Raising Guinea Fowl 101

[harley587]

I came home yesterday to one of my guineas chasing any of the other guineas as much as possible. I think it would like to mate with whichever guinea will let him, male or female. At one point he had his beak attached to the back feathers of another guinea while still running. Apparently this had been going on for hours. I should have videoed the whole thing, but I had to go to my second job!

 

[guineapeeps]

How long does it take to tell if a guinea egg is viable? Got 16 from my aunt. the last guinea hen she has left has already let 3 chicks die from cold and she wanted me to incubate the other eggs. (Her flock was attacked 2 weeks ago. We thought the hens were all goners but one was sitting on a clutch of eggs in the field). It seems like one egg is within a few days of hatching and 6 more show clear development at different stages. Can't see a thing in 9 of them, but I thought maybe it was too soon to see anything.
BTW: broody guinea hens are scary. I'm glad there was a tractor part between me and the hen after I stole her eggs. She was nesting under the tractor attachment, and I pushed her off the nest from the back. Glad I pushed her rear. MAN she was mad....

Yes, I agree about the scariness of a broody Guinea hen. If you think that's bad, though, its about 10x's worse once the eggs hatch. My hens will let me mess with them a certain amount while on eggs, but if I attempt to mess with a keet, they try to peck my eyes out!
As for your eggs, do you have any idea how long she was sitting on them prior to collecting them? You mentioned one looked like it would hatch in a few days, and the others were at different stages of developement. I'm wondering if another hen layed eggs in there after that hen started sitting on hers. It is strange to have so many different stages of developement from just one hen.....they usually lay an egg every day and will go broody when they are done laying a clutch of eggs. That way, they all start developing/incubating at the same time and, therefore, all hatch roughly at the same time, give or take a day. Some of my Guinea hens share nests, which gets a little complicated if they don't go broody at the same time! As for the eggs where you can't see anything, do they look clear or dark when you candle? I would agree with DR.....give them some more time! Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

 

[guineapeeps]

The other day, one of my younger hens (this is her first year laying eggs) started laying on eggs in the weeds on the side of the road down from my house. I thought for sure I was going to have to shoo her off and then incubate or toss the eggs so she wouldn't get eaten in the middle of the night by a predator. However, I was able to remedy the problem and thought I'd share since I used this same type of plan with success a few time last year with a different hen. Here is what I did:
I took a large Rubbermaid container and cut a hole in one end and put straw in it, then quickly shooed her off the nest and tossed her eggs in the container. I then placed the container exactly where I had found her nest and covered it with weeds and surrounding vegetation. She came back and continued to lay on the eggs inside of the container. When it gets dark each night (since they are practically blind at night) I sneak up to her and cover the hole in the container with a big towel and carry her back to a dark coop where she sits on them all night. The next morning, she comes out and I carry the container back to the spot she initially layed them. She follows at a distance, then goes in and lays on them. I just repeat this process every day. It's a bit of work, but to me, it's better than having to incubate the eggs myself then worry about integrating new keets to the flock. Just thought I'd share in case anyone else has a similar problem...I know Guineas are famous for nesting where they are not supposed to!

 

[guineapeeps]

I doubt you will see anything in a week.  I normally leave turkey and guinea eggs for at least 14 days before I candle.  I will throw chicken eggs at 14 days, I would never throw them at 14 days. they are just too hard to see into.



BTW I lost a guinea yesterday.  My wife and I went to town last night around 7pm and we saw a dead guinea on the edge of the road about 1/8 mile down the road.  It appears it was a robbery gone awry. From what  I can piece together, the guineas laid in wait for a Brinks truck. When the truck came by this one stepped in front of the truck to stop it so the others could open the locked rear doors.


Apparently this driver had seen this move before by these little gangsters and stepped on it hitting and killing my Guinea.  After the FBI left I asked my guineas what they knew about this.  For the first time in history a deafening silence came over them.


It is a good thing I have 20 replacements being raised by a turkey and chicken at this time and another 11 eggs under a hen.

Sorry to hear about your Guinea. Last year, one of mine was hit and killed by a farm truck. After hearing your story, I'm thinking mine may have been trying to hold up the truck and steal all the corn on board! I'm not sure if it was a "lone wolf" hijack attempt or if my other Guineas participated, but he was the only casualty and no one else was talkin'!

