A long while back we found a nest of guinea eggs out by the stock tank where we keep the pigs. At the time we found it, there were maybe five or six eggs in it. Each day we’d go out there, the number of eggs would increase. Normally we gather them and eat them just like we do chicken eggs, but not knowing how long they’d been there, we left them. We planned to throw them away but never got around to it.
I don’t remember how long it was, but it seemed like a couple weeks later, a guinea hen went broody and started sitting on the nest. We weren’t really too sure the eggs would hatch because most of them had been lying in that open nest for what seemed like a long time. But we left her there anyway, just in case a few would.
As time went on, she continued to sit. I even decided to take a few pictures of her sitting on the nest just in case they might hatch. Since we didn’t mark it down on the calendar when she started sitting, we lost track of how long it had been. At one point, we considered moving her off the nest and getting rid of the eggs because we felt she’d been sitting on them forever. In fact, I ended up deleting the pictures I’d taken because I didn’t think they’d hatch.
The other day, when Brooke went out to give her pigs some water, she found the nest looking like this…
At first she thought something got the guinea and had eaten the eggs. But then she took a closer look and thought the eggs looked like they’d hatched. So she looked around and found this cute little surprise…
The momma guinea was out roaming with her keets in tow. It looks like she has about eleven cute little balls of fluff following after her. Isn’t it so adorable?
Seeing that the majority of them hatched, I’m just grateful we didn’t get around to throwing them out.
Here is a short video of the keets running around. Lots of cuteness!
They’re a lot of fun to watch and we’re looking forward to watching them grow up. Have you ever had a guinea hatch out a clutch of eggs? If so, how did it work out?
Humble Little Homestead 
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That is great! We don’t have guineas but one of our hens recently disappeared and then reappeared with 13 chicks in-tow, love how nature works.
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That’s really great! How are the chicks doing? I’ve been afraid something will happen to ours but so far they’re doing good.
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Surprisingly very well, I thought a few would succumb to the elements or something else would get them but they are all thriving.
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That’s great! I did a little research on it and most of the sites I looked at said that Guineas weren’t good mothers and it recommended that you take the chicks away if you want them to survive. All the females in our flock seem to be very protective over the chicks so ours seem to be good mothers so far.
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Hooray! Baby birds are the best.
I just got my very first guinea hens last night, and I think they are amazing so far. (If a little loud). So exciting that you managed to get some to hatch from eggs! We got ours unsexed so I’m hoping we will have one male in the mix. Have you had much luck getting yours to live with other birds? So far mine are living fine with my chickens but I’m a little worried it may not last. I’m curious what you think of my coop. http://livingechoblog.com/guinea-fowl/
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I checked out your coop and I really like it! We haven’t had too much of a problem with our guineas and chickens getting along. Ours free range all day except at night, so I don’t know if that makes a difference. I’m not sure they would all get along if they were penned up together all day. Ours go in the barn at night and there’s a large enough space for them to all mingle and still have room to be away from each other. I think the guineas do chase the chickens around in the barn a little before we get them turned out in the morning but they don’t hurt them or anything.
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