When Can Male Guinea Fowl Breed?

[danielle2003]

We got our guinea fowl in September, and it's April now, so they're about 7 months old. The females are starting to lay eggs, every day. Are they fertilized? I heard different websites saying that males can successfully breed at 6 months, then somewhere else, it said 8-8.5 months.
Our males are big with bright red wattles (I don't know if that's what they're really called). I've seen them mount the females too.
Can they produce fertilized eggs at this age?

 

[R2elk]

We got our guinea fowl in September, and it's April now, so they're about 7 months old. The females are starting to lay eggs, every day. Are they fertilized? I heard different websites saying that males can successfully breed at 6 months, then somewhere else, it said 8-8.5 months.
Our males are big with bright red wattles (I don't know if that's what they're really called). I've seen them mount the females too.
Can they produce fertilized eggs at this age?

Guinea Fowl are sexually mature by 6 months old. Their eggs are most likely fertile.

 

[danielle2003]

Guinea Fowl are sexually mature by 6 months old. Their eggs are most likely fertile.

Okay. For some reason, some articles are saying that don't reach sexual maturity til 2 years! I'm like, what?!

 

[R2elk]

Okay. For some reason, some articles are saying that don't reach sexual maturity til 2 years! I'm like, what?!

There is a lot of bad information about guinea fowl on the Internet. Some people in this forum have reported that their 5 month old hens were laying.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Crack a few open into an bowl and find out! Fertilized eggs have a bulls eye or target appearance (right egg). Unfertilized eggs just have a small white dot (left egg). You may need to turn egg with a spoon to find the blastodisc. When satisfied, eat the egg - Guinea eggs are delicious!

 

[danielle2003]

Crack a few open into an bowl and find out! Fertilized eggs have a bulls eye or target appearance (right egg). Unfertilized eggs just have a small white dot (left egg). You may need to turn egg with a spoon to find the blastodisc. When satisfied, eat the egg - Guinea eggs are delicious!
View attachment 3458022

I did that test on three of them, and all three looked like the egg on the right.

 

[SamLockwood]

I got my guineas the end of August and they're definitely fertile.

I didn't do the yolk rest, just gathered about 18 of them over three weeks ago and put them in the incubator. The fertility rate was low: only 5 showed any development over a week, and it looks like four of those will hatch.

Weird part was within a couple of days of me setting up the incubator two of my chickens went broody so I let them keep any guinea eggs they acquired (my guineas decided that they should lay their eggs in the nesting boxes with the chickens, sometimes literally crawling into the same nesting box with them).

The fertility rate under the broodies was better. I candled them after about 10 days and about half were developed. I think many of the others may have been too new or not kept warm enough.

We'll see what hatches over the next several days.

 

[danielle2003]

I got my guineas the end of August and they're definitely fertile.

I didn't do the yolk rest, just gathered about 18 of them over three weeks ago and put them in the incubator. The fertility rate was low: only 5 showed any development over a week, and it looks like four of those will hatch.

Weird part was within a couple of days of me setting up the incubator two of my chickens went broody so I let them keep any guinea eggs they acquired (my guineas decided that they should lay their eggs in the nesting boxes with the chickens, sometimes literally crawling into the same nesting box with them).

The fertility rate under the broodies was better. I candled them after about 10 days and about half were developed. I think many of the others may have been too new or not kept warm enough.

We'll see what hatches over the next several days.

How long did you store the eggs before putting in the incubator?

 

[Isadora]

Okay. For some reason, some articles are saying that don't reach sexual maturity til 2 years! I'm like, what?!

I guess the keets I hatched out of my Guinea eggs were a miracle