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A common legend that the name “guinea fowl” comes from the word “caesar”, that is, it is a “royal bird”, attracts many poultry lovers. The color of the guinea fowl is also very beautiful, although it often depends on the breed of guinea fowl. Most of them have a small speckled feather, which makes the bird seem to be sprinkled with small pearls.
The photo shows a guinea fowl of an “average” color. They can be white, blue-feathered, or piebald.
The origin of the guinea fowl is from North Africa and was brought to Europe by the ancient Greeks. True, at that time Europe was not delighted with these birds and the number of guinea fowls was reduced to zero. The Portuguese again brought these birds to Europe in the XNUMXth century from West Africa.
The guinea fowl does not belong to the pheasant family (chickens, peacocks, pheasants, turkeys), they have their own family, of all the genera of which only the common guinea fowl is domesticated.
Guinea fowls have a delicious dietary meat, in quality standing between game and domestic chicken.
In countries where guinea fowl are bred, the birds are usually stewed or roasted over very low heat.
A domesticated guinea fowl is a bad mother. Perhaps the fact is that in captivity the guinea fowl cannot make a nest for itself. In nature, the nest of guinea fowl is a depression in the ground, where the bird lays up to 8 eggs. But guinea fowl are very shy. If in nature they can find a secluded place where they can hatch their eggs, then in captivity this is almost impossible. And if you frighten the guinea fowl, she will leave the nest.
It is precisely because of shyness in captivity that guinea fowls are hatched in an incubator. There is one more thing. In nature, guinea fowls breed during a period of drought, as their young are very sensitive to dampness and cold. Such conditions are easy to create for guinea fowl in the southern Mediterranean, but much more difficult in more northern conditions. And even in nature, the crown princes can easily die, getting wet under the dew that fell in the morning. When all these conditions are taken into account, the incubator is more reliable.
Although it happens that chicken or turkey are used to incubate the cesareans. You can bring together chickens and caesars under the chicken. But since the cesareans take a week longer to hatch than chickens, chicken eggs are placed under the hen a week later. And turkey chicks have the same time frame as cesareans, eggs can be laid under the turkey at the same time.
Incubation of guinea fowl eggs at home
Guinea fowl eggs with a shelf life of at least a week and a weight of at least 38 g are suitable for incubation. The eggs should be brown. They can be either light or dark brown. Mandatory requirement: strong shell.
If the eggs make a rattling sound, they are not suitable for incubation. In their shell there are microcracks invisible to the naked eye. Most likely, pathogenic microflora has already penetrated through these microcracks, which will quickly multiply in the warm and humid environment of the incubator. Even if there is no infection yet, the liquid will evaporate very quickly through the cracks and the embryo will die anyway.
Guinea fowl begin to rush from 8 months, but the hatching egg is collected from birds that are one year old. For breeding, eggs begin to be collected only in the third week of oviposition, since the first eggs may not be fertilized.
Before laying, the future hatching egg is stored in a room with a temperature of 12 to 15 degrees. An old, but still working refrigerator is best for the role of the room. If you store caesar eggs in egg cartons, then put them with the blunt end up. Can be stored on its side, but in this case it is necessary to turn the eggs 2-3 times a day.
The guinea fowl is a very sloppy bird in relation to nesting litter. To keep the eggs clean, they need to be collected 3-4 times a day. In addition to all the trouble, a free-range guinea fowl lays eggs anywhere but in a nest prepared for her. This is, from the point of view of the poultry breeder, an ideal nest for oviposition. Guinea fowls have their own opinion. Therefore, guinea fowls will have to be kept either in an aviary, or to look for places where they decided to build nests for themselves.
When incubating guinea fowl eggs at home, hygiene measures must be strictly observed. First of all, because of the untidiness of the birds themselves.
When preparing eggs for incubation, in addition to external examination, the eggs must be rinsed with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. The potassium permanganate solution must be freshly prepared. Contaminated places are gently rubbed with a soft cloth. It is important to try not to damage the protective film, without which pathogenic bacteria can penetrate inside. After rinsing, the eggs are dried.
Before laying eggs in the incubator, they are viewed on an ovoscope. Similar requirements are in the event that the eggs are planned to be laid under the brood hen.
Breeding guinea fowl in an incubator
Since guinea fowls are often bred under chicken, and adjusting the incubator to the needs of each type of bird can be not only difficult, but simply impossible, many poultry farmers believe that the incubation of guinea fowl can take place under the same conditions as the incubation of chickens.
Successful breeding of cesareans:
In fact, the mode of incubation of guinea fowl eggs differs from the mode of incubation of chicken eggs. This is not surprising, given the difference in climate between the regions from which these bird species originate. Not only the timing of incubation differs, but also the temperature required for the normal development of the chicks. Although, if it is very necessary, and there is no adjustable incubator, then they will incubate and in the “chicken” mode the number of hatched cesareans will be less, but not all will die.
