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incubating guinea fowl

Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2021 8:57 pm
by KimChick
Has anyone on PTO incubated guinea fowl?
I would be interested in finding out if you had to adjust the incubator temperature.
Chicken eggs are 99.5–100*F, but I am finding guinea eggs should be 99-99.5°F.

Re: incubating guinea fowl

Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2021 10:25 pm
by WLLady
I have hatched many and just used the same temp and humidity as chickens.... They just take a bit longer and tend to hatch over a period of 3 days between 25 and 28 days

Re: incubating guinea fowl

Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2021 10:41 pm
by KimChick
LOL Had I looked in my "Fowl Info" binder first, I would have found what I printed from PTO - Hatching Eggs that tells me that.
Thanks!

Re: incubating guinea fowl

Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2021 2:32 pm
by KimChick
What a neat experience!
Yesterday was lockdown. I waited until dark so I could candle as I took the eggs off the turner. Today, at noon, 2 had hatched. Then by 1:45 there were 2 more. From the time the keets started to zip, it took only 5 - 10 minutes for them to push out of the egg. Amazing.

Re: incubating guinea fowl

Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2021 8:53 pm
by KimChick
Apparently, I got excited too quickly. The first 4 keets hatched quite quickly. The next ones are taking longer.

Re: incubating guinea fowl

Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2021 11:10 pm
by KimChick
Now there are 9; however, the question is - how long can they stay in the incubator? They do seem to have found the wet sponge to peck at to "wet their whistles".
On many sites, it says 24 hrs. But I can't open the lid if any are pipped or zipping.

Re: incubating guinea fowl

Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2021 11:12 pm
by KimChick
WLLady wrote:
Fri Jun 11, 2021 10:25 pm
I have hatched many and just used the same temp and humidity as chickens.... They just take a bit longer and tend to hatch over a period of 3 days between 25 and 28 days
Thanks WLady

Re: incubating guinea fowl

Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2021 8:52 am
by KimChick
In conclusion...
Hatch rate was 65% - on the low side of normal - that's not too bad.
There were 2 that pipped and did nothing else, so I waited to make sure none others were pipped and snatched them one by one to check for life. Both were alive and shrink wrapped. How they got that way is beyond me; the lid was never taken off. So I got them out of their shells with the help of some warm water. They are now up and about, in brooder with all the other keets.
Now I can say, in my one experience, they hatch on Day 26 & 27.

Re: incubating guinea fowl

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2021 11:51 am
by baronrenfrew
FYI newly hatched birds can go more then 24 hours without food or water - the answer is 48 hours (or is it longer?) - this is why hatcheries can ship day old chicks so far