Raising Guinea Fowl 101

[PeepsCA]

I have decided to leave dedicated guinea alone with her insane amount of eggs. She finally come off her nest this morning to eat. This was the 1st time I've seen her out of the nest since she started sitting so I was not sure if she was going to go back. I had decided if she didn't no biggie id take the eggs candle and incubate. Went out for my evening rounds and discovered she has company. Another hen has went and started sitting with her. I think its so funny. I wish I could post pics! There are definitely more eggs being covered lol maybe usng the buddy. System while setting together will make them a little safer? And give more of the eggs a chance? If not at least she has company? Lol

Yes, with 2 Hens on the egg pile there is more of a chance that more eggs will get covered and hatch out (if a predator doesn't get them both!), but the Hens may still get off the nest together after the first few eggs hatch and leave the rest, so you still may want to keep a close eye on the nest and have your incubator ready and be ready to rescue the eggs that are left behind, starting to chill/go cold. They can die pretty quickly (being cold overnight would most likely kill any developing eggs).

After the Hens are off the nest with their keets, containing both Hens with the keets (where the rest of the flock can see them, but not get to them) for the first couple or few weeks will help insure the survival of the keets, because they are really fragile right after they hatch. The Momma Hens don't always tend to the keets very well like a chicken Momma would, so if you can get everybody situated in a small safe area your keets stand a much better chance than if you let the Mommas go traipsing around with them as soon as they hatch. Depending on the area your birds normally free range, some of the keets may end up getting lost, stuck somewhere and left behind, wet/chilled, picked off by predators etc... so IMO it's best to keep everybody contained until the keets are a little more hearty and less fragile. Plus you want to make sure they get a good start with high protein game bird starter.

If you do end up incubating a bunch of the left over eggs, the Hens and flock may not accept the incubator raised keets after they've hatched if you try to give them back to them, so they may need to be brooder raised or 5-6 weeks before you'd want to section them off out in the coop so the older birds can all get used to them, but not get to them or hurt them. Sometimes flocks will kill new birds because they see them as a threat to the flock, or their pecking order status... who knows. They can be especially vicious to younger additions, whether they came from their eggs or not. And some birds/flocks will even instantly kill newly hatched baby keets. It doesn't happen all the time like this, but it can happen... so it's always a good idea to be prepared for the worst. I've seen way too many posts where people post about proud Momma Guinea Hens starting out with 16 or so newly hatched keets, and end up losing them one by one over a couple days time until they have none left. Sad, especially when it can be prevented...

The buddy system with Guinea Hens is common

 

[PeepsCA]

I have some eggs from a friend that are either guinnea, pheasant or silkie. Thay have started hatching, any way to know which is which?

How long have you been incubating these eggs, what day did you put them in the incubator?

Guinea Hen eggs are fat and round at one end, narrow and pointy at the other. Color varies, usually some shade of beige, sometimes with speckles. They usually take 26-28 days to hatch.

Silkie Eggs are typically smaller, and oval shaped. Sometimes it's hard to tell which end is which without candling them (IME anyway). Color varies, usually some shade of beige, or even pure white. They hatch in 20-22 days.

Pheasant eggs will be the smallest eggs. I've hatched Ringnecks before and all the eggs were olive green colored, but yours may not be. These can hatch in 23-28 days depending on the variety.

If you post a pic of the eggs in the 'bator, or of the keets/chicks once they hatch I'm sure we can help you ID what you have if you can't tell on your own.

 

[stevhoff]

I have 24 guinea eggs in my incubator now.2 different batches. One batch of 14 went in on April 25 and the second batch went in on May 4. I have a piece of cardboard running down the center of the incubator to divide them. Yesterday I had 1 egg from the first batch poke a small hole in the egg and this morning has finally started hatching. None of the other eggs from the first or second batch are showing any signs of activity yet. I candled the eggs from both batches about 4 days ago before locking them down and noticed in my first batch that there was a wide variance in development-about half seemed to fully fill up the shell but the other half were way far behind though showing signs of life(movement within the egg as I candled), Some from my second batch seemed fully developed as well with about a 60-40 split between far along and way behind. At that time I also culled out about 8 eggs that showed no development. I'm wondering if anybody else has come across this variance and wondering why I have only one egg hatching out right now. If I have to wait for other eggs to hatch and they start spreading out in hatch dates how am I going to handle this in the brooding pen? Wil I have to wall off chicks from one another? And if I have to do that, wll there come a time when I can put them all together? This is my first time hatching eggs.

I have also discovered that one of my guinea hens has made a nest out near my compost piles and has 10 eggs layed so far but not sitting on them! We get down in the low 50's at night and up in the 80's during the day though the eggs get about 100% shade,so its probably cooler there. Do you think those eggs will eventually hatch out if she sits on them? I also have a broody hen at the moment, would anyone advise putting that clutch under her? Or should I just leave the eggs where they are and wait for the guinea to start sitting?

