On 8 evaluation dates, a total of eggs from white guinea fowl and from grey guinea fowl were assessed. Egg length along the longitudinal axis and egg width along the equatorial axis were measured with an electronic caliper. Shell surface area cm 2 was calculated using the following formula Paganelli et al. Shell weight g was determined using a Medicat scale. Shell thickness mm at the equator of the egg was measured with a micrometer screw to the nearest 0.
After emptying the egg contents onto a glass plate, the height of thick albumen and yolk mm was measured with a QCD device TSS.
Yolk diameter mm along the chalazae line was determined with electronic calipers. The ratio of the yolk height to its diameter in percentage points constituted the yolk index.
Yolk colour was determined with the point scale of La Roche company. The height of thick albumen H and egg weight W served as a basis for calculating Haugh units HU according to the formula provided by Williams :. Yolk weight was determined using a Medicat scale, and weight of albumen thick and thin albumen together was calculated from the difference between egg weight and yolk and shell weight.
Percentages of albumen, yolk and shell were calculated in relation to fresh egg weight. Hatching results of guinea fowl were analysed based on data obtained from two incubation sets of — eggs per guinea fowl of each variety.
Eggs in the setter were maintained at The hatcher was maintained at Eggs were candled at 12 days of incubation to remove those that were infertile or contained dead embryos, which made it possible to determine percentage of fertility. Percentages of fertility, dead embryos, crippled and weak chicks, and unhatched chicks, and percentage of healthy chicks from fertile eggs were calculated.
The arithmetic mean mean and standard error SE were calculated for each trait. Coefficients of simple correlation r were calculated between selected egg structural characteristics, shell characteristics and egg content traits. Statistics were performed using SAS software Guinea fowl started egg production in the first ten days of April. The egg-laying season was 23 weeks long in both guinea fowl varieties Figure 1. Royter and Guseva reported that the reproductive period in guinea fowl should be at least 22 weeks.
When evaluating 4 colour varieties of guinea fowl, Ayorinde et al. Figure 1. The course of egg production in white and grey guinea fowl. The highest rate of laying in both colour varieties was obtained in June, at 10 weeks egg production by white guinea fowl and at 11 weeks by grey guinea fowl This is consistent with the findings of Oke et al. Egg production during the reproductive period averaged During reproduction, an average of 87 eggs was produced by white guinea fowl and 90 eggs by grey guinea fowl.
The higher egg production in grey guinea fowl was associated with extended peak production and the greater number of eggs laid in the other parts of the egg production period.
The number of eggs obtained from both varieties is similar to the results reported by Ayorinde 60—90 eggs and greater than that obtained by Bernacki and Heller , who collected 74 eggs from a grey guinea fowl over a days reproductive period. Nowaczewski et al.
Compared to the guinea fowl varieties evaluated in our study, Zabiyakin and Nollet obtained a greater number of eggs per hen — eggs in the line of Volzhskaya Belaya guinea fowl selected for reproductive traits, as did Royter in the maternal lines of guinea fowl — eggs.
These results indicate that laying performance in guinea fowl can be improved through selection for reproductive traits. In the case of guinea fowl eggs, which are used mainly for hatching in Europe, quality is also an important factor because it has a considerable effect on hatchability.
Eggshell and egg content quality, as well as physical composition of the egg play a significant role in embryogenesis. Hatching results are predominantly influenced by egg weight, shell thickness, shell porosity, egg shape index, physical composition of the egg, and albumen quality Benton and Brake , ; Narushin and Romanov , It is apparent from the data in Table 1 that the mean egg weight in white and grey guinea fowl was similar during the entire reproductive period 8 evaluation dates with a non-significant difference.
Much higher egg weight Slightly lower egg weight in grey guinea fowl As in our study, Obike et al. Another experiment Royter , showed that best hatching results are obtained when guinea fowl eggs weighing not less than 38 g and not more than 51 g are incubated. Eggs from grey guinea fowl were significantly longer EL than those from white guinea fowl, with no significant differences in egg width between the analysed varieties Table 1.
Eggs obtained from white guinea fowl had significantly higher shape index than those form grey guinea fowl. Shape index values obtained by Wilkanowska and Kokoszynski for eggs from week-old white and grey guinea fowl were similar to our findings.
