Guinea Babies Everywhere!

If you want to make an omelette you have a break a few eggs. The same rule applies to hatching guinea keets, though we've let them do the egg breaking. It all started late Saturday night (July 4th)  before we went to bed. As we were coming down to the final days for our eggs Neta went to turn off the automatic egg turner in the incubator and we found this:

And so it begins...

A small crack in one of the eggs. Once they "pip" it's usually less than a day before they are fully hatched. We went to bed knowing we'd wake up to a newly hatched guinea walking around in the incubator

Well...that's not what happened.

Most people experienced in hatching eggs will tell you not to intervene and let nature take its course.

We intervened.

Sensing something wasn't quite right Neta did some additional research and found out that the humidity was too low in our incubator. It was fine while the eggs were developing and turning, but the last few days the humidity needed to be higher or the chicks can become "shrink-wrapped" by the interior membrane. We added more water to the incubator and set about "moisturizing" the eggs and the membrane as we had more that were pipped.

It worked!

A couple of newly hatched guinea keets

We ended up losing the first one that we helped as it was too far gone from low humidity, but the rest managed to hang on and seemed to get a burst of energy once we moistened the membrane around them. By the end of the day we had 4 that had hatched on their own and were walking around. A fifth one was still laying on its side and we worried it might not make it as it couldn't support its own weight. We suddenly had a new problem to figure out: Splayed Leg

Laying on his/her side because of weak legs

The first 4 were transferred to a brooder we'd set up with a heater, feeder and waterer while we dealt with the guinea with splayed leg. Once again Neta did the research and fashioned a splint out of a bread tie and some medical tape. We splinted its legs and stood the chick up inside of what I jokingly referred to as "The Iron Lung".

I just busted out of an eggshell and this is what I get for my troubles?

The poor little thing was stuffed in there among paper towels to hold it up and then another taped over top to keep it from escaping. It wasn't pretty, but the next day it could stand up straight so it got transferred to the brooder with its 4 friends. And the eggs kept on popping like popcorn as I texted Neta new pictures. She implored me to stop them from hatching so she could get home to see them. By the end of Tuesday we had 4 more hatch and on Wednesday we put them in the brooder as well.

Exploring their new world!

The last one to hatch was the smallest egg in the bunch. It was about 70% the size of the others and when it hatched it was so tiny. It also had splayed legs and got the same treatment, but after a day in the "lung" it can't quite seem to get all the way to normal. It can sit upright but walks slowly and awkwardly. We ended up putting it in with the other keets in the brooder hoping it will gain strength being around others instead of being lonely.

We still have 4 eggs left that we feel are viable, three of which were laid several days later, so should be a little behind this initial batch. The ones we slipped under our broody hen in the coop were eventually abandoned by her this week. We brought them in and did a float test and they all sunk, so they're no good. So we wait.

In the meantime, our current brood is learning how to drink from a water bottle. It seems a bit rough but you basically grab their head and shove their beak into the end of the tube. Neta and I have done this to all the birds, some multiple times. They eventually figure out that sticking their beak in there means a refreshing drink and once a couple start pecking at it, they all mimic the behavior.

Waterboarding, but in a helpful and friendly way.

As long as everyone continues to develop and grow, we'll have nearly replenished our flock. We lost 11 original members and so far have hatched 10, with 4 eggs to go. We're pretty happy with our efforts, we learned a lot and should we lose more in the next year, we'll be ready and more knowledgeable for another batch. There's always something happening around here that teaches us new skills. We can now hatch eggs and treat Splayed Legs.

What's next, we wonder?

UPDATE: This past Saturday (July 11) two of the last four eggs hatched, bringing us to a final total of 12 hatched keets. The last two eggs showed no signs of life after a float test, so we ended up 12 out of 15 viable eggs. Considering we had to flush the momma off her nest to "save" her and gather the eggs, this was a pretty good hatch.

A pretty successful hatch. One big family!