My two hens were sitting on 34 eggs. I was really excited to let nature do its thing and let her be the best mom she could be but after reading and reading and reading I started getting scared about the keets just dying off from predators do and being left behind by Mom so at one point I did take eight eggs from her, That's all I could get before she flipped out. Well she hatched them and after going back and forth if I wanted to try to take the keets away I almost decided against it but then I seen a snake in her nest So that was my deciding factor I was definitely taking them! Well in the midst of trying to get them I did lose sight of four keets, I'm hoping she'll find them Is that something they do? Also the Keets are very worked up and so is the flock of guineas moms and dads alike! was it a bad idea to take them? I'm seriously doubting myself right now I want to do the best that I can for my feathered babies I love them so much and I just want to keep them all safe!
Took keets from mom, bad idea?
- Thread starter Jmccauley
- Start date
The keets will have a better chance of survival in a proper brooder.
- Thread starter
- #3
I know I just feel so bad. They are all just so upset. The keets won't stop crying for the hen and the hens won't stop looking for them. I feel like a terrible person.
If there is a way that you can safely house her with the keets until they are about a month old, that would probably work out the best. She has to be contained so that she cannot take them out and lose them. Adding her mate may be helpful as guineas are known to coparent.
Having the parents raise the keets will make integrating the keets into the flock much easier.
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They don’t usually do well free-ranging with keets. However, if you can set up a safe space to confine the parents with keets it’s much more likely to work. Even in our coop, black rats snakes have killed multiples of our keets. Snakes and keets don’t mix, so you did the right thing.
- Jul 9, 2019
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I had a hen hatch 10 last summer and took them the following day. She ran around like mad, as did her mates, trying to find them. The babies called for her like crazy and it made me so sad. But all survived and I added them to the flock once they were bigger. The mother and her mates didnt appear to realize they were her long lost babies. But all have survived and are still thriving.
champignon
In the Brooder
- Jul 28, 2018
- 10
- 7
- 49
I let a guinea sit on 9 eggs at the end of September because a) I was so sick of eggs; b) they had stopped laying; and c) I was certain her hormones would shift and she'd be bored and back with the flock by the end of a week.
I was wrong.
She hatched two keets and squashed them in the nest. When I discovered this, I took the rest of the eggs. Most of them were not viable, but one hatched on Oct 28.
On Oct 29, the hen was still looking for her eggs/babies in the nest area of the coop, but when I brought her in that day to see if she'd take the keet that hatched, she pecked viciously at it. I took her back to the coop and she continued looking for her eggs/babies.
The poor girl was so good at sitting on eggs, but has no clue with what to do with the result.
I was wrong.
She hatched two keets and squashed them in the nest. When I discovered this, I took the rest of the eggs. Most of them were not viable, but one hatched on Oct 28.
On Oct 29, the hen was still looking for her eggs/babies in the nest area of the coop, but when I brought her in that day to see if she'd take the keet that hatched, she pecked viciously at it. I took her back to the coop and she continued looking for her eggs/babies.
The poor girl was so good at sitting on eggs, but has no clue with what to do with the result.
Agreeing with others. If you have a safe space where mom can keep babies that makes things easier, I let a hen hatch last year - she hatched 9 if I remember right. One died the next day - idk why. And I lost two to a rat snake when they were WAY too big for the snake to even try but 
And she integrated them MUCH better than I probably could have done!
And she integrated them MUCH better than I probably could have done!Similar threads
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