Where are we? days to hatching?

[awscas]

Hi, My wife pulled a few eggs from under one of our hens. And we saw movement when we candled them. We didnt know we had a cock with the hens. 2 are almost entirely filling the shell. I made incubator out of 10 gal aquarium and have it steady @ 100 deg +/- and 65-80 % RH. When should we go ito lockdown...can we still candle them then?
Thanks...noobs...

 

[Pork Pie]

Why not consider putting the eggs back under the hen? She seems to be doing a good job already and having her acting as mum from day one will mean you don't have to worry about caring for the chicks - just a thought, but sorry, i have no experience in using incubators.

Good luck whatever you decide

CT

 

[Percheron chick]

Let the hen finish what she started. It's so much less work when a hen raises them and much cheaper.

How do you not know you have a rooster at this point?

 

[awscas]

Hi, Thanks...we tried to slip them back in, but she is onto us. Now she isn't sitting any more. She will sit long enough to lay another, then moves off nest. She didn't see us, but somehow she knows we messed with her eggs. As for the rooster, we HAD one, but he was taken by a fox over 2 months ago, and the remaining guineas all looked like hens. One of the 3 must be a rooster...if so, he doesn't look anything like his brother...candled last night and saw movement in one, not so much in the other, and the air sac is about the size of a quarter..so we will see...

 

[Percheron chick]

Guinea cocks are easy to identify once mature. Study them. He will be larger, more upright, have longer swept back waddles and have a one syllable call. Guinea chicken hybrids do happen and I would guess they should hatch around the 25 day. If the hen gave up that easily, she probably wasn't going to stick with it until the end. Don't handle the eggs anymore. The chick needs to position itself to hatch properly.

 

[R2elk]

Guinea cocks are easy to identify once mature. Study them. He will be larger, more upright, have longer swept back waddles and have a one syllable call. Guinea chicken hybrids do happen and I would guess they should hatch around the 25 day. If the hen gave up that easily, she probably wasn't going to stick with it until the end. Don't handle the eggs anymore. The chick needs to position itself to hatch properly.

While wattle size and shape can be an indication of guinea sex, it is not always an accurate indicator. I have personally had male guineas with the same size and shape wattles as the hens. I have also seen photos of proven hen guineas who had wattles that were huge and cupped like a person would expect from a male guinea.