My 8 guineas have been laying eggs all over the farm. I collected about 30 of them over a couple of days and put them in my incubator, not all on the same day - I went out this morning to turn the eggs, and there are 7- oops, 8 baby guineas hatched so far!
Keets are so cute!
Guineas are hatching!
Hey congratulations!
MollyD
whoa, that is AWESOME!
i am gonna need some new guineas soon, down to eight. told DH we need to band them in case they are being "relocated". they aren't tame enough to catrch and remove bands, and maybe the guinea theif wouldn't notice...
do you kno what colors you have?
tf
Hi, TamaraFaye!
We were down to 8 guineas also - fortunately, 4 males, 4 females. So far, 9 keets - oh gosh, I forgot how tiny they are compared to chickens!!!
One of them is very light colored. I'm afraid I'm not very good at recognizing guinea colors LOL. I have another guinea who laid her eggs in the chicken's nest box and has gone broody, so she doesn't like me to try to get the chicken eggs - it's a big enough box that the hens can come in and lay their eggs while the guinea is setting on the eggs - then she moves the chicken egg over with her eggs. Which means, I need to build another nest box - need more anyway, with 24 pullets getting closer to laying age. I'm not sure how I'll convince the hens to lay somewhere else though.
One of my guineas had kinda disappeared - I found her and 24 eggs across the road in some weeds. I read where you should move them, so I did, I moved the eggs and the guinea gal, but she will have nothing to do with them now at the new, safe location.
was i her eggs you incubarted?
No, the eggs I incubated were from two other nests I found in the weeds by the fence. Hers might still be viable - just moved them the other day, and I'm pretty sure she had just starting setting on them. Don't have a lot of room in my incubator at the moment!
well, i htink you are abou tto!
Good point - there was another one hatched, but still wet, so I'm letting her dry off before I move her to the brooder. I swear, she is the smallest keet I've ever seen!
there is a great site for IDing hte colors of chiks... www.guineafowl.com
Oh I bet they're adorable!
I'll post pictures in the morning. So far, 13 keets have hatched. I can hear tiny little peeps in several more eggs in the incubator.
Do you suppose there is a market for guineas?
oh yeah! ship some to me, QUICK!
list them on a local ag site, or a tradio, or post a notice at your feed store, or a classified ad. check out yahoo groups or guineafowl.com and see if anyone in your area, driving distance, needs keets.
congrats! i just found a nest of guinea eggs this afternoon. ahven't decided what to do with them...
tf
TamaraFaye -
since I only have one little Hovabator, do you think that I can just keep all the other eggs I've found out and turn them every day until this hatch is done, so I can clean it up well? Or do you suppose it would be okay to add these eggs as I find them? There are another 4 keets hatching out right now - LOL - they are so darn cute!
As long as you don't refrigerate them it should be OK. I remember saving eggs when I was a kid to put under a particular hen to hatch. Just don't let them get to cold or to hot.
Doe
since those are almost done hatcing it will be. depends on IF she had started seeting, and how old they are.
put them in an eggg carton to make turning easier. lean it on something at a 45 angle, and turn it everytime you walk by. try to keep between 40 and 60 degrees F.
get your brooder ready so once they are all out you can get it cleaned up. since you only have four guinea hens, you know some of those eggs are pretty dern old...