Picking up Guinea eggs tomorrow for the incubator

[PeepsCA]

Congrats to both of you girls with the Guinea lovin' Hubbies! Good luck with your hatches... I expect updates and pics!

 

[Danisclan]

Ok, on the 23 rd we put our first 38 guinea eggs in the incubator. Out of the 38 only 18 have babies in them. They are doing fine, we candle every couple days. I know they cook for about 26-28 days but am unsure how long they were in the nest. Theres not much room left in the shells. Am curious when yo put them in lock down, i know yoh look for slanted air sacks and peeps into the sac but am affraid i wont see it. Also the other problem is on the 1 st we found another nest with 25 and put them in also. And checked last night and they all are veining but 4 are questioable. I am wondering when I should seperate group 1 from group 2? I have someone who is going to let me use her bator untill our new one comes in the mail. We just found another nest last night and and want to put them in the bator too. So am wondering when I should seperate the 2 groups for lock down and what humidity goes up too and if I can continue to stagger hatches like this? We are hooked since we seen the life growing and want them all to make it! A

 

[PeepsCA]

I'd separate the batches when you put the 1st batch of eggs into lock-down, or sooner if you have the 2nd 'bator set up and get it stabilized. The newer batch of developing eggs really shouldn't have the high humidity the hatching eggs need for lock-down tho (which should be at least 70% for hatching vs the 45-50% needed for incubation), there's a chance you can drown the embryos (some argue this, but I don't ever risk it if I do not have to).

If I counted right, May 18th should be your scheduled lock-down day for the first batch of eggs (but it may need to be a day sooner since some of the eggs might have started developing a little bit while still in the nest). If you miss the air cells slanting or any internal pipping on the first batch of eggs, it won't hurt to keep turning them and keep them at moderate humidity until you actually see external pipping in an egg or 2 (I've done that quite a few times). You may get a couple external pips a day or 2 before the 18th... I always try to candle my eggs at day 23 to get an idea of where the air cells are/what's goin on. You may have a few early keets hatching a couple days before the rest, so don't panic if you get 3 keets that hatch right away and then nothing else happens for a few days.

If you have the use of the 2nd 'bator for a couple months or so then I'd keep loadin' that puppy up as you find fresh clutches of eggs, lol. Just mark each batch of eggs well so you know which batch is which, and when each of the different batches are due for lock down and just keep it going (and be sure to keep REALLY GOOD notes, lol). I've done this rotational incubating/separate hatcher routine every hatching season for years (and I'm still doing it, lol). The only draw back to continually incubating like this is that eventually you will need to pull all the eggs out, (keep them warm... I use a warm semi-moist towel from the dryer) and then do a quick but thorough disinfecting and drying of the incubator and turner, then put the eggs back in and get it stabilized again. Oh and be sure to set your batches of eggs at least 4-5 days apart so you give the eggs plenty of time to hatch and you have time to sterilize and stabilize the hatcher for the next batch that's due to hatch. Or you will end up scrambling last minute. Been there done that with overlapping hatches, so now I limit myself to weekly settings only, lol.

HTH, and good luck!

 

[JanO]

Well, tonight is lockdown! Not really counting on a big hatch since I've struggled with humidity the last few days, but will give them time and see what happens.

 

[JLeigh]

Good luck JanO. Those eggs might surprise you. How many did you put in lockdown? Keep us posted.

 

[5 Acre Rooster]

GL on the hatches all. I never had luck incubating guineas, found it easier (And better surprise) if the hens just hide and brood their own. Had 32 keets come out of nowhere last year. But this year I will be brooding them since the mothers had issues and we lost alot in that process.
Hopefully I have another good setting year and can have more than we have and I can sell a few here and there. They go for MINIMUM $20/ea for semi-adult birds around me. Trios in the local paper sell for $105 thats 35 a piece. Glad I got mine at an auction when people we not paying attention for $4 each and they were adults. After my 2 pairs they jumped to $25 each.

Again GL all.

 

[JanO]

I've got 18 guinea eggs and 11 chicken eggs due to hatch this week. I'll be happy if a few hatch after all the issues I've had.

Guinea keets sell for $5.+ here, so I'm really hoping that at least half of them hatch. If not I'll have to break down and just buy some. Haven't seen any at the auction yet, but I'm sure they will be there in a few weeks.

Guineas seem to be great at hatching, but lousy at raising their keets. I guess they are too scatter brained and just don't have that protective instinct that chickens have. If I ever have any hatch I'll definitely put them in the brooder.

 

[JanO]

I'VE GOT KEETS!!!! According to the calendar they shouldn't hatch until Wed., but they obviously don't read the calendar. Out of 18 eggs, so far 6 have hatched and another one looks like it's piped! Also one chicken egg has piped, but it doesn't look like the other 10 have done anything yet. I locked them down about 4:00 this afternoon and by 7:30 they were hatching! I'll leave them alone for now and move them either late tomorrow or Tues., and wait for the others. I know I shouldn't touch any of them until I know that the entire hatch is finished, but since they hatched so early I'm afraid I'll lose them if I wait any longer. Any thoughts?

 

[PeepsCA]

They can go 24-48 hrs in the hatcher w/o food and water just fine (think about how day-old keets and chicks etc do fine being shipped w/o food and water... they've just absorbed the remnants of the yolk that will sustain them)...they won't like it tho, lol and may get rowdy and loud in there. You can drape a warm, wet towel (hot from the dryer) over the incubator to help hold in heat and humidity when you decide to (quickly) pull out the fluffed, dried keets. I'd wait until you have quite a few that are fluffed and dried to pull out at once tho, otherwise if you open up the incubator too often during the lock-down you can risk losing the unhatched keets. I'd leave all of the wet keets in there tho until they are dry, they need the humidity while they get their feet, legs and coordination working.

Congrats, now we need pics!

 

[JanO]

Thanks Peeps. I'm going to leave them alone for now. They are still drying and to be honest I don't even have the brooder ready because I didn't expect them until Wednesday at the earliest. I'll have to get it set up for them tomorrow, first thing. When I take them out I'll use the towel trick because I don't want to lose any if I can help it. Some can still wait until 28 days even though these hatched early. I'm just so stunned that they are hatching this early to begin with! Wow, what a surprise!.