Raising Guinea Fowl 101

[guineapeeps]

I have 13 Guinea Fowl eggs under a clucky hen and 15 eggs under a Guinea Hen. I was planning on taking the eggs from the Guinea hen and putting them under a heat lamp and leaving the ones under the clucky hen with her. Will the hen raise the the guinea fowl like she would chickens? Will she sit on the eggs for the extra 6-8 days? Any advice would be apreciated.
Thanks Cherry NSW Australia

I understand where Duluthralphie is coming from, however, I would try to let the guinea hen continue to lay on and hatch the eggs. It would be better if you had a coop area to lock them in if the weather is wet or cold. I let all my guineas hatch their own eggs and they do very well raising them on their own. The only precaution I take with them is to keep them penned up if there is rain in the forcast or if it is cold outside. Once the grass dries and the temps has warmed, I let them out to free range again. I do this for the 3-4 weeks until they are strong enough to tolerate getting a little wet or cold. Other than that, I find my guinea keets do pretty well. I know that other people say that they have not had suceess letting their guineas raise their own keets.... maybe I have just gotten lucky with my very motherly guinea hens, but I find that the other guineas help raise the little ones as well.
As a side note, if your guinea is laying on her eggs out where a predator could get her, then I would say to collect the eggs so something doesn't pick her off. And, if you do try to collect the eggs, be prepared for a possible fight/attack. Some guineas can be pretty protective of their nests once they go broody, which gets about 100 times worse once the keets hatch!
Good luck....let us know how it works out for you.

 

[duluthralphie]

I understand where Duluthralphie is coming from, however, I would try to let the guinea hen continue to lay on and hatch the eggs. It would be better if you had a coop area to lock them in if the weather is wet or cold. I let all my guineas hatch their own eggs and they do very well raising them on their own. The only precaution I take with them is to keep them penned up if there is rain in the forcast or if it is cold outside. Once the grass dries and the temps has warmed, I let them out to free range again. I do this for the 3-4 weeks until they are strong enough to tolerate getting a little wet or cold. Other than that, I find my guinea keets do pretty well. I know that other people say that they have not had suceess letting their guineas raise their own keets.... maybe I have just gotten lucky with my very motherly guinea hens, but I find that the other guineas help raise the little ones as well.
As a side note, if your guinea is laying on her eggs out where a predator could get her, then I would say to collect the eggs so something doesn't pick her off. And, if you do try to collect the eggs, be prepared for a possible fight/attack. Some guineas can be pretty protective of their nests once they go broody, which gets about 100 times worse once the keets hatch!
Good luck....let us know how it works out for you.

When do you first notice the Mother Guinea teaching her young to rob the elderly, steal purses and take part in gang warfare?

 

[generaldsherman]

When do you first notice the Mother Guinea teaching her young to rob the elderly, steal purses and take part in gang warfare?

Reminds me of taking eggs from a broody guinea hen a couple months ago at my aunt's house. I was grateful for the tractor part that was between me and her. Oh, she was mad!!!


On another note, anything special about brooding keets? Lockdown tomorrow on 10 royal purple guineas I am raising for my aunt. I picked up an "electric hen" brooder plate for the new chicks & keets hatching this weekend and haven't used one before. Should be ok for them, though, right?

 

[duluthralphie]

Reminds me of taking eggs from a broody guinea hen a couple months ago at my aunt's house. I was grateful for the tractor part that was between me and her. Oh, she was mad!!!


On another note, anything special about brooding keets? Lockdown tomorrow on 10 royal purple guineas I am raising for my aunt. I picked up an "electric hen" brooder plate for the new chicks & keets hatching this weekend and haven't used one before. Should be ok for them, though, right?

Should be great, post pictures, Please,

 

[guineapeeps]

When do you first notice the Mother Guinea teaching her young to rob the elderly, steal purses and take part in gang warfare?

Like most delinquents, they usually start their life of crime when they hit that teenager (uglier than normal) stage! I live out in the country with not much around, so at least the general public is safe from my convicts!

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
they need game bird starter which is higher in protein.... thats the only thing different from chicks. They are smaller more like bantams but grow faster and can fly pretty quick so having a lid for the brooder is also a good idea.

deb

 

[Nickeyo]

Do you all raise your Guineas in brooder or under broody hens? I hatched 90% of my guineas (36) under Broodies and a couple of chicken chicks with them and have had very interesting results. I have large runs for the chickens but I free range my Guineas completely, they sleep in a large oak tree a long with a couple of mongrel chickens that hatched with them. I have lost no guinea fowl or chickens that have been raised by my broody hens but all the chickens and Guineas that were incubator raised have been taken by predators. I find it interesting that just having a mother figure (who herself was raised in a bator) has changed how well they survive drastically. Just thought worth sharing

 

[guineapeeps]

Do you all raise your Guineas in brooder or under broody hens? I hatched 90% of my guineas (36) under Broodies and a couple of chicken chicks with them and have had very interesting results. I have large runs for the chickens but I free range my Guineas completely, they sleep in a large oak tree a long with a couple of mongrel chickens that hatched with them. I have lost no guinea fowl or chickens that have been raised by my broody hens but all the chickens and Guineas that were incubator raised have been taken by predators. I find it interesting that just having a mother figure (who herself was raised in a bator) has changed how well they survive drastically. Just thought worth sharing

I let my guinea hens hatch and raise their own keets. I incubated one year and found that my hens had a better hatch and survival rate than I did. The biggest bonus for me in doing this is integration into the flock. When they hatch in the coop with the others, they are instantly part of the flock. When I hatched keets in an incubator, it took weeks to get the older guineas to accept the keets. Also, they definitely have a more wild personality and are, therefore, more wary of predators. Because of this, I think I lose less to predators as well, although I do lose a few each year, especially the years that we are surrounded by corn! (My Guineas free range during the day and are in a coop at night.)

 

[pearlGuinea]

I do my both ways. If a hen wants to sit I will let her hatch them, if not I hatch them in the incubator.

 

[GlennLee]

Do you all raise your Guineas in brooder or under broody hens? I hatched 90% of my guineas (36) under Broodies and a couple of chicken chicks with them and have had very interesting results. I have large runs for the chickens but I free range my Guineas completely, they sleep in a large oak tree a long with a couple of mongrel chickens that hatched with them. I have lost no guinea fowl or chickens that have been raised by my broody hens but all the chickens and Guineas that were incubator raised have been taken by predators. I find it interesting that just having a mother figure (who herself was raised in a bator) has changed how well they survive drastically. Just thought worth sharing

Very interesting observation - that all of your Guineas that were incubator raised have been taken by predators. I have lost 5 to predators and my main flock of French Guineas were a mail order purchase, hatched by an incubator and raised by me. As I go through the spring and next summer, I'll have to keep track of survival rates related to predators to see if I notice the same difference between incubator hatched vs. broody hen hatched. I can see where the socialization could be key for flock integration and a broody hen would facilitate that process. Thank you for posting this information.