The basic rules for breeding guinea fowl in an incubator are no different from the rules that are used when breeding other types of birds:
- cleaning from dirt;
- disinfection;
- ovoscope inspection;
- bookmark in the incubator;
- maintaining optimal temperature and humidity during different periods of incubation;
- maintaining the incubation period.
The penultimate point requires some explanation, since the optimal temperature and humidity for each species are different.
Table of the mode of incubation of guinea fowl eggs in comparison with the mode of incubation of chicken eggs
For guinea pigs:
For chickens:
It can be seen from the tables that chickens have significantly lower requirements for humidity than guinea fowls, and the requirements for turning eggs are higher.
On a note! The table shows that the incubation of caesar eggs can last 26 days. But this will happen if the temperature in the incubator is above the optimum. In this case, the cesareans will hatch underdeveloped. It is better if the incubation takes longer, but the chicks will be full.
If you bring the tables together, you get:
| empress | hens | |
|---|---|---|
| Incubation period, days | 28 | 21 |
| temperature in the incubator | Decreases from 38° at the beginning to 37 at the end | From 37,6 at the beginning to 37,2 at the end |
| Humidity | Fluctuates depending on the period of incubation, maximum at the end of incubation 70% | Increases from 50% to 80% |
| Candling | 8, 15, 24 days of incubation* | 7, 12, 19 days of incubation |
*There are suggestions to ovoscope and remove infertile caesar eggs only on the 24th day before hatching.
The second option: remove the unfertilized by 8; 15 – those in which a blood stain appeared; at 24 – eggs with a frozen embryo
Both methods have pros and cons. During operation, it is very undesirable to open the incubator so as not to violate the thermal regime. With this approach, the candling advice only on the 24th day has the right to exist. But if there were cracks in the egg and it rotted much earlier, then in 3 weeks the contents will have time to leak out and infect healthy eggs.
There is nothing to worry about if the batch of eggs is very large and the hatched chicks will be planted in different brooders. In this case, you can lay some of the eggs later. Eggs placed in the incubator later than the main batch must be marked in order to know how many days “fresh” eggs are incubated and on what day they need to be checked with an ovoscope.
The main requirement: in one brooder there must be the same age cesareans. Otherwise, the younger ones may be trampled.
So which way to choose is up to the owners, although it’s annoying sometimes to drive an incompletely filled incubator.
Usually in an automatic incubator, eggs should be placed with the blunt end up. When manually turned over, the eggs are laid on their side, just as they would lie under a hen. In order not to get confused with turning over, it is better to mark one side with a marker.
Hatching guinea pigs
On the 27th day or even earlier, pecking may appear on the eggs. It will take about a day for the final formation and hatching of the guinea fowl. If the incubation mode was not violated, then the output will be friendly. But, depending on the development of the Caesars, some can almost immediately jump up and try to run, others will lie quietly and gain strength. Those who try to run should be caught and moved to a brooder. Tsesars are very mobile and can fit into any hole. Calm ones should be left for a while in the incubator.
How to increase the humidity in the incubator
If the poultry breeder has an expensive programmable incubator, then he can set the desired humidity, temperature and the number of egg turns per day.
But what if you only have a cheap “bowl with a fan” or a homemade incubator from an old refrigerator or a foam box? In the latter cases, it is only possible to increase the area from which water will evaporate by placing a cuvette filled with water in the incubator. Or two. In a foam box, you can pour water into the bottom of the box.
The recommended spraying of eggs to increase humidity will only be effective with an external fan. But for spraying, the owner will have to open the incubator.
If the incubator is “half-automatic” with a built-in fan, then spraying anything inside is simply dangerous, since water can get into the electrical system, and more than enough water can be poured into it anyway. In this case, the “warming” of the incubator helps. The more isolated such an incubator from the environment, the higher the humidity in it. But it will still not be possible to raise up to 80%. Yes, and you don’t really need to.
In self-made incubators without an automatic determinant, humidity is calculated from the table according to the temperature difference between the “dry” and “wet” thermometers. A “wet” thermometer is a thermometer whose lower tip is wrapped in a cloth wick. The other end of the wick is lowered into a container of water.
If the incubator is large enough, you can put a container of hot water in it to increase the humidity. But this will lead to an increase in temperature, which can harm the chicks.
Underheating or overheating of hatching eggs
To reduce humidity, it will be enough to reduce the water “mirror” or remove the “insulation”.
Conclusion
Since caesar eggs do not require a large percentage of moisture, like duck or goose eggs, the hatchability of caesar eggs is higher. And even with the “chicken” incubation mode, breeding guinea fowl will be quite a profitable activity.