Picking up Guinea eggs tomorrow for the incubator

[JanO]

Well, I guess that means that the Disney Little Mermaid flashlight that my granddaughter contributed to the cause is out. I won't tell her though, she was so excited about giving it to me for the "chickies."

I'll see about picking up an LED light tomorrow when I'm in town.

Thanks for the advice. You have no idea how much I appreciate all your help.

 

[JLeigh]

With as many keets as you hatch, your flashlight is necessary - and a bargain. No wonder you can tell what's going on in an egg so soon! Seems like that thing would be able to see through walls .

 

[Danisclan]

Hello everyone!
I am in need of some help! We have been looking and looking for a guinea nest for a while and then last night we found the nest just off our property line and on the neighbors. We have been trying to decide wether or not to let mama set on eggs or not, we were worried about predators eating the mama. Well ee went out just now and the mama was off to the side of the nest and when I got closer there was a snake with an egg in its tummy so decided to bring the eggs in. The incubator is sef at hundredand two, and humidity is at fiftyfour. I never incubated guineas before so am concerned how to do it, i dont know how old the eggs are and when to put in lock down and when to candle? Any suggestions on what to do, getting ready to put eggs in now. Please let me know where to go from here please!

 

[JanO]

First of all, get they heat down to 99.5.

 

[Danisclan]

Once the heats down, hows the humidity? Not knowing how long they been out there how long before i put them in lock down? And do i candle in trn days?

 

[PeepsCA]

Hello everyone!
I am in need of some help! We have been looking and looking for a guinea nest for a while and then last night we found the nest just off our property line and on the neighbors. We have been trying to decide wether or not to let mama set on eggs or not, we were worried about predators eating the mama. Well ee went out just now and the mama was off to the side of the nest and when I got closer there was a snake with an egg in its tummy so decided to bring the eggs in. The incubator is sef at hundredand two, and humidity is at fiftyfour. I never incubated guineas before so am concerned how to do it, i dont know how old the eggs are and when to put in lock down and when to candle? Any suggestions on what to do, getting ready to put eggs in now. Please let me know where to go from here please!

Were the eggs cold, or still a little warm? Are you sure she's been on the nest, or is she still laying fresh eggs in it each day? I would candle the eggs now, to see if they have started to develop.

What kind of incubator did you put the eggs in? With a fan or without a fan to circulate the air? With a fan the temp needs to be 99.5, and without a fan the temp set at 101.5-102 will be ok, with the temp measured on top of the eggs. Humidity sounds ok, maybe a hair too high but they should do ok. They will need to be turned 3 or 5 times a day (odd number).

If they are alive and continue to develop I would stop turning them, lock them down when the air cells really go slanted, and you can see the keets have poked their beaks thru the internal membrane into the air cell (or actually pipped externally). I'd candle every few days to keep track of the development. Humidity should be raised to at least 65-70% once you lock them down, to help keets hatch.

 

[Danisclan]

She was on them all night, they were a little warm when I got them. The snake up chucked the egg he
swallowed it wasnt cracked wss thinking sbout trhing to hatch ig to see if it makes it, what do you think? Im going to go candls them now,
So dont put them in lick down until the air sack is slanted?
I judt candled the eggs and most of them are real clear and a couple have darker spots
so im not sure, there are thirty eight eggs. The incubator does not have a fan either.
So what would you do now?

 

[PeepsCA]

38 eggs... so probably more than one Hen was laying in that nest, unless the Hen went back to an older nest of abandoned eggs.

The eggs with dark spots may have been alive and developing... but if they went completely cold, they are probably dead now if the Hen did not get back on the nest. They could be dead eggs from a previous batch of abandoned eggs tho (in which case they will probably rot and possibly explode if you incubate them). The clear eggs with no development in them may hatch if you put them in your incubator, or they could be infertile eggs. If the clear eggs have large air cells tho, they may be old. You won't know until you try to incubate them and check for development tho. I'd candle every few days and check for development, and give them a quick sniff to make sure they are not rotten... you don't want to have a rotten egg explode in the incubator. That's a nasty stinky mess you do not want to deal with. Usually you will notice that the whole incubator has a stench to it when you open it up if there is a rotten egg in the mix tho. I would not set the egg the snake puked up... it's probably covered with bacteria that could be spread to the other eggs.

If you get lucky and the eggs do start to develop then I'd wait until you have slanted air cells and internal pips before you lock them down... or even wait until you have a couple pip externally.

This is just what I'd do, if I wanted to try and hatch some keets, maybe others will chime in.

 

[JanO]

Well, I got up this morning and my husband put my chicken eggs in with the guineas. I wasn't planning on putting them in until tonight, but oh well. I guess a few hours won't make that much of a difference. Was going to candle the guinea eggs tonight, before the chicken eggs went in, but decided to wait until Sat. now. I want to give the chicken eggs a good start without opening up the lid for anything other than turning so I think the extra 3 days would be beneficial in the long run. Temp and humidity seem to be holding well, so we'll find out for sure in about 3 weeks if I'm doing this right. I sure hope so. All this anxiety over eggs is driving me crazy! But it sure is fun!

 

[Danisclan]

[COLOR=4B0082]38 eggs... so probably more than one Hen was laying in that nest, unless the Hen went back to an older nest of abandoned eggs.[/COLOR] [COLOR=4B0082]The eggs with dark spots may have been alive and developing... but if they went completely cold, they are probably dead now if the Hen did not get back on the nest. They could be dead eggs from a previous batch of abandoned eggs tho (in which case they will probably rot and possibly explode if you incubate them). The clear eggs with no development in them may hatch if you put them in your incubator, or they could be infertile eggs. If the clear eggs have large air cells tho, they may be old. [/COLOR]You won't know until you try to incubate them and check for development tho. I'd candle every few days and check for development, and give them a quick sniff to make sure they are not rotten... you don't want to have a rotten egg explode in the incubator. That's a nasty stinky mess you do not want to deal with. Usually you will notice that the whole incubator has a stench to it when you open it up if there is a rotten egg in the mix tho. I would not set the egg the snake puked up... it's probably covered with bacteria that could be spread to the other eggs. [COLOR=4B0082]If you get lucky and the eggs do start to develop then I'd wait until you have slanted air cells and internal pips before you lock them down... or even wait until you have a couple pip externally.[/COLOR] [COLOR=4B0082]This is just what I'd do, if I wanted to try and hatch some keets, maybe others will chime in.[/COLOR]

Ok so iwill take the ones with darker spots out, I so badly want them to hatch, we have a total of 6 hens so am assuming that they are all laying there. I will candle them every couple days. My hubby wants yo candle every couple hours! I don't Know whos morr excited! I also have 7 males so am assuming they are fertile, in fact the hens will sqaut dowm for my husband as he rubs their backs and then they shake like they just got mated! Lol! We love them and are so friendly, they will sit on our legs when we are under the vehicles working on them. I hope these ones make it