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Farming Friends Forum » Guinea Fowl

1. jer
   Member

   Hi
   I found the nest where our guinea hen had been laying and took some eggs off the nest to incubate. We sucessfully hatched 12 from 13 eggs which are now 2/3 days old and in a brooder. This morning the guinea hen came off her nest with 4 chicks. We caught the chicks and put them in a shed, and then tricked mum and dad in there with them.
   They are all settled in there well, so i was just wondering if i could put all the other chicks in there with them and a lamp or will they attack them. Or should i wait for 6/8 weeks and then put them in. We also only have 1 shed to put them in so they will have to share at some point before we let them out permantley.The guineas will eventually live in the trees at night like there parents and will be free to roam.

   Yours Jeremy

   Posted 3 years ago #

2. admin
   Sara @ farmingfriends

   Hi Jeremy,
   Welcome to the farmingfriends forum. You are lucky that your guinea fowl hen sat and hatched some eggs. I have never managed to get my guinea fowl hens to sit on their nests. They will sit on the eggs but then when I try to protect them from predators they get off the eggs! Congratulations also on incubating 12 out of 13 eggs that is a great hatch rate as guinea fowl eggs are so difficult to hatch.

   I don't have experience of adding chicks to a group but I would have thought that if you were intending on mixing them it may be better to do so sooner. You could try adding the 12 when the adults and 4 chicks have settled down for the night and are abit more subdued. I think the main one to watch out for is the male guinea fowl. I know that male quail will kill the quail chicks if left in with the quail hen and chicks but not sure if this is the case for guinea fowl. You could create a penned area in your shed and put the 12 in there with the lamp hanging above and then the 12 keets can see the others and the adults and 4 keets can see the 12 and then they can get used to each other and you can assess how they are reacting to each other.

   Hope this info is of some use to you. Good luck and let us know how you get on.
   Kind regards
   sara @ farmingfriends

   http://www.farmingfriends.com
   http://farmingfriends.com/shop/

   Posted 3 years ago #

3. hazlia
   Member

   Hi Jeremy

   I am very impressed with your hatch rate. 12 from 13 is really very good. Could you enlighten me with your incubator make and what parameters you set to hatch the keets. My only attempt was fairly disastrous with only 5 from 24 (2 were born with splayed leggs and subsequently died).

   My total population is now 16 but not quite breeding age yet.

   Regards

   Mike

   Michael O'Riordan

   Posted 3 years ago #

4. jer
   Member

   Hi Sara
   Thank you for your advice. I put the 12 keets that i hatched in with the hen and cock and there 4 keets after 3 days. The adult guineas looked at the box with the chicks in for a minute then started to help them feed etc.. I was very impressed with the cock bird who crouched down with his feathers out inticing the chicks to get under him and get warm. So far they seem to be very good parents.
   Unfortunately i lost a chick a couple of night's ago, but when the hen bird got off the nest several days ago with her keets i put the remainder in my incubator and we have incubated one more chick. The chick had problems coming out of the egg and has subsuquently splayed feet which is nearly right now. We put the chick in the shed this morning with the rest whom accepted the chick straight away.
   By the rest of the forums here i must be the luckiest person to have had such a good rate of success with incubation! Long may it last but it is probably beginners luck.

   Yours Jeremy

   Posted 3 years ago #

5. jer
   Member

   Hi Hazlia

   The parameters were the ones that was given on this website as this is my first time incubating guinea fowl, 37.5 degrees @ 65% humidity for the first 25 days i think turning daily if not auto then 80% humidity from day 25 onwards until hatched.

   Please check as i am writing from memory not notes.

   Please note also that i took the eggs from the nest in the garden and was not exactly sure when she sat on them properly so i only guessed the right days and was very surprised on day 25 during breakfast when i was about to stop the incubator from turning when my 5 year old boy told me we had a chick in the incubator.
   I obviously stopped the machine from turning and sent him to school!!

   I have disinfected the machine and put it away today but will let you now the make in the next couple of days.

   yours Jeremy

   Posted 3 years ago #

6. jer
   Member

   Hi Hazlia

   The make of the incubator is R.Com Suro 20 egg incubator I bought it from the local farm supply stores where i live.
   The keets are 2 weeks old now and doing really well.

   Posted 3 years ago #

7. admin
   Sara @ farmingfriends

   Hi Jeremy,
   I must have missed you post above about the keets being accepted by the adults. Delighted to hear this and how nice to hear that the male was helpful with the keets. Glad they are good parents. I have heard stories about guinea fowl not being good mothers, so this is great to hear that yours have taken to it well.
   You are indeed very lucky to get a good hatch via the incubator and to have your guinea hen to sit as well and hatch some off. You have had the best of both worlds.
   Thanks for letting us know about the incubator. I have read that the RCom is one of the best incubators and I hope to treat myself to one this Christmas.
   Glad top hear the keets are doing well.
   Here is some info about guinea fowl keets development.
   Two weeks old - guinea fowl keets nearly able to fly.
   Six to eight weeks old – guinea fowl keets able to survive without heat.
   Ten to twelve weeks old – guinea fowl begin to call out so gender recognition is possible.
   Don't know if you have seen my main website which has a category with lots of articles and information about guinea fowl.
   http://farmingfriends.com/category/guinea-fowl/ The sitemap will show you all the articles in the guinea fowl category. http://farmingfriends.com/site-map
   Let us know how the guinea fowl keets get on.
   Kind regards
   sara @ farminmgfriends

   http://www.farmingfriends.com
   http://farmingfriends.com/shop/

   Posted 3 years ago #

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