Speaking about breeding poultry, many people remember first of all chickens, geese and ducks. But guinea fowl in our region are still a rarity, although many farmers have already managed to evaluate their productivity and delicate taste of meat. Those who are engaged in their breeding are unlikely to want to return to ordinary chickens.
It should be noted that the
guinea fowl egg, although small (usually it weighs no more than 50 grams), but it has almost 2 times higher amounts of proteins and carotenoids than other types of poultry. By the way, thanks to the latest substances, their yolks are always bright. The egg production of guinea fowls is quite high - from one bird annually farmers get about 100-150 pieces.
If you want large individuals to grow up that will be highly productive, you must take care of their living conditions. So, guinea fowl must be kept separate from another bird. In a room adapted for them there should be windows, perches, arranged at a height of 0.5 meters from the floor, and, of course, nests located on walls in secluded places. After all, these birds try to rush only in secluded corners. Separately, it is worth noting that a guinea fowl egg at a temperature of 8-12 ° C can be stored for about six months. This is made possible thanks to a strong shell and a powerful inner shell.
For those who decide to engage in the breeding of this bird, information on how much guinea fowl sit on eggs is useful. Some farmers argue that it is unrealistic to put them in a nest for hatching offspring, so an incubator cannot be dispensed with. Others were able to develop their breeding strategy for this bird. First of all, it is based on the creation of suitable conditions and monitoring the behavior of females.
A layer must have a nest, it is better if you place several plastic balls in it that resemble a guinea fowl egg in shape and size. This will guarantee that the bird will be carried in the place of your choice. If the guinea fowl has a nesting instinct, it does not move away from the basket with eggs and behaves aggressively, then it is worth helping it. About 20 eggs should be placed in the place chosen by the bird, do not forget to first insulate its bottom with felt a little. The mother hen sits down on the masonry, do not worry too much for her, she will get up as necessary. The farmer can only guess about how many days the guinea fowl eggs hatch. It’s good to train yourself to check every night to see if everything is okay with the nest: just remove a guinea fowl and examine the place of incubation. Doing this at a different time of the day is not recommended, otherwise there is a chance that the hen will no longer sit on their eggs.
On the 26th day after the hatching begins, chicks appear in the nest. From the first moments of life, they are already quite independent and viable - in order to get stronger, they need 1-2 hours. Poultry farmers have no problems with feeding - they eat boiled guinea fowl or other poultry eggs, green onions, garlic, and nettles. True, the kids eat about 6 times a day. Up to two weeks of age, poultry farmers recommend keeping the chicks separately behind the fence, and then letting them go for free grazing - it is they who are free to start growing faster.