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When deciding to breed guinea fowl, the first question to be resolved is what age of bird is best to buy. From the point of view of economic payback, it is more profitable to buy raised birds, since they are more likely to sit on eggs. But the question arises when guinea fowls start laying eggs and how old a bird must be in a particular month for it to start laying eggs in the spring.
At what age do guinea fowls begin to lay eggs?
The period of puberty in females normally occurs at 8 months, but the time of onset of egg laying depends not only on age, but also on the conditions of detention. Under normal conditions, guinea fowl usually begin to lay eggs in February-March at the age of 9-11 months.
The fact that guinea fowl later become sexually mature means that if birds of the same age are purchased, at first the eggs of guinea fowl will be food, since the male was not yet able to fertilize them.
Therefore, if suddenly the seller claims that he is selling an industrial breed that begins laying eggs as early as six months, this is not true. At home, such a guinea fowl will begin laying eggs at the usual 9 months. Of course, provided that an already “accelerated” bird was not purchased.
The number of eggs that one guinea fowl can lay varies for each breed. But the general rule is that the duration of the period during which guinea fowl lay affects the number of eggs laid. In good layers, the breaks between laying cycles are short, and the cycles themselves are longer than the average time of one laying in the breed.
When kept in cages, more eggs are obtained from guinea fowls than when kept on the floor, since in artificial conditions, due to lighting, it is possible to shift the timing when guinea fowls begin to lay eggs to the winter months.
But with cage keeping you can only get a edible egg. To obtain a fertilized animal, the optimal conditions for keeping it are a room with the possibility of walking.
When walking, birds' metabolism improves and sexual behavior is stimulated.
In addition, even at home, you can ensure that guinea fowl lay eggs more often than one egg per day. To do this, with the help of artificial lighting, birds are given a 16-hour day. As a result, a guinea fowl can lay 3 eggs in two days. But this regime exhausts the body of guinea fowl.
The very first eggs that guinea fowl lay (usually in February and March) are too small and are not suitable for hatching chickens.
Guinea fowl breeding methods
There are two ways: an incubator and a hen. If the option with a hen is chosen, then you should not expect a large number of eggs from the guinea fowl per season, since she will not have an incentive to continue laying eggs.
Raising chickens using a hen
To hatch chicks, the guinea fowl usually looks for a secluded place. In this case, the eggs should not be disturbed. The birds are very shy and if you touch the nest, they abandon it and go to fly to another place.
Before hatching, the guinea fowl lays about 20 eggs, after which it sits tightly on the eggs. Guinea fowl eggs are smaller than chicken eggs, but the basic law: the smaller the egg, the faster the chicks hatch, does not work in the case of guinea fowl. The main difference that makes it difficult to breed guinea fowl under a chicken is the timing of how long the guinea fowl hatch eggs. Guinea fowl incubate eggs for 25 to 28 days. That is, in fact, these are turkey dates.
The guinea fowl should not be disturbed when it is sitting on its eggs, so at home the birds are given closed nests indoors. It is better for strangers not to enter these poultry houses.
To hatch chicks, hens need confidence in safety and peace.
At the same time, if a guinea fowl decides to nest, it can become very aggressive.
Comment! Guinea fowl are bred unfriendly. The withdrawal may take two days.
If in the case of an incubator this does not matter much, then under the hen the previously hatched chicks, having dried out, can go explore the world while the mother sits on the remaining eggs. Or the hen will abandon the half-hatched guinea fowl and go to nurse the first batch.
Hatching in an incubator
During incubation, only medium-sized eggs with regular shape and smooth, intact shells are used. You can check for microcracks in the shell by knocking the eggs against each other. If there are cracks, the sound will be rattling.
There is no need to be afraid of breaking the shell with a light tap. Guinea fowl eggs have a very strong shell.This shell allows you to store guinea eggs much longer than chicken eggs without fear that they will spoil.
Also, before laying, the eggs must be illuminated with an ovoscope to make sure that there are no blood clots inside.
In the incubator, guinea fowl eggs can be kept together with chicken eggs, incubating in the “chicken” mode. But it is better if they are incubated separately. Since in nature, a female can hatch chicks only during the dry period and the eggs, when incubated, are in much more harsh conditions than those of chickens.
When incubating guinea fowl, the incubator maintains lower humidity than when incubating any other poultry. The thick shell and durable film will prevent the contents from drying out.
This is explained by the fact that it has very powerful protection against the penetration of pathogenic bacteria. But water from inside can penetrate outside and evaporate.
Chicken embryos are usually checked at 7 and 14 days, discarding spoiled eggs. Caesars are recommended to look only at 21-23 days. At this time, it will be visible if the embryo inside has frozen. Unfortunately, in many guinea fowl eggs the chick will be dead.
But this method only works just before hatching, when the chick begins to actively move and punch a hole into the air chamber with its beak.
You need to place the egg on a sieve turned upside down. An egg with a dead chick will remain motionless, while an egg with a living one will roll around on the net. It won't be able to fall; the sides will get in the way.
After hatching, the chicks are placed in a brooder and provided with high-quality feed.Guinea fowl do not require special feed; they can be fed with regular chicken starter feed. The presence of all necessary nutrients, vitamins and microelements will ensure rapid growth of the guinea fowl.
Guinea fowl are kept in brooders, depending on the weather, either until they fledge, or even longer. But you need to monitor the temperature. The first days it should be high enough so that the guinea fowl do not freeze.
Once you leave the radius of the lamp, the air will be too cold for your hot skin, heated by infrared radiation. This can cause your guinea fowl to catch a cold even in a brooder. It is better to use regular incandescent lamps or heating elements.
Later, the temperature in the brooder is gradually lowered. With an incandescent lamp this is especially convenient, since you can simply reduce the temperature by changing the lamps to less powerful ones.
Principles of feeding and maintaining the main herd
To obtain the maximum number of fertilized eggs, laying females and breeding males are provided with compound feed for laying hens, which stimulates egg laying and is rich in vitamin E. It is necessary to provide birds with high-quality feed even before laying. Normally, laying hens prepare for the cycle for a month.
Sometimes this doesn’t help, and the birds that laid eggs last year stubbornly refuse to do so this year, not paying attention to the fact that it’s not even February, but April. The reasons are often unknown, since the owners did not change the feeding.
Advice! When the reasons why guinea fowl have stopped laying eggs are unknown, you can try giving them boiled potatoes for several days. Often, after eating potatoes, birds begin to lay eggs.
If you give last year's potatoes, you need to break off the sprouts and drain the water after cooking.
At home, it is better to keep birds not in cages, but in a poultry house, where they can be provided with deep bedding and nesting boxes below and perches above. Guinea fowl fly much better than chickens and they are quite capable of perching one and a half to two meters high.
Although guinea fowl begin laying eggs in winter, they scatter these eggs everywhere and do not intend to sit on them. They will try to nest only with the onset of warm days.
If it is necessary to control egg laying, then the birds are left in the house in the morning, providing them with food and water. After lunch the hen should lay eggs.
So, after all, what is more profitable: raising a breeding herd from eggs or chicks or buying already grown young animals? Young animals can cost significantly more than eggs, even taking into account further raising and feeding of hatched guinea fowl. But you won’t have to worry about the survival rate and take care of the guinea fowl all summer.
Hatching eggs must be purchased in the spring so that the birds have time to grow. The grown young animals can be taken in the fall.
In terms of food, sometimes chicks can be even more profitable if there is access to cheap or free food. But this is rare. In addition, such feeds usually do not provide birds with all the necessary substances.
In order to get a good offspring, high-quality feed must be provided to both the broodstock and the young animals fattened for meat.
