Incubating guinea fowl eggs

[Katjane]

Hi,
I'm new to incubating guinea fowl eggs, but I've tried my first batch and I dont think they will hatch.
I'm at day 32 and nothing has happened. we just cracked open an egg and found a fully formed guinea fowl but it appeared to be dead. I've had the temperature at 37.8C which I think is about 100F, humidity initially 60, then 40% until day 25, then upped the humidity to 65%. I had trouble getting the humidity up any higher. There was a set back at day 20. Another family member unknowingly turned the incubator off, because the humidity level was alarming. It was off for 1 to 2 hrs and the temp dropped to 21C or 70F. The guinea fowl appeared to still be moving inside the egg but I guess this mishap could have made this batch unviable. Could anyone give me some advice?

 

[R2elk]

Hi,
I'm new to incubating guinea fowl eggs, but I've tried my first batch and I don't think they will hatch.
I'm at day 32 and nothing has happened. we just cracked open an egg and found a fully formed guinea fowl but it appeared to be dead. I've had the temperature at 37.8C which I think is about 100F, humidity initially 60, then 40% until day 25, then upped the humidity to 65%. I had trouble getting the humidity up any higher. There was a set back at day 20. Another family member unknowingly turned the incubator off, because the humidity level was alarming. It was off for 1 to 2 hrs and the temp dropped to 21C or 70F. The guinea fowl appeared to still be moving inside the egg but I guess this mishap could have made this batch unviable. Could anyone give me some advice?

If your incubator is a forced air unit, the recommended temperature is 99.5°F (37.5°C). If it is a still air incubator, the recommended temperature is 100.5°F to 101.5°F (38.1°C to 38.6°C) measured at the top of the eggs.

If you have not checked your incubator's temperature and humidity with a calibrated thermometer and a calibrated hygrometer, you really don't know what temperature or humidity that you were actually operating at. It is rare for the incubator's thermometer and hygrometer to be accurate.

It is unlikely that a couple of hours with the incubator being turned off would have caused the hatch to fail. Your description of the keet being dead in shell is symptomatic of too high of humidity during the early part of incubation preventing the air cell from becoming large enough to support the keet during the last days of incubation.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

x2 on @R2elk's assessment...I incubate guinea fowl eggs on the dry side (35-40% humidity) until lockdown, then raise humidity to 65+%. Monitoring air cell size during incubation will help you determine if humidity adjustments are needed.

If you haven't already read it, this incubation guide may be helpful. If I were at this point in incubation and not seeing external pips, I'd candle to see if any of the keets might need assistance. Best of luck!