Guinea fowl - advice ?

[StevieAus]

I have 15 Guinea Fowl male and female but so far no luck in breeding, they lay the eggs but do not sit on them.

I have tried placing them under the hens but no success there either only chickens.

I was going to try an incubator and see there is a rotating model

Any recommendations for a 24 egg model and advice on the guinea fowl, research suggests they are not good parents.

Edited June 3, 2019 by CharlieH
title edited

[CharlieH]

Moved to appropriate forum

[StevieAus]

Thanks wasn’t quite sure where to place it

[Crossy]

Guineas are useless parents even if they manage to hatch the eggs ????

 

If you have a broody hen then she should sit and hatch them, but from experience don't mix with hens eggs as the guineas seem to take a little longer to hatch and mum will go off with the chicken hatchlings.

 

There are many "automatic" incubators on the market, just ensure that you stop the turning about 5 days before the prospective hatch date.

 

Excellent advice here https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/incubating-and-hatching-guinea-fowl.67507/

 

[StevieAus]

3 hours ago, Crossy said:

Guineas are useless parents even if they manage to hatch the eggs ????

 

If you have a broody hen then she should sit and hatch them, but from experience don't mix with hens eggs as the guineas seem to take a little longer to hatch and mum will go off with the chicken hatchlings.

 

There are many "automatic" incubators on the market, just ensure that you stop the turning about 5 days before the prospective hatch date.

 

Excellent advice here https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/incubating-and-hatching-guinea-fowl.67507/

 

Thanks for the info very useful and particularly the article that’s what happened with the hen she deserted when her chicks born

[Toknarok]

        Yes they're tricky birds to breed. They all start laying at once, around Songkraan time, for most of the year you have no eggs, and then for a month or so you have dozens.

        I have been successful in getting eggs to hatch under broody hens. I found the success rate very poor, most of the eggs appeared to be infertile. I also had bad luck with them, I had 20 or so young chicks, hens, turkeys and guinea fowl, in a 'nursery' pen. Once night a couple of bloody cats broke in, and not being content with eating one or to they killed the bloody lot. It hate cats, nothing but killing machines.

       Persevere with trying to hatch the eggs under domestic fowl. However as soon as they hatch remove them from the hen, she'll likely as not kill them.

      Plenty of incubators on Lazada.

[StevieAus]

54 minutes ago, Toknarok said:

        Yes they're tricky birds to breed. They all start laying at once, around Songkraan time, for most of the year you have no eggs, and then for a month or so you have dozens.

        I have been successful in getting eggs to hatch under broody hens. I found the success rate very poor, most of the eggs appeared to be infertile. I also had bad luck with them, I had 20 or so young chicks, hens, turkeys and guinea fowl, in a 'nursery' pen. Once night a couple of bloody cats broke in, and not being content with eating one or to they killed the bloody lot. It hate cats, nothing but killing machines.

       Persevere with trying to hatch the eggs under domestic fowl. However as soon as they hatch remove them from the hen, she'll likely as not kill them.

      Plenty of incubators on Lazada.

Thanks for the advice yes they are tricky don’t have a problem with cats the locals and the odd feral were dealt with by my Jack Russell Terriers but have to keep them away from the birds.

The reason I asked about a recommendation for the incubator was we bought one from Lazada bought instructions in Chinese only so sent it back will try again.

Will also have to ensure as Crossy suggested don’t mix the eggs something I had been doing.

[cornishcarlos]

We had about 20 at one point... As above, useless parents ????

Seem very sensitive to rainy season and sickness, we are now down to 4 and don't intend to be hatching any even if we could.

I love having them around though, they are characters....

We bought an incubator kit from a guy on Facebook, then just fitted it to a polystyrene cool box. Worked well but not auto, so need to keep an eye on humidity and rotate manually. Cost about 1500 baht if I remember correctly !!

[StevieAus]

On 6/6/2019 at 10:30 AM, cornishcarlos said:

We had about 20 at one point... As above, useless parents ????

Seem very sensitive to rainy season and sickness, we are now down to 4 and don't intend to be hatching any even if we could.

I love having them around though, they are characters....

We bought an incubator kit from a guy on Facebook, then just fitted it to a polystyrene cool box. Worked well but not auto, so need to keep an eye on humidity and rotate manually. Cost about 1500 baht if I remember correctly !!

Thanks for the info I agree they are characters remind me of gangsters.

I have since obtained an incubator but unfortunately the instructions were in Chinese only so sent it back.

Considering they are such bad parents it’s surpring they are still around but perhaps fare better in their home country