In terms of physical composition, the eggs from grey guinea fowl had a significantly higher yolk content and a non-significantly lower albumen and shell percentage compared to white guinea fowl. In eggs from pearl and lavender guinea fowl and their reciprocal crosses, Ahmed et al. Unlike the current study, Nowaczewski et al. The average weight and thickness as well as density of shell in eggs obtained from the compared guinea fowl varieties were similar Table 2 with no significant differences.
The average shell thickness in eggs from white and grey guinea fowl was greater than that 0. Other studies Ayorinde , ; Kuzniacka et al. The greater thickness of eggs from white compared to grey guinea fowl caused hatching problems in chicks and increased their mortality, which compromised hatching success. However, the shell of eggs laid by white guinea fowl was significantly lighter in colour compared to grey guinea fowl. The same pattern was observed for eggs from white and grey guinea fowl by Wilkanowska and Kokoszynski Statistics of egg albumen and yolk characteristics in the analysed guinea fowl varieties are presented in Table 3.
The eggs from grey guinea fowl were characterized by significantly higher weight and yolk height and a more intensive yolk colour compared to the eggs from white guinea fowl. The weight of egg yolk was similar to the values found for Polish guinea fowl However, it has to be considered that this trait depends mainly on the content of carotenoid pigments in guinea fowl diets. They are happiest living in numbers, keeping one or two will reduce their lifespan as will any stressful conditions.
The common Helmeted Guinea fowl originates from Africa. So, as you can probably guess they have some good survival instincts in them. They actually serve as great pest control. In the wild, they hang around groups of much larger animals and feed on ticks and other insects bothering them.
This habit translates well into the backyard setting if you also have chickens. Kept them with the chickens which worked fine the first year but when guineas came into their own second year I had to add a separate apartment for them. Guineas RULE! They did not fly in! Good luck! Oh yes, and read the book, Gardening with Guineas by Jeannette S. Was my Guinea Bible in I was able to tame and train my birdies to sit on my shoulder and come to the call of SEED.
Best wishes and Blessings. I would really like to get some guineas and let them roam my big yard, but have a very territorial larger dog. Have had other guineas around or fly over and the dog has yet to catch one, or one of my cats but will send them up a tree.
Dog learned to get along with cats in the house but outside he is ruler of the yard and am afraid he would hurt them or give them stress… Anyone think it might be OK? Not necessarily territorial but excitable for sure. Also have a couple of dogs. One is a Golden. At first the dogs were excited about the birds and chased them up into trees. After a week or two the dogs seemed bored with the birds. They co-mingle just fine now. Very helpful!! We are not typically the farm or bird type but we live on 10 acres, with a riverfront and a pond.
Any bug or animal that lives well with moist ground and water we get. We only have one near neighbor who also has chickens and a dog and we have a dog ourselves. If anyone has advise, much appreciated! I would like to get more guinea fowl, however, our last surviving Guinea was a white male. He was very aggressive bully with our chickens. Would that be far enough away to keep the guineas separate from the chickens?
We let the guineas roam, but generally keep the chickens in their large coop. My husband brought home 6 Keets today…one is blind! Ive never had them before, will it adapt? Should i seperate it? We got 10 keets at a day old and have had them for about a year. We have our first nest of about 25 eggs so far. They roam free all day and go in the barn at night to be shut in.
Our best advise for the babies is to use the rubber mat that is intended for a non slip furniture that you can buy at the dollar store. This gives the chicks a nice grip to prevent leg problems. Added bonus is it is cheap and easy to clean and reuse. I acquired one guinea , not sure where it came from but has come to hang out with one of my hens and ducks. I decided I would like to keep her but she tore the feathers of my oldest hen who I have had to separate while her feathers grow back.
Now I do not know if I should put them together the guinea seems extremely aggressive towards her when they are near and I am scared to let my hen free range with her. I know someone that already has guineas can I take her to a group of them, will she fit in with them?
Thank you for this great article, we live on about 9 acres and we definitely want to get some Guineas. I have my guineas on 10 acres of land. They pretty much hang around my property. However they were well trained. Raised them from keets and kept them in the coop for 8 months before releasing them in the spring after the snow melted.
The coop is always open and they come in every night. I would love to get Guineas, we had them when I was a child and now that I have children of my own, I am more than ready to start a small flock. My main concern is that while we have 40 acres, there is a farm directly across the road from us, what is the likelihood that they will become farm hens across the road? We had 5 guineas last year who lived happily with our turkeys. Their shelter included three perches same level and a tin roof no walls surrounded by electric netting.
