Our first guinea keets! Mama hatched out at least 15. Advice needed.

[TeamChaos]

Our first guinea mama hatched out a clutch of eggs! There are at least 15 beautiful keets w/ her and she's still sitting on a few eggs. Her nest is along a fence and we had been putting a hardware cloth- covered milk crate over her at nite, but it's going to be too cramped for the whole crew to go under. Can I move the mama and her babies to a broody box if I move it close to the nest site? How long should I give the other eggs to hatch?

 

[Fishbone]

The hen and keets are VERY vulnerable to predators.
Guinea hens are not good 'mothers', if left to free range, the keets will get lost/left behind or wet.

I would take the keets away and put them in a brooder.

The eggs are probably close to hatching, you can 'candle' them to see.
I would take them away also and try to incubate them.
Better to loose a few eggs and keep the full grown hen safe!

Congratulations!

 

[TeamChaos]

Hey, thanks! We ended up moving mama and her babies and her remaining eggs to a portable broody house yesterday afternoon. I'm glad we did because then the rain came and stayed all night!