Looking For Incubator Recommendations to Hatch Guinea Fowl Eggs

[Gwynny7]

Hello BYC,

I am looking to try to incubate some of my guinea fowl eggs. I have 5 hens and they are almost laying an egg a day and the eggs are piling up rapidly. I was wondering if anyone here has hatched guinea fowl eggs and what incubator you used to do so.

I saw this one at my local tractor supply store.... Is it any good?

http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pr...-series-circulated-air-incubator?cm_vc=-10005


I see there are some very bad reviews....


I have checked out The Incubator Thread on BYC https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/736899/the-incubator-thread

and have found people recommending (in no particular order):

1. Brinsea Mini Advance Hatching Egg Incubator aka MINI ADVANCE INCUBATOR
http://www.strombergschickens.com/product/Mini-Advance-Incubator/brinsea-incubator-sale
http://www.chickenspoultryeggsincub...nce-egg-incubator-with-automatic-egg-turning/

2. Hova Bator Egg Incubator 1602N with Circulated Air Fan Kit

http://www.amazon.com/Hova-Bator-Incubator-1602N-Circulated/dp/B004XNMGOS

3. Brinsea Octagon 20 ECO Auto Turn Egg Incubator

http://www.amazon.com/Brinsea-Octagon-Auto-Turn-Incubator/dp/B001UFJTJC

I did find one review on Octagon 20 that someone hatched chicks and keets (baby guinea fowl) with this incubator and had 90% success rate.


If you have any other recommendations please tell me!! I tried searching the incubator thread but it is SOO long and hard to sift through all at once. My Dad and I don't have a lot of money so the incubator must be below $500. Honestly I think my Dad rather it be as affordable as possible.... something that will work correctly and not end up being "disposable". I don't have the skill or capacity to make one homemade but if you share a DIY tutorial maybe my Dad could figure something out. Though to be honest I think having a incubator that you plug in load up the eggs and hit go will work the best for us.

 

[feedman77]

1588 hovabator genesis.

 

[Gwynny7]

How does the Styrofoam hold up? Did you use an automatic egg turner?

 

[feedman77]

So far it has held up well. I've had it 2 years. It came with a liner to help protect the bottom and make cleaning easier.

Yes I have a turner In it. I used a lg turner. 41 eggs.

I get hatch rates in it just as good as my brinsea adv. But at about half the cost and double the capacity.

I think it and turner about 200 dollars.

 

[Gwynny7]

Ok Thanks!

 

[MrTweedy]

Has anyone heard of the "Rite Farm products model 1200 pro digita l incubator?" I wish I had looked on this site before I ordered one!

 

[MrTweedy]

I'm having a little difficulty navigating this site,I'm sorry if I'm posting in wrong places!

 

[guineapeeps]

Have you thought of letting your Guinea hens hatch their own eggs? My first year, I hatched eggs in the incubator and I had ok success. I did this because I heard that Guineas are terrible mothers. The next year, I let my guinea hens sit on and hatch their own to see how it went. The hatch rate was much higher and I found that my hens were great mothers. I had 5 hens (2 of my hens took over 2 of the other hens keets and ran the poor younger mothers off) but the whole flock seemed to help care for the babies. The mothers were very protective and were attentive to the keets and I think I lost only 1 keet out of about 40. The only eggs I incubate now are ones that have not hatched if my hens abandon the nest with her new keets, leaving viable eggs behind. Maybe I've just been lucky with my hens, but it might be worth a try to let them try to hatch a few on their own!
Good luck with your Guinea hatching!

 

[Gwynny7]

@guineapeeps Your story is similar to me!! I have exactly 5 hens! Sadly our reintroduction of the 2 injured (now healed but still missing tons of feathers) hens back into the bunch did not go too well.... One day and the other birds had Girly's skin pink / raw and we saw birds pulling out her messed up feathers. Girly was attacked on St. Patty's Day to the point of bleeding real bad....and Curly started getting picked on so we brought her in. What initiated the attack? The girls laid an egg!


We had hoped since they were healed we could put them back despite not having all the feathers grown back in.... well we were wrong. We had them separated for 4 weeks roughly for recovery.


We were thinking of making a nest inside our barn for the hens and placing their eggs in it to see if they would sit on them. Do you have any suggestions on how to make a nest look appealing to a guinea? As you know guineas are real finicky with change.

 

[guineapeeps]

I would try several different types nesting areas, but make sure they are somewhat secluded. I have made some out of Rubbermaid containers with a door cut out, made some out of buckets, and made some on the floor in a secluded corner. They may not sit on the eggs if they have been removed, although you can place a few eggs in the nesting boxes and that will sometimes encourage them to lay eggs there.
Most of my hens prefer an old wheelbarrow filled with straw. They all want to pile in there together and have a community nest. It's not ideal because the sides are tall and the keets can't get out when they are little. I have tried putting small food and water containers in for the keets but it's so crowded it gets spilled. I finally ended up waiting for most of the keets to hatch out and getting them all out of the wheelbarrow. The hens completely freak out and attack me but it's short lived and they do ok. Sometimes I have eggs that haven't hatched left in the wheelbarrow and I either incubate them or put them under my really tame Guinea hen and she will hatch them out. (She broke her foot when she was young and is used to being handled, so she is very agreeable to almost anything). She had some of her own eggs she was sitting on and I put about 8 others under her and she hatched all of them out and took good care of them, despite being about 5 days older than hers. (She likes to nest on the floor in a pile of straw, so they could get out and eat.)

In the end, they will only lay where they want to. I've had my share of hens laying out in the bushes and brush. I've only had one success in trying to move them once they have gone broody and are sitting on the eggs. In that case, I went out after dark and put her and her eggs in a Rubbermaid container with a door and carried her to the coop and left it dark all night. Because she couldn't see, she was forced to lay on them all night. She continued to lay on them in the container, but everyday I had to carry the container out to the field where I found her eggs and carry it back in the coop each night , so she wouldn't get picked off by a predator. Crazy birds!

Is it the males, other females, or both that are picking on your two hens? They seem to establish a pecking order and can be mean to some but not others, especially during mating season! My crippled Guinea, and the two younger ones seem to get picked on the most! I hope your hens recover and are able to go back with the rest......good luck!