Picking up Guinea eggs tomorrow for the incubator

[5 Acre Rooster]

I wasn't hoping they would lay there again. I need to mow that area so I can see if coons/possums/cats are sneaking up to the coop. 1 of the white hens has another nest somewhere she is on tonight because she was there then wasn't after dark. She did this last year and hatched a nice clutch of like 18/21. So I am fine with them moving their nest. I want them to lay more elsewhere. I can move any keets I can get I am rather sure and they are the cheapest bird to feed for me. Just like treats when everyone else wants dinner.
I had my 1st guinea natural hatch last year. From 32 live spunky keets we had 5 make winter with the mamas. They all still with us but I will brood any I can catch save a few I will let stay with them so I don't ruin all their hard efforts. I drool at the thought of those 32 keets, then kick myself for not brooding them myself. Lesson learned. For what they sell for these days, even day old from hatcheries I can't afford to buy and raise any to resell. Around here their like gold. And my 8 adults will hopefully multiply sooner or later I hope. I have a few people that want some for personal or to take to swap meets/auctions. Which is fine if I can keep a few myself and keep getting keets and eggs from them.

Glad I didn't say heck with it 3 days ago and try trade them for turkeys like I was thinking. Hopefully I can get a good market going with what I have. Not that I care either way but would be nice to see profit from my birds since thats what I always tell the wife they're for.

 

[JLeigh]

I have Turkey poults and Guinea keets hatching in my cabinet hatcher right now... it has a big huge clear door on it but I can't see much of what's going on in there and it's frustrating as heck

. It needs viewing windows on the sides! LOL.

Bummer about not being able to see all the eggs. Can you put windows on the sides?

 

[JanO]

5 Acre from what my husband is saying these days I think he wants to start selling a few eventually too. Around here I've seen them for as low as $5 per keet, up to $15. Adults for $35 a piece. For now all I want are enough to help with the bug population. I can't afford those prices, so when I was able to get 18 eggs for $15 it was well worth the effort to try to hatch them. I have 6 so far, so I can't complain.

 

[PeepsCA]

Quote: No... not without major modifications and major bucks spent on some thick pieces of acrylic, like the full clear door on my Dickey is made out of. The (wooden) sides of this hatcher have 5 or 6 sets of rails mounted to them for the hatching trays to slide into (mounted with screws). I'd probably have to have someone drill the holes in the acrylic for me, because I'm not sure I could do that without making a mess or ruining the acrylic, lol. So it would be a major expense and work to add windows to this GQF. I'll just have to suffer thru it, but whine about it a lot, lol. I could always start hatching in my 2 1588s, but that just seems way too sacrificial to me since hatching is so messy and cruel to styrofoam and those 1588s have been SO good to me over the years, lol.

 

[JanO]

Quick update on the hatch... last night 4 new chicks hatched and one today. Although the one that hatched today isn't looking too good so I don't think he'll make it. Had one other shrink wrap at zip and can't figure out why because the humidity has been up there from the beginning. Have 2 more chicks piped so hopefully they will hatch out fine. Still no more signs of keets, but not giving up yet. Some more still might hatch.

 

[PeepsCA]

Glad you had a few more hatch! Even with perfect incubator/hatcher conditions some keets just aren't strong enough to hatch... could be genetics, could be the health or diet of the flock the eggs came from, possibly too much inbreeding... who knows. It's common for have "quitters" in every hatch tho.

Good luck with your weak keet, and the other 2 pipped eggs

What day is your hatch on now? I don't give up on my remaining eggs until they go 2 days past the due date.

 

[JanO]

Glad you had a few more hatch! Even with perfect incubator/hatcher conditions some keets just aren't strong enough to hatch... could be genetics, could be the health or diet of the flock the eggs came from, possibly too much inbreeding... who knows. It's common for have "quitters" in every hatch tho.

Good luck with your weak keet, and the other 2 pipped eggs

What day is your hatch on now? I don't give up on my remaining eggs until they go 2 days past the due date.

I've had more chicks hatch, but not any more keets. They technically aren't suppose to hatch until tomorrow, so I won't be giving up on them any time soon. I'll give them till Saturday, if they haven't hatched by then I doubt that they will at all. The chicks are all from my own flock, so I know they are healthy, but the guinea eggs came from a local farm. If none of the remaining eggs hatch I'll just get another batch of eggs and try again. At least I have six healthy keets so far.

 

[PeepsCA]

Oh... sorry, I misread your post, I thought you meant more keets had hatched... I was rooting for you to be able to expand your flock significantly

If there are no pipped eggs currently you could get away with quickly candling them and checking for internal pips/movement/signs of life in the remaining eggs.

 

[5 Acre Rooster]

5 Acre from what my husband is saying these days I think he wants to start selling a few eventually too. Around here I've seen them for as low as $5 per keet, up to $15. Adults for $35 a piece. For now all I want are enough to help with the bug population. I can't afford those prices, so when I was able to get 18 eggs for $15 it was well worth the effort to try to hatch them. I have 6 so far, so I can't complain.

Yeah thats about same prices in this area. Even close hatcheries want $4.30 each and minimum order of 30 is kinda pricey. Thats for day olds. $120+ for babies that might not make much is a long shot. I was thinking grow them a few weeks til they get feathered in so they don't need heat and then post in papers/CL. I have a local contact that wants to do some egg swapping and I want some of her pure breed eggs so I can get a rooster and get another pure breed flock. I have pullets but no roosters for them.

She needs eggs, if I can get em found again to add new blood to her flock. I may be able to see if she wants to trade keets for eggs if any of those in the bator hatch. Not to set on a hatch since they were outside and had poor weather the week before but gonna keep em going til the end date no matter as long as nothing pops. But hopefully between those and the other nest SOMEWHERE I'll have a dozen or 2 to brood. Last year we had nearly 3 dz keets but lost alot.

Nice snag on the eggs too. I would look at what you get, multiple by $5 (If thats the going cost, not inclucing gas/shipping) and you total is already at $30 for what you have hatched. Keeping the 1st year is the hardest part I hear from most everyone. I only lost 1 mature bird last fall/winter. Most of what we lost was during late summer keets.
Good Luck on your remaining eggs to hatch.

 

[JanO]

Final count is 6 guineas, and 7 chicks. I turned off the bator this morning and will start up another batch in a couple weeks. Need to find more guinea eggs.









I took these pictures this morning when I put them in the big brooder that I keep in the coop. They ran around like they were saying, "I'm FREE!" I still need to add some bedding, but for now they seem to be alright exploring their new digs.