Questions about incubating Guinea Fowl Eggs!

[R2elk]

Hi! I've been referring to this thread while working on our first incubator hatching. I started with about 19 eggs collected from one of our guinea nests on May 4th. There are also 6 peacock eggs that were added four days later.
I don't think all the guineaeggs were fertile, which I discovered after candling. So I'm down to 11 with 9 looking really good with that tipped air sac as of last night and several were moving a little at the edge of the air sac.

We have a Little Giant incubator with the added fan kit. We usually turn seven times a day. I noticed this morning that three eggs have cracks! So I'm worried about lock down. We still have to turn the peacock eggs. I can put a glass bowl over the guinea eggs with a little cup of water inside. Sound OK?

I'm also confused about humidity. We've been at 60-65 and now I just read about this 45% stuff. Seems like I should raise it from what it was for hatching?

Thanks! Can't wait for the babies!

I lock down guinea eggs routinely at 60% humidity but I do try to incubate them at 20 to 30% humidity prior to lock down. Now that the eggs are pipped make every effort to leave the incubator closed to minimize the chance of shrink wrapping.

Good luck with your hatch..

 

[Guineaqueen14]

So disappointed. Today has been a disaster. Had one guinea trying to hatch for 36 hours...so against advice, I helped it. It is not long for this world. Crooked neck, can't stand up...the list goes on and on. Then a 2nd chick hatched...was perfect. I tried to move it to the brooder...don't know what happened but it has a bloody bottom. I put it in the brooder, which is how I spotted the blood. Well the 3 amigos cornered it and starting pecking at it. So I put them both back in the incubator till I see if they are stronger or not. I could cry my eyes out. I still have eggs doing a little bit of pipping so I will give them till the weekend is over then shut down the incubator. I found one of my hens off her nest (unusual) and noticed about half her eggs are GONE.

 

[Guineaqueen14]

Oh...and today I tossed about a dozen partially pipped eggs. Talk about failure...

 

[Littlebird6]

Sorry about your keets GuineaQueen!

We have had 7 keets hatch and I think one more on the way. Three likely won't do anything and that matches what I thought from my last candling. So, yay! There were 8 or 9 I took out a week ago or so that I think weren't fertile at all. Next time I'll learn to check that in the beginning. So, out of the fertile ones we're doing really good, probably 8 out of 11! We did raise the humidity a bit, but have worked to bring it back down to around 65% since because we don't want to jeopardize the peacock eggs that are due to hatch Monday. We got those six eggs for $80! If they all hatch, though, it will be a great deal for peacocks. Anyway, it has been amazing to watch the keets hatch. We got a really cute movie of the first one last night. I'll try to post it on my blog and then I can share the link here. My kids' commentary is darling!

In awe of new life,
Leslie

 

[Guineaqueen14]

Have a total of 6 keets from the incubator. Not too bad for a novice without a clue. Still have eggs in the incubator...but I turned it off last night as my house is starting to smell...um...stinky. Still keeping a lookout for the hens to appear with a few more. Can someone tell me how long the hen will stay on the nest? Mine have been on them since BEFORE I started incubating.

 

[R2elk]

New babies

Buff Dundotte



Chocolate



Coral Blue



Lite Blue



Sky Blue

 

[Loghousemom]

I know this thread is not too active, but maybe someone has an idea.

I am on the last days of my guinea hatch. I had 4 hatch yesterday. I have 4 eggs remaining. Today should have been hatch day.

I removed the 4 keets this morning because my humidity was seeming to drop and I wanted to add lots of warm water. I candled the eggs that are left since none were pipped. 3 are certainly dead, I cannot see movement that I did see at lockdown. One is moving, but possibly stuck. It has not pipped through membrane yet. I am sure I should leave it, but if I decided to try and help it hatch, what would be the best way to break through the egg shell? I know they are harder than chicken shells.

I started with 18 eggs and this has been a difficult incubation. The incubator crashed topside down about 2 1/2 weeks ago, full of 45 eggs, and the turner. Of course most of the eggs were badly broken. Many of the remaining died during the days that followed. Since the crash, the temp and humidity seem to randomly, rapidly change. I cannot tell if it is a malfunction of the incubator or thermometers. (I have 2)

I will likely wait until tomorrow to do anything, because I don't like to make a habit of assisting at hatching time, but I feel like I should be prepared because this has been such a difficult hatch already.

So, the question is, does anyone have Any ideas on how to safely crack the egg and possibly save a weak keet that has not pipped?

 

[R2elk]

I know this thread is not too active, but maybe someone has an idea.

I am on the last days of my guinea hatch. I had 4 hatch yesterday. I have 4 eggs remaining. Today should have been hatch day.

I removed the 4 keets this morning because my humidity was seeming to drop and I wanted to add lots of warm water. I candled the eggs that are left since none were pipped. 3 are certainly dead, I cannot see movement that I did see at lockdown. One is moving, but possibly stuck. It has not pipped through membrane yet. I am sure I should leave it, but if I decided to try and help it hatch, what would be the best way to break through the egg shell? I know they are harder than chicken shells.

I started with 18 eggs and this has been a difficult incubation. The incubator crashed topside down about 2 1/2 weeks ago, full of 45 eggs, and the turner. Of course most of the eggs were badly broken. Many of the remaining died during the days that followed. Since the crash, the temp and humidity seem to randomly, rapidly change. I cannot tell if it is a malfunction of the incubator or thermometers. (I have 2)

I will likely wait until tomorrow to do anything, because I don't like to make a habit of assisting at hatching time, but I feel like I should be prepared because this has been such a difficult hatch already.

So, the question is, does anyone have Any ideas on how to safely crack the egg and possibly save a weak keet that has not pipped?

Assisted hatching is pretty much generic to all varieties of eggs. You will likely get more and more detailed responses posting this question in the Incubating and Hatching Eggs forum.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/5/incubating-hatching-eggs

Guide to Assisted Hatching.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching

 

[Loghousemom]

Thanks. I will go post it there too. I never thought about it before, just decided to search and see if there was already info out there. I have read the assisted hatching guide several times before, I guess it is time for a refresher. Thanks again!

 

[hutchel]

OK my girls have been laying eggs for a few weeks - we've been getting 2-4 eggs a day which suggests either I have a very lopsided flock males/females or the girls just haven't found their groove (we have 24 birds left). Lots of variety in size/ shape. I've been collecting them and storing them in the house til I felt like we had a batch ready to put into their chosen nesting spot. So this morning I placed the entire batch into that spot in hopes that one of the girls decides she wants to be a mom.

The good news is that they have decided to lay the eggs generally (about 80% of the time) under the stairs in the run leading up to the coop. Nice and SECURE from the local predators. I was really concerned they'd pick a spot in the yard - they run loose from noon til dusk when they voluntarily go back into the coop with the chickens who are also following the same routine.

The guineas arrived at my doorstep as day old Keets in very early Apr.

So the real question is should I let the hens get a little older before trying to get the next generation going, or are my eggs ready to go?

the other question is, should I just leave the eggs in the nest an risk the ever present rat snakes vs bringing them into the house to protect them? I could also build a secure box inside the coop to store them. I don't have anyone brooding yet as the hens were hatched in late Feb so they've just started laying also.

I was hoping to get the next generation started early enough for them to be part of the flock outside for the winter (Northern Virginia) so want to give them some time to develop.