The guineas would often fly out of the netting and back in or we would have to turn off the netting and let them in , in time we would lose then one by one either something got them or they found a happier place.
Come thanksgiving we had one left. And after we butchered the turkeys we placed the guinea in the barn, were she remained for a few days before she decided to become a chicken and since early December has lived happily with our chickens, laying in the box and making it in to the coop before the electric door goes down each night.
This year we bought 7 keets. They currently are a few weeks old and live in the barn. We are needing to get them on grass so they can work their magic and eat the ticks, but we are trying to figure out what type of shelter to build them. Please note we will not be shutting the door every night or trying to herd them in My plan is to build a shelter Surround by an electric fence so they can be safe yet still fly over the net to explore farther.
But what type of shelter that will be protected from the elements And again am not shutting a door each night.
Or do I just put them in the with hens and hope they fly out of their fencing to eat bugs and return before the door closes each night? And what if last years guinea hen do I keep her with the chickens or introduce her to the new flock and let her live like the guinea she was born to be?
Hello, i have a male and female guinea for about 3 years. This year she laid eggs in hen house on floor so i let her sit. She had 17 eggs and started sitting. She had They are all kept together in my hen house with fenced in small pen. The male takes care of the keets as much or more than hen does.
He even lets them get under him for protection as does female. I have let them out for 15 mins. He scratches the leaves and the keets gather around him. After while i herd them back in. Was wondering how old the hens are before they start laying eggs? This is a update. Had 3 keets left, big enough to fly some. One was sickly and died. Other2 were ok. Father guinea started chasing the 2 when they were close.
I think he bullied them in pen and free range in backyard. They kept to themselves and wasnt eager to come out of house. But have seen them roost all together at night. The last 2 i found dead week apart in their house.
But the male guinea was such a good father when they were babies but not when they started getting their feathers. Dont know what went wrong with keets but will clean out house real good and try again next year. Male will run up to my cats if they arent watching for him. I seen him jump on my big tom cat when he had his back turned.
Thought about getting rid of him but had the male and female 4 years. Please advise. I have one adult hen. She lost her little flock over a couple of months to stray dogs and predators. I got more keets. They are now 6 weeks old. She the adult has been around them for two weeks. Separated by fencing for safety. I have tried twice to allow them together.
She is being very aggressive with them. So they continue to be separated. So, is this normal? What should I do to fix this? A nearby neighbor just moved leaving hens behind. Adjacent to our homes is a very large parcel of DEC protected land and the hens seem to like to wander there.
We are wondering if we could get them to come over by us if we create an alternate shelter for them we get plenty of cold and wet weather so I am concerned. They also tend to walk in front of moving cars. How do we get them to move in? Be careful. I would check the legalities, but you can bait them over with mealworms. Put the worms in the same spot where you want the chickens to come so they know to keep coming back there. I started with 6 birds a year ago, one flew the coop, down to 5.
One hen sitying on about 30 eggs right now. They were a little challenging to coop train, but finally got it. They coop with my chickens and a peacock. I really do love having them. I would keep him separate if he ends doing this and you are not wanting it.
My guinea just laid a clutch of 13 eggs in my neighbors field, its about to be cut in 10 days. Can I move the nest to my barn? Will she follow or abandon the eggs? Will the eggs hatch in an incubator? There is no way to know exactly what she will do. Many hens will follow and be determined to sit back on it.
The only recommendation I have is to make the new spot similar or as comfortable for her with everything she needs because it is likely she chose that spot for a reason. They can hatch in an incubator if done correctly. Help is she molting, did she get into a brawl, or lacking something in her diet?
Also one of our males was part of the foursome 2male, 2 female but is now an outcast. Any suggestions. You might want to keep watch to see if she is being bullied because I have seen chickens pull out helmet feathers of other chickens.
But, molting can also begin at the head. Our neighbors that live to the back of our house have some guinea hens. They seem to like pecking around the area we feed our local birds, squirrels and chipmunks. I accidentally frightened two of them once and one flew up high in a nearby tree and the other landed on the roof of out house…never thought they could fly that high!!
I have three Guineas, 2 of them makes noise alot. I would wish to know, which gender are they? Forums New posts Search forums. Articles New articles New comments Search articles. Reviews New items New comments Latest reviews Search showcase. Gallery New media New comments Search media. Members Current visitors New profile posts Search profile posts. Log in Register. Search titles only.
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