Need info on keets with adult guineas and hens

[R2elk]

Okay, then I guess I'm back to the broody hens no matter what. I don't know how many eggs a hen can handle but I will have to split them up between my most enthused wanna-be moms (unless hens can handle 6 apiece). Maybe if I send them out with the hens when the moms think it is safe to do so, the guineas might eventually incorporate the keets into their very tiny group.

It depends on the size of your hens. I used to put a dozen guinea eggs under my Brahma/Cornish hen. If all 12 were fertile, she would hatch all 12 on day 26.

 

[minaayindra]

It depends on the size of your hens. I used to put a dozen guinea eggs under my Brahma/Cornish hen. If all 12 were fertile, she would hatch all 12 on day 26.

My largest hens are the Barred Rocks (could care less about sitting on eggs), Golden Lace Wyandottes who feel much the same, Black Copper Marans who completely lack any maternal instincts- well, you get the gist. I have only 3 who desperately want to hatch eggs. The one has already raised guineas, she lives with the rooster, and she isn't very big but fiesty. I have another Super Blue Egg Layer who holds her own quite well and she is a little bigger but still #2 in position, and a Naked Neck who gives it her best but I don't think she is very high up the pecking order pole. The funny thing is how almost all of the hens in the coop try to sit on the eggs whenever one gets off of them. A poultry co-op!

 

[R2elk]

It wouldn't surprise me if they can handle 8 to 10 guinea eggs each.

 

[minaayindra]

Thanks R2- as usual, you are very helpful!

 

[minaayindra]

There are now 9 under one large black copper Marans, 5 under the hens of the coop with constantly shifting wanna-be egg-sitters, and 3 under the hen who just wants to be a mom. I believe we have exceeded 26 days now for her set and nothing has happened. I wonder when to give up and relocate ones I am more convinced are viable Into her coop?

 

[R2elk]

There are now 9 under one large black copper Marans, 5 under the hens of the coop with constantly shifting wanna-be egg-sitters, and 3 under the hen who just wants to be a mom. I believe we have exceeded 26 days now for her set and nothing has happened. I wonder when to give up and relocate ones I am more convinced are viable Into her coop?

Guinea eggs under hens may or may not hatch starting on day 26. I had two different broody chickens that would hatch guinea eggs for me. One hen would hatch all viable guinea eggs given to her on day 26. The other hen would hatch all viable guinea eggs given to her on day 28. All of the guinea eggs came from the same source so the difference in hatching time was due to the individual hens that hatched them.

 

[minaayindra]

Thanks for your response. If I had a brain in my head, I would have written down the dates I placed them under each hen, but it never occurred to me. I think I might mark the ones that are iffy and put the ones I know will hatch under her as well. That way there is a better chance she will have some that more "reliable" group of eggs. She is a mom extraordinaire' so I want to be sure the majority of the keets end up with her.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Thanks for your response. If I had a brain in my head, I would have written down the dates I placed them under each hen, but it never occurred to me. I think I might mark the ones that are iffy and put the ones I know will hatch under her as well. That way there is a better chance she will have some that more "reliable" group of eggs. She is a mom extraordinaire' so I want to be sure the majority of the keets end up with her.

Have you been able to candle the eggs?

 

[minaayindra]

I don't know how to do that correctly. I've been sick and my usual researching has suffered...

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I don't know how to do that correctly. I've been sick and my usual researching has suffered...

You don’t need a special candler. Just the light on your phone would work. If you have any fresh laid eggs or refrigerated eggs that would show you what an undeveloped egg looks like - like mostly shines through. At an advanced stage of development, most of the egg should be full of a dark mass that is the keet. It’s dark because light can’t shine through the keet. There will also be a large space on the wider end of the egg - that’s the air cell. It should be quite large if eggs are about to hatch. I’ve attached three pics - the first, orangey looking one is an undeveloped egg. The second is an egg that will hatch in a few days. The last one with the bluish light is a fully developed keet that is pushing on the membrane of the air cell and will be hatching very soon.