 

[Victoria-nola]

The other day, one of my younger hens (this is her first year laying eggs) started laying on eggs in the weeds on the side of the road down from my house. I thought for sure I was going to have to shoo her off and then incubate or toss the eggs so she wouldn't get eaten in the middle of the night by a predator. However, I was able to remedy the problem and thought I'd share since I used this same type of plan with success a few time last year with a different hen. Here is what I did:
I took a large Rubbermaid container and cut a hole in one end and put straw in it, then quickly shooed her off the nest and tossed her eggs in the container. I then placed the container exactly where I had found her nest and covered it with weeds and surrounding vegetation. She came back and continued to lay on the eggs inside of the container. When it gets dark each night (since they are practically blind at night) I sneak up to her and cover the hole in the container with a big towel and carry her back to a dark coop where she sits on them all night. The next morning, she comes out and I carry the container back to the spot she initially layed them. She follows at a distance, then goes in and lays on them. I just repeat this process every day. It's a bit of work, but to me, it's better than having to incubate the eggs myself then worry about integrating new keets to the flock. Just thought I'd share in case anyone else has a similar problem...I know Guineas are famous for nesting where they are not supposed to!

Wow! Great to hear about options since I very much hope mine will reproduce on their own but I'm worried about what that means in terms of getting them to nest inside the coop or what will happen. I'm impressed she would continue to set on her eggs even with all that disturbance going on.

 

[guineapeeps]

Wow! Great to hear about options since I very much hope mine will reproduce on their own but I'm worried about what that means in terms of getting them to nest inside the coop or what will happen. I'm impressed she would continue to set on her eggs even with all that disturbance going on. 

I have a couple of big plastic Rubbermaid wheelbarrows with straw in them that almost all my hens prefer to lay their eggs in. I've tried a lot of other things, but most of them prefer that. The wheelbarrows are not without problems, though. I've had 4 Guinea hens try to go broody in one wheelbarrow at the same time with like 100 eggs. It was too crowded and some babies got smashed and died. Plus, the sides are tall and the babies either can't get out or if they do make it out by climbing on mom, then they can't get back in. I tried removing the wheelbarrows due to these problems, but then the hens go out and lay their eggs in fields or ditches. Now, I leave them in there but am careful to monitor the activity and take all the babies out after about the second day of hatching.

 

[Victoria-nola]

Quote: Wow that sounds a bit crazy. Are the wheelbarrows inside their coop? What do you do with the keets when you remove them?

 

[guineapeeps]

Wow that sounds a bit crazy.  Are the wheelbarrows inside their coop?  What do you do with the keets when you remove them?  

Yes, the wheelbarrows are inside of their coop. If there is only 1 or 2 hens with keets in the wheelbarrow, I will leave them in there a little longer and wedge some food and water in the corners of the wheelbarrow. If there are too many mothers and keets crammed in there, I put a big bed of straw on the floor in a quiet corner of the coop and put the keets there (at the risk of my safety and wellbeing because they are crazy protective of the keets). The hens get out and continue to take care of the keets on the ground. Eventually, they end up taking them out In the yard to teach them how to free range, catch bugs, etc. The keets are hardy little things...they keep up with the adults well, and learn very quickly with multiple hens and at least one male doing community parenting!

 

[Victoria-nola]

Quote: This is super interesting, going to add all this to my Word file I'm compiling. So you just leave these wheelbarrows in the coop all the time then? This sounds good,

I have just hatched 26 keets from shipped eggs, and they are in their brooder. I hope this is my last guinea incubation. We are now working on building their permanent coop. We intend to use the cattle-panel hoop-coop idea (armored with 1/2" hardware cloth completely over the whole thing), and found great plans and instructions here on BYC. My question is the size. The BYC plans create an interior square footage of 9'x15.5' or so, for 139.5 total square feet. We've been told 4sf per guinea, and that comes out to a potential for 34 birds. Do you think this size is reasonable, or should we go bigger?

--Victoria

 

[duluthralphie]

This is super interesting, going to add all this to my Word file I'm compiling. So you just leave these wheelbarrows in the coop all the time then? This sounds good,

I have just hatched 26 keets from shipped eggs, and they are in their brooder. I hope this is my last guinea incubation. We are now working on building their permanent coop. We intend to use the cattle-panel hoop-coop idea (armored with 1/2" hardware cloth completely over the whole thing), and found great plans and instructions here on BYC. My question is the size. The BYC plans create an interior square footage of 9'x15.5' or so, for 139.5 total square feet. We've been told 4sf per guinea, and that comes out to a potential for 34 birds. Do you think this size is reasonable, or should we go bigger?

--Victoria

I think that is way too small, but I would never try to keep Guineas locked up. A guinea is about 5 times more active than a chicken. I find 4 sq ft for a chicken to be tight. I always like to do the 4sq ft or close to it inside a coop, but for a run I think they need 10 or more..


As I reread this I find I might have made an error (hard to believe, I know).... Is the 4sq ft the coop and they will have a larger run?

How tall will the run be, Guineas like to roost high at night. If they do not get high enough they might just take to the trees,,, or cut down electric poles to build their own fortress out of...