Breeding guinea fowl is not yet so popular that those wishing to start a household know all the intricacies of this art. The young of these birds are not sold at every market or in every incubator. Therefore, once you have obtained eggs or chicks of exotic birds, the most practical thing to do in the future is to at least partially replenish your livestock yourself. Find out how many days a guinea fowl hatches its eggs.
Features of oviposition
The guinea fowl can rush quite intensively.With an average of 120-150 eggs per year, there are countries that have achieved a stable production of 120-170 (Hungary) and even 130-190 (Canada, Great Britain) units from females. There are individual individuals with unique results, approaching three hundred pieces per year. Such numbers are encouraging to breeders, assuring them that in the future guinea fowl will be able to compete with chickens in producing a dietary product with a distinct taste and nutritional profile.
So far, most of the eggs laid by guinea fowl are used to prolong their genus. These birds enter puberty late. A guinea fowl can lay its first clutch at the 9th month of age. The selection of productive laying hens for the breed is difficult, since all females lay eggs in a common nest. At first they are small in a young guinea fowl, but after a week or a week and a half they reach the required size. The first product is not suitable for hatching chicks.
The bird demonstrates the highest rates of egg production in the first year of its “working activity.” At first, the bird carries 2 pieces. every 3 days with rare rest breaks. Towards the end of the warm season, the number of eggs decreases. It has been noticed that the earlier the female laid her first egg, the more successful a laying hen she will be.
In the second year, productivity drops, but the product becomes larger. These eggs hatch into significantly more chickens as a percentage of the total egg load. In addition, such a brood is hardier and slightly heavier than first-year chicks. Starting next year, the number of eggs laid and their incubation quality decreases.
How many days does a guinea fowl sit on eggs before chicks hatch?
The question is interesting, since any owner strives to take advantage of the warm period of the year.Of course, it is not so expensive to keep newborn guinea hens, like chickens of other poultry, warm for several weeks in a summer kitchen, in the entryway, or even in the house near the radiator or stove.
After all, poultry farmers practice leaving the best individuals of both sexes for the winter to maintain the livestock. If all the young animals manage to get stronger and reach sexual maturity, then the herd can be kept at fairly low temperatures. Even if the farmer uses extended daylight hours for laying hens, it is more profitable for the guinea fowl that were born this year to also begin laying eggs in the winter.
To develop the embryo to the point where the chicks hatch on their own, the guinea fowl must sit on the eggs for 25-28 days.
What can affect the timing?
Most of all, successful hatching of chickens depends on the quality of the eggs placed under the hen. The best option is if the incubation material is viewed using an ovoscope before laying. Easily detectable signs of marriage:
- there are cracks of any size on the shell;
- chatterboxes (gurgle when shaken and break easily);
- blood clots in the protein;
- 2 yolks.
As many eggs are placed in the nest under the hen as she can completely cover with her body and plumage. Despite the fact that the guinea fowl scoops up whatever is protruding from under it and constantly stirs and turns over the clutch, its strength is still limited. 10-day fresh eggs are laid out in one layer, but not in a heap.
How many days does a guinea fowl hatch under a chicken?
If there is no guinea fowl willing to become a hen in the herd, the clutch is offered to a hen ready for such a function.These birds calmly accept the eggs of not only familiar birds, but even cuckoos, to hatch.
Oddly enough, replacing the mother does not in any way affect the development time of the embryo: the same 25-28 days.
If the guinea fowl's clutch is small, chicken, duck, turkey or other eggs are added under the chickweed, but taking into account the duration of their incubation. Mass pecking of chicks must occur simultaneously, regardless of the “race” of the members of the future family.
