Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
NO OYSTER SHELL
Do not provide additional calcium in the form of oyster shell for guineas. If you
provide too much calcium, the babies will have difficulty hatching. They won't be
able to peck through the calcium-hardened shell. Provide them with a standard chick-
en feeding ration and they'll get all the calcium they need.
Guineas will be terribly unhappy without a roost, and every other species in a mixed
flock will know it!
Egg-Laying Patterns
Guineas typically start to lay once the weather warms. In the northern half of the United
States, under normal light, that is sometime in April. In the southern parts of the United
States, it starts earlier. Note that guinea egg production rapidly declines when there is a
cold, cloudy, or cool wet spell during the summer. They like it warm and dry.
Of course, laying patterns change if you let them set on their own eggs. By gathering
their eggs daily, they usually don't become broody their first year. Eventually, however,
they will want to be mothers and will go broody many times each season, regardless of
whether or not you gather their eggs. If you don't allow them to set, you'll find guinea
eggs look and taste much like chicken eggs. They are about the size of a bantam egg,
speckled, and have a very hard shell for incubating purposes. This makes humidity con-
trol in the incubator a necessity for successful hatches.
