What have I let myself in for?

[me and my marans]

Today I bought 12 guinea eggs, 8 lavender + 4 white (i think), I am going to incubate them in the bator but it wont be free until thursday!
so by the time I set them they will be a week old so is there still a good chance of me even getting 6 to hatch?

This will be my first time attempting guinea so is there any tips for hatching guinea thats different to chickens?

Do I still turn them 3 times a day? (semi auto incubator)

If they hatch can I feed them chicks starter like I do with chickens? as I want to add chicken eggs in after a week so i would like to put them in the same brooder,

Thanks in advance.

 

[Cattitude]

Keep your eggs in a cool spot, as close to 50 degrees as you can get it. As far as incubation, treat them just like you do chicken eggs. Guineas take 26-28 days to incubate, by the book. A lot of folks do their lockdown on Day 23, and even then you get early birds.

You feed them the same way you do chicks, and can keep them with your chicks till they get around 4 months old. At around that time, they start pestering the roosters and won't let them eat. If you live on a place with some acreage, you can start letting them out a bit... start with one guinea at a time, then turn it back in at night. Then two, then three... They do a really good job of cleaning the yard, they eat weed seeds and bugs.

Hope you have a great hatch and enjoy your keets!

 

[me and my marans]

Thanks! that answers my questions,

but will the fertility drop since the eggs will be 8 days old?

 

[bigdawg]

feed them game bird starter if you can get it. otherwise chick starter is fine. game bird has 28 percent protien. i would mix game bird with starter with chick starter if you are brooding them with chicks. as far as being a week old they should be fine. keep them cool and tilt the egg cartons from end to end daily. i have a pair of adult guineas and the hen is sitting on 16 of her own eggs. she is due on the 28 if not sooner. i lock down my eggs on day 23 mine have always hatched early. good luck. they are very interesting to watch. one more idea, make sure you build a big brooder pen, they realy like to run around.

 

[MuranoFarms]

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So that's whats going on! lol I call my 3 month old guineas "the groupies" cause they follow my rooster EVERYWHERE!

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10 days is the rule....set them by then. I've gone longer on guinea eggs and still hatched ok, but just to be safe set them before day 10.

 

[me and my marans]

Thanks for replying!

Everything should be ok so!

 

[me and my marans]

Eggs are in, the humidity reads 25%, should i raise it a bit?

 

[darkmatter]

When I'm incubating Guinea eggs, after 7 days I'll add some chicken eggs to the incubator so I'll be having keets and chicks hatch at the same time. (Done this for years now) This way I raise them together with the Guineas bonding to the overall flock, the Guineas fly out of the run during the day for bug patrol, but usually come back to roost with the "flock", those that choose to stay out and roost in the trees get whittled down by the Owls at night.

 

[me and my marans]

I really really wanna candel the eggs, when is the earliest that i can do it?

 

[cracking up]

If you put them in the 23rd it's still a little early. With guinea eggs you need a real strong light and a real dark room and I still wouldn't throw any out. I've never had one explode and they're hard to see through. Give it a week or ten days.