The wild nature of the guinea hen asserts itself in her nesting habits. Instinct demands that the nest be well hidden from all enemies, such as crows, dogs, skunks, opossums, rats, foxes, coyotes, and other predatory animals. If the hen becomes frightened by the intrusion of some enemy, or if her eggs are removed from the nest, more than likely she will change her nesting place to a safer location. For this reason she should not be disturbed while she is on the nest, and the eggs should not be removed without leaving a few nest eggs in their place. If a number of eggs are removed at one time, half a dozen left in the nest usually are sufficient to keep the hen from seeking a new nest. If the eggs are gathered every day, two or three usually are enough to leave as nest eggs. It is unnecessary to remove the eggs with a spoon or to scrape them out with a stick, as is sometimes done to prevent the hand from coming in contact with the nest and leaving a scent. After the eggs are gathered they should be handled with as little jarring as possible and should be set while fresh, never holding them more than two weeks if it can be avoided.
Incubation
Ordinary hens are used commonly to incubate guinea eggs, but guinea hens, turkey hens, and incubators also can be employed successfully. The usual sitting for a guinea hen is about 14 eggs, for a hen of one of the general-purpose breeds such as a Plymouth Rock, 18 eggs, and for a turkey hen, about 24 eggs. The incubation period for guinea eggs is 28 days, although frequently they start hatching on the twenty-sixth day and are all hatched by the end of the twenty-seventh day.
If the nest in which the guinea hen becomes broody is safe from any disturbance, she may be trusted with a sitting of eggs and more than likely will hatch out every egg that is fertile, provided all hatch at about the same time. As soon as the guinea chicks begin to leave the nest the hen will leave with them, and any eggs that are late in hatching are ruined unless they are placed in an incubator or under a broody hen before they become chilled. Guinea hens usually are too wild to be set anywhere except in the nest where they have become broody, and often such a nest is unsafe. Because of these disadvantages and the fact that guinea hens do not make the most satisfactory mothers for guinea chicks, ordinary hens are most often used to do both the incubating and the brooding, at least until late in the summer, when the guinea hens often are allowed to sit and raise a brood without much attention being given them. Broody turkey hens, when not needed to incubate turkey eggs, often receive a sitting of guinea eggs, and they hatch them quite as well as ordinary hens and also are able to cover more eggs.
Artificial Incubation and Brooding
Incubators are used as successfully in hatching guinea eggs as in hatching hen eggs. They are operated in exactly the same way for either kind, except that the thermometer is lowered sufficiently to make its relative position above the guinea eggs similar to its former position above the hen eggs.
Little has been done in the way of brooding guinea chicks artificially. They are naturally of a wild nature and require free range to grow into strong, vigorous birds. Nevertheless in one case a New England poultryman hatched 200 guinea chicks and succeeded in raising about 125 by brooding them in exactly the same way as common chicks in a hot-water brooder house. On bright warm days the chicks were allowed to run in a yard about 50 by 100 feet, which had been planted to corn, and thus afforded some green food for them to pick at. This yard was inclosed by a 5-foot wire fence of 1-inch mesh, with 2 feet of 1⁄2-inch mesh around the bottom. The guineas began flying over the fence when they were about 6 weeks old, and from then on they had free range and were allowed to roost in the trees. Other poultrymen who have tried brooding guinea chicks artificially report utter failures, sometimes due to white diarrhea, and at other times the birds seem to become weak and die from no apparent cause except too close confinement.
Natural Brooding of Guinea Chicks
Ordinary hens make the best mothers for guinea chicks. Given warm, dry weather and plenty of range, turkey and guinea hens can be used successfully, but should a rain or heavy dew occur, the mother turkey or guinea hen is apt to drag the chicks through the wet grass and many are lost from becoming wet and chilled. Neither turkey nor guinea hens can be induced to seek the shelter of a coop at night and during storms, but will remain out in the fields to hover their broods wherever they happen to be when nightfall overtakes them. When the guineas are old enough to roost they can be trained to roost wherever desired by driving them to the roosting place and feeding them there regularly. After the first few nights they will come to the place themselves, but until they are old enough to roost many of the young guineas that are being raised with turkey or guinea hens are likely to be killed by exposure to cold and dampness or by being led over so wild a range that they become exhausted and are unable to keep up with the remainder of the flock.
If ordinary hens are used as mothers, it is very easy to raise a large percentage of the total number of guinea chicks hatched. Each hen that is to have a brood should be allowed to hatch out some of the eggs herself, after which she will mother all that are given her. A Plymouth Rock hen can care for 18 easily. After the hatch is completed and the chicks are strong enough to leave the nest, the hen and brood are ready to be removed to the coop provided for them. The greatest fault of the hen as a mother is that on the average farm she has become accustomed to staying about the barnyard, and if allowed to do so, she will keep her guinea chicks there also. Conditions about the barnyard are entirely unsuited for raising guineas, and to prevent the hen keeping them there the coop should be placed in a distant pasture or field. Here the hen should be induced to remain until the guineas are old enough to go to roost.