What would you do?

[Love my Critters!]

I think def. keep it if you want it to live. They are terrible mother's. My grandmother would spend hours and hours walking the woods looking for the nests so she could collect the eggs and set them under a hen. She used to get so mad at her guineas for not taking care of their babies.

 

[4Hchickenproject]

I know nothing about guineas. But we have birds build nests on and around our porches all the time, and nests/babies often fall, and we've replaced them many, many times to have mom continue to raise them. I know they survived because we watch them closely.

 

[PeepsCA]

I say keep it, and go try to catch the other remaining keets so your lone keet has some flockmates and they don't all end up gone like the other 20. Watch out for the momma tho, she'll get wicked when you try to catch her keets.

 

[philter4]

Quote:
Wild birds don't abandon a baby if it is handled, that is a wivestail, just watch a NatGeo channel show on rare or endangered birds, scientists go into the nest and weigh the eggs and chicks several times during development and band birds all the time and the parents just get excited but don't abandon the nest. If a bird abandons a nest with eggs or chicks there is another reason, and they would have left whether the chicks were touched or not, for instance a high traffic area and the intrusion in the nest was just the final straw that caused them to leave, or a repeat predator that keeps stealing eggs or chicks, there is almost always a primary reason for them leaving and the actual scent of a human touching the nest isn't one of them.

 

[Shyke]

First of all, mothers do not abandon their young if a human has touched it. That is a myth.
Second, honestly, I would have taken the babies the first day I saw them. Guinea's are the worst mothers I have ever seen. My guinea hens will roost up in their tree (Yes, they have their own tree.

) at night and leave their babies at the bottom with no protection from predators.
It may seem mean to take them away from their mother, but honestly I think they would rather not die.

 

[Cowgirl71]

Like others have said, Guineas make awful mommas. If you want the baby to live you need to keep it. If it were me, I'd grab the other 3 too, so that they can survive too, and your one baby will have friends. But watch out! Momma Guinea will turn evil when you start taking her babies!

Quote:
I'm thinking about giving my Buff Orpington/Barred Rock cross hen some Guinea eggs to hatch, but I'm concerned about her crushing the tiny keets when they hatch. Do you use bantam hens or standard hens to hatch Guinea eggs?