Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[OHfarmerswife]

I have chicks!!!!!!! Yaaaay day 23 on broody #1....lots of chirping from the kennel where she is.... but she won't let me see them yet... so no pics yet. She had 12 eggs from my mixed layers, so I am curious to see who hatches!! Ummm I'll be spending lots of time in the coop today

Congrats!!!!!!

 

[stevhoff]

This must be one of the biggest threads on the board! I posted this on the raising guineas thread but am also posting here hoping I can get as many ideas/answers as possible. Thanks in advance for your replies:


My 2 guinea hens have started laying-2 eggs/day and I think I lucked out because just prior to the guineas laying, one of my chickens went broody. So now I'm keeping all the guinea eggs under the hen. Now I've read that once a clutch of eggs are laid by a guinea, she will go broody and set on them, but my question is doesn't the prolonged cold period the eggs go through prior to the hen setting cause the eggs to go bad? Also I would imagine my eggs won't hatch all at once,so while one or 2 hatch, does the hen leave the nest to tend to the hatchlings and ignoe the eggs remaining? Should I take a newly hatched keet and put it in a brooder box waiting for the others to hatch and keep adding to the brooder as the keets hatch or leave then all with the hen? I keep my guineas together with the chickens and they get along pretty well, would the keets know enough to follow the guinea hens around or stay with the chicken hatching them? If I keep the keets with the rest of the flock, how do I keep the chick feed from being eaten by the other birds?

I'm new to this so I have a lot of questions. Live in Paonia,CO and its still getting subfreezing here at night. My first guinea egg was laid on Easter Sunday so I'm looking at first hatch I guess around April 27-29. The guineas are laying on the floor of the chicken coop, wondering if I should leave eggs there and let one of the guinea hens start sitting on them when she feels ready.

I bought 1 male and 2 female guineas from a family that was moving to the front range, they told me last year that only one hen laid and they lost all they hatched. I want to raise the keets for sale and eating and at the rate they're laying now, I think I'm going to haver lots of keets! Any advice /answers are greatly appreciated.

 

[perchie.girl]

This must be one of the biggest threads on the board! I posted this on the raising guineas thread but am also posting here hoping I can get as many ideas/answers as possible. Thanks in advance for your replies:


My 2 guinea hens have started laying-2 eggs/day and I think I lucked out because just prior to the guineas laying, one of my chickens went broody. So now I'm keeping all the guinea eggs under the hen. Now I've read that once a clutch of eggs are laid by a guinea, she will go broody and set on them, but my question is doesn't the prolonged cold period the eggs go through prior to the hen setting cause the eggs to go bad? Also I would imagine my eggs won't hatch all at once,so while one or 2 hatch, does the hen leave the nest to tend to the hatchlings and ignoe the eggs remaining? Should I take a newly hatched keet and put it in a brooder box waiting for the others to hatch and keep adding to the brooder as the keets hatch or leave then all with the hen? I keep my guineas together with the chickens and they get along pretty well, would the keets know enough to follow the guinea hens around or stay with the chicken hatching them? If I keep the keets with the rest of the flock, how do I keep the chick feed from being eaten by the other birds?

I'm new to this so I have a lot of questions. Live in Paonia,CO and its still getting subfreezing here at night. My first guinea egg was laid on Easter Sunday so I'm looking at first hatch I guess around April 27-29. The guineas are laying on the floor of the chicken coop, wondering if I should leave eggs there and let one of the guinea hens start sitting on them when she feels ready.

I bought 1 male and 2 female guineas from a family that was moving to the front range, they told me last year that only one hen laid and they lost all they hatched. I want to raise the keets for sale and eating and at the rate they're laying now, I think I'm going to haver lots of keets! Any advice /answers are greatly appreciated.

LOL.... Welcome to the world of guineas. Take the eggs and gather them someplace cool not cold till you have enough to put under the hen Guinea eggs are tough but smaller than chicken eggs so you could probably put about ten under a Large Fowl hen. Chock the ones up that the hen is already sitting on as a learning experience. When you get enough guinea eggs to put under the hen then swap them out for the ones she is already sitting on. Now you have a full clutch that will hatch out at about the same time.

Now you can let your hen do the job of hatching and raising the guinea keets. She will stay on the nest even when the Keets hatch for a good three days without leaving to make sure all the eggs that are going to hatch will hatch. The babies dont need to eat or drink for three days they are living off the Egg yolk they absorbed while they were hatching. Outside of containment for the little buggers thats all you need to do.

OH and Guinea keets require much higher protien than Chickens at least 26 percent so for them you need to buy Game bird starter. The reason they need more protien is they grow Very very quiickly. Within two weeks they will be able to roost up on the six foot high perches you have provided for your Guineas.

While Guineas will go broody on a clutch they will not do it where anyone can see them. Bottom of the coop isnt going to happen.... They are historically not very good mothers so you are blessed with a broody hen that can take on that task. Guinea hens make their nests in scrapes in the dirt usually under brush or hidden deep within a woodpile. And they will make their nest away from the house so they depend on the Cock to protect them. So once they go broody they are incredibly vulnerable to predators and most times you will loose both the clutch and the Hen.

In the wild in Namibia where many Guineas come from the whole flock will provide protection for the hen setting on a clutch. A flock can be anywhere from ten to fifty birds. Often times the Bachelor flock will move in and help out with warming and feeding chicks. So it wont be uncommon to see a male guinea with a bunch of keet feet sticking out from under him while he warms them up. Non related males too will take up that task..... But that is wild guineas who havent been domesticated and had that "rearing" gene bred out of them.

Many people here will tell you Chicken raised Guinea keets are somewhat quieter less flighty. I havent had the pleasure yet.... all mine have been incubated Bootjackers ..... little Reprobates.... I raised up about forty two years ago....

Good luck. OH and the Guinea section here is very very good. PeepsCA is an excellent source for info.

Oh and forgot to add they take 28 days to hatch not 21 like chickens... not to worry your hen cant tell time.... lol.
deb

 

[Miss Lydia]

I forgot to post the hatching of my chicks, I put 8 eggs under 2 of my bantams and 7 0f the 8 hatched. I dropped one of the eggs
one week in.

anyway they are a week old tomorrow the 11th. Mamas and chicks doing fine..




Don't ya love it when they play peek a boo?

.

 

[Johnn]

I forgot to post the hatching of my chicks, I put 8 eggs under 2 of my bantams and 7 0f the 8 hatched. I dropped one of the eggs
one week in.

anyway they are a week old tomorrow the 11th. Mamas and chicks doing fine..




Don't ya love it when they play peek a boo?

.

!

 

[stonykill]

Miss L they are adorable. Congrats!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thank Ya'll there isn't nothing more precious than watching mama and babies.

 

[Johnn]

Thank Ya'll there isn't nothing more precious than watching mama and babies.

I know!, I sat and watched mine for hours last year!

 

[OHfarmerswife]

soooo cute and great pics!

My babies are a week old today and they are too fast to get anything but blurs for pic!

 

[Johnn]

I'm glad I got the eggs under my hen on her second day of being broody because I don't think they will hatch so she might sit for another 21 days if they don't.