Well I have already lost four guineas. One pipped but was rolled over pip down by a chick and drowned. Two tried to hatch too early, I guess, and one died while zipping so I checked it and it had a deformed beak. Those are the incubator ones. To recap, my guinea hen decided to go broody on 49 eggs. Over the first two weeks I managed to candle and steal most, leaving her with eight and me with 19 once clears and bads were discarded. All the eggs have spent some time under her and some time in the incubator. I think yesterday was day 28 but it's hard to pinpoint day 0 with a broody, you know. So anyway, out of the incubator 19, four have passed, three are in the brooder box with the speckled Sussex chicks, two are hatched but still in the incubator, and five are zipping now. I know at least one has hatched under the broody. I need to end up with fifteen for my neighbor and the rest will need to be split between two broody guinea hens so I can break them. I have two others who want some but now that I've lost at least four they may have to wait a few weeks. The other hen has a clutch of fourteen she's sitting on but it's in our burn pile and we want to burn it asap so I'm going to give her some keets in hopes she'll take them. Then I'll take the eggs and finish them off. I had planned to be done with keets in August. Oh well.
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