, my care, I Have to do everything I can to help.
It can breath bcs it is peeping. That is #1 in importance.
The co-moms and other chicks were not even recognizing it as another chick. I was worried it would get trampeled. On the other hand, I felt that it has the best chances in the broody nest with its siblings and moms.
I have one home made brooder that has 10 chicks that are 5 1/2 weeks old, so that's a no-go.

If anyone has ideas, or experience or anything, please say anything that you're thinking. If I need to butt out and let nature take its course...or pray that God is the one to save this chick bcs I am just a human...or anything else that anyone thinks to say, I'll be checking back frequently!
If I should post this in a different section of the forum, I'll do that.
I'm just beside myself!