Has anyone with guinea fowl ever had a hen do this? This is my 2nd experience in 2 years. I'm not going to allow anything to hatch but just wondering if anyone has had this type of backward experience with guinea fowl?
Kelly in Moxee
Guinea hen just began to set on 6 eggs 4 days ago
Out of over 30 guineas, I was down to 4, although I thought it was 3, then Saturday my son saw 4 so I went to look and there were 15 keets with them. I am very happy about it. Why do you not want yours to hatch? What do you mean by backwards? There are so many predators around here that I did not think one would be able to sit for 28 days out in the open, but one finally found a safe place. I am pretty new to guineas, less than 2 years. All 4 are taking care of and defending the babies, but only one sits at night while the other 3 roost. What is the best way to tell a rooster from a hen? We were trying to get them into the hen house that first night and one attacked my wife, she thinks it is a daddy. Take care, Mike
i thought all guineas went broody?????????
luckycharm,
All guinea hens will over time go broody. For my guinea hen to have hatched those 6 eggs in mid-November would have been a misfortune. It is 29 degrees in the morning here already. I have no time to babysit chicks and keets. That is why I shove eggs under broody hens in the early summer to get them hatched soon enough so the hens can do the raising and care for the keets and chicks. The broody hens have 4 months tho get the babies ready to fend for themselves through the winter. I do little for my poultry here other than feed them and provide water and periodically administer worming medication and dust them for mites. We've erected a fairly safe fencing situation and at this point we just let them fend for themselves. As long as the poultry get old enough by this time of year ... they will make it through the winter and be able to elude the feral cats 24/7. My wife doesn't want any more chicks or keets being raised in the house.
Kelly in Moxee
oh ok lol just a beginner well with all your poultry anyway it would be hard to go and care for every single one any way wouldnt it
luckycharm_1,
Hey did I ever mention I have cousins in the area around Melbourne, VIC, Australia? They emmigrated to the Gold Fields around Ballarat circa 1862. My 2g grandfather had an older brother and sister both leave Scotland at the same time with their respective spouses and children ... about 15 total. I've been in touch with a 2nd or 3rd cousin descended from the brother of my 2g grandfather.
I suppose we have a fair amount of poultry if add in the Game Fowl. They're kinda shared but we have a bunch of them still doing well. This winter we might lose a few but I expect we'll have 10 nests in the summer with 7-9 biddies in each. I'll swap out 3 nests so we can have a bunch of guineas and another so we can hatch out 3-4 more ducklings. If we're really lucky with the pair of geese I bought in April (Brown Chinese) ... we'll slip a few goose eggs beneath a hen as well. Those gees were a real bargain ... just $9 each.
I have about 30 hens and 5 roosters and 4 ducks and 11 guineas + the 2 geese and a Bronze turkey ... about 50 poultry .... that's really not so many compared to many members of DG it seems.
Kelly in Moxee
melbourne is the state next to mine i am in new south whales i like the names of your states then ours lol
i dont know how much i have now i just got rid of a lot at the auction so i will have to count soon
Luckycharm.1 ... Josh,
If you can't count the members of your flock without going outside ... I'd bet you have more poultry than we do. If you take into consideration my neighbor Mike owns a portion of the Game Fowl ... my personal count drops to about 40 poultry. That's a fairly modest quantity in my mind. I used to have 75-100 and at that time ... I didn't care but the feed prices have gone up 50% since I started ... so now quantity is an issue. This fall and winter we'll cull 25%.
Kelly in Moxee