 

[lizzybaxter]

Well, of everyone on this forum I am probably the least experienced for sure; however,it is my understanding that when incubating eggs (I've only done it a few times with chicken eggs), you don't open the incubator until everyone hatches out and is dry, up to 2 days later. I'm wondering why you would put two batches of eggs into the same incubator, with such different hatch dates. The closest I ever got to doing that was starting a batch of eggs, and then finding an egg outside and I put it in the next morning. You really shouldn't be opening the incubator to take chicks out if there are eggs about to hatch. I know that I just had 3 chicks hatch and the humidity/temp was definitely affected by the 3 of them running around in the incubator, and I didn't monitor that closely enough-- long story short, the last 2 eggs didn't make it. I am thinking that when you have chicks in there, the environment is altered for the remaining eggs-- esp as you will have some eggs that are a week behind. The temp/humidity needs of a hatched chick are very different from a developing embryo.

Perhaps someone here who is more knowledgeable (there are lots of experts here, thank goodness) can give you more detailed advice.....I hope everyone hatches!

 

[Liekele]

In two months we will be moving to a small farm (yaaay), and we would like to have a couple of chickens and guineas walking about. There is a tiny barn/shed we're planning to use as a coop. Should we start with adult birds or with chicks/keets? How long should they stay cooped up before we can let them roam around?
Thanks!!

 

[starlingdaly]

Yayyyy! 3/5 of my guinea eggs have transformed into cheeping keets! The two left were a little behind schedule when I last candled (before pips) but I expect they'll have pipped by tonight and hatched by tomorrow!
They are so cute, the little almost-fuzz balls.

 

[starlingdaly]

Cuties. <3

 

[kynewbchickie]

Cuties. <3

Adorable!!!

 

[kuntrygirl]

Cuties. <3

Adorable! Keets ARE SOOOOOOOOOOOO beautiful !!!!

 

[kuntrygirl]

I have decided to leave dedicated guinea alone with her insane amount of eggs. She finally come off her nest this morning to eat. This was the 1st time I've seen her out of the nest since she started sitting so I was not sure if she was going to go back. I had decided if she didn't no biggie id take the eggs candle and incubate. Went out for my evening rounds and discovered she has company. Another hen has went and started sitting with her. I think its so funny. I wish I could post pics! There are definitely more eggs being covered lol maybe usng the buddy. System while setting together will make them a little safer? And give more of the eggs a chance? If not at least she has company? Lol

[COLOR=4B0082]Yes, with 2 Hens on the egg pile there is more of a chance that more eggs will get covered and hatch out (if a predator doesn't get them both!), but the Hens may still get off the nest together after the first few eggs hatch and leave the rest, so you still may want to keep a close eye on the nest and have your incubator ready and be ready to rescue the eggs that are left behind, starting to chill/go cold. They can die pretty quickly (being cold overnight would most likely kill any developing eggs). [/COLOR] [COLOR=4B0082]After the Hens are off the nest with their keets, containing both Hens with the keets (where the rest of the flock can see them, but not get to them) for the first couple or few weeks will help insure the survival of the keets, because they are really fragile right after they hatch. The Momma Hens don't always tend to the keets very well like a chicken Momma would, so if you can get everybody situated in a small safe area your keets stand a much better chance than if you let the Mommas go traipsing around with them as soon as they hatch. Depending on the area your birds normally free range, some of the keets may end up getting lost, stuck somewhere and left behind, wet/chilled, picked off by predators etc... so IMO it's best to keep everybody contained until the keets are a little more hearty and less fragile. Plus you want to make sure they get a good start with high protein game bird starter. [/COLOR] [COLOR=4B0082]If you do end up incubating a bunch of the left over eggs, the Hens and flock may not accept the incubator raised keets after they've hatched if you try to give them back to them, so they may need to be brooder raised or 5-6 weeks before you'd want to section them off out in the coop so the older birds can all get used to them, but not get to them or hurt them. Sometimes flocks will kill new birds because they see them as a threat to the flock, or their pecking order status... who knows. They can be especially vicious to younger additions, whether they came from their eggs or not. And some birds/flocks will even instantly kill newly hatched baby keets. It doesn't happen all the time like this, but it can happen... so it's always a good idea to be prepared for the worst. I've seen way too many posts where people post about proud Momma Guinea Hens starting out with 16 or so newly hatched keets, and end up losing them one by one over a couple days time until they have none left. Sad, especially when it can be prevented...[/COLOR] [COLOR=4B0082]The buddy system with Guinea Hens is common [/COLOR]

Love it!! My girls will NEVER go broody and that's just fine by me.