What's a normal clutch for guineas?

[frigginchi]

So do they lay more than 1 egg a day? Do they sit on them right away and have a staggered hatch or do they wait to sit on them and hatch all at once?

 

[PeepsCA]

I just wish I could hatch the quantities that you do. You're an Olympic Gold Medalist hatcher and I'm in the Pee Wee league. Oh well. Fun is fun on whatever scale. Because I hatch such small quantities, it really is a hobby of love. I never make any money!

Actually I don't hatch that many, compared to some hatch-o-holics. All I have are tabletop incubators so that limits my hatch numbers, even with staggered hatches. Now if I had a couple Sportsmans or Dickeys... then I'd be hatching thousands, instead of hundreds lol.

 

[PeepsCA]

So do they lay more than 1 egg a day? Do they sit on them right away and have a staggered hatch or do they wait to sit on them and hatch all at once?

My Hens only lay 1 egg a day, a little later each day until they skip a day (usually every 10-12 days) and then they start over earlier the following day, and on goes the cycle. (They don't all skip the same day, of course). And they don't sit on the nest until their bodies are ready to go broody. Seems to be the norm for my girls to want to go broody after they've laid around 30 or so eggs, even tho I collect the fresh eggs and leave only a few marked eggs in the nest.

Some people swear up and down that their Hens sometimes lay 2 eggs per day, but mine do not. (I don't argue, knowing how a Hen's reproductive system works and how some Hens will skip a day, eggs can get hidden in the bedding, or there can be 1 more Hen in a flock than originally thought etc... so I just nod and smile, lol). I collect eggs 3X day or more, and it's never less than 22-24 hrs between eggs, with my girls.

If left alone to lay/nest the Hens will still lay the same way, getting off the nest each day after they lay, but they will usually go broody only after there are anywhere from 18-30 eggs in the pile. Until then the eggs stay cool, in a shaded hidden nest, staying dormant until the Hen indeed does go broody and starts sitting on them. Towards the end of the laying cycle, when the Hens are approaching broodiness they will spend a little longer on the nest when laying their daily egg. Then eventually stop laying and only get off the nest to eat, drink, poop as quick as they can. If the Hen is bothered/disturbed too much she may not ever go broody on her nest, or if she stars brooding the eggs and feels bothered/disturbed she may quit part way thru and give up on that nest, and start over in a new spot she likes better.

Staggered hatches (under a Guinea Hen) do happen quite a bit, especially if another Hen is sneaking eggs into the same nest, or she has too many eggs to keep adequately warm and some develop slower... but more often that not, the Hen will get off the nest with the first bunch of keets that have hatched, and the others get left behind, go cold and die before or during hatching. I always monitored my Hens on nests and would collect the left overs to put in the incubator as soon as she got off the nests with her keets (I don't like to let my Hens brood their own eggs, for many reasons.. the main ones being that they aren't always the best mothers and don't always hatch as many of their eggs as they could... plus I sell the majority of my keets, keep certain colors for myself and prefer to not have unnecessary losses or feed the predators).

 

[JLeigh]

Actually I don't hatch that many, compared to some hatch-o-holics. All I have are tabletop incubators so that limits my hatch numbers, even with staggered hatches. Now if I had a couple Sportsmans or Dickeys... then I'd be hatching thousands, instead of hundreds lol.

I have a friend who bought a cabinet incubator on the cheap online. She had to look for a while though. But let's review - - how many keets have you hatched so far (estimate will do)? Thousands?

You have a reputation in your area which I'm sure took a while to build. I'd like to build that, too, and think it might take a few years. Any advice on how to get my name out there?

We should start a hatch-o-holics forum, LOL.