558 COMMERCIAL POULTRY RAISING 



how to eat or drink without the aid of a hen, consequently they 

 soon pine away and die. They do not seem to have the imita- 

 tive ways of other young fowls, and in many respects they re- 

 semble young turkeys. 



Experiments have been made by placing newly hatched chick- 

 ens with the young guineas, with the hope that the guineas 

 would learn how to eat and drink from their companions and 

 become hover broken; but not so. The guineas stood around 

 until they were weakened by cold and hunger, while the chickens 

 thrived. Apparently, the only other way to raise guinea chicks 

 is under chicken hens, and this may be done very successfully. 



Hatching with Chicken Hens. — The eggs should be given to 

 reliable sitting hens, such as Plymouth Rocks or Wyandottes — 

 about sixteen eggs to each hen, or the eggs may be started in 

 an incubator and later given to the hens. From twenty-six to 

 twenty-eight days are required to hatch guinea eggs, and true 

 to their heritage of fear, as soon as they leave their shells the 

 little fellows slink into corners of the nest away from the prying 

 eyes of the attendant. Naturally, their foster-mother's call is a 

 foreign language to them, which they find difficult to understand 

 at first, and until they get to know the meaning of- cluck, and 

 the hen becomes accustomed to their peculiarities, they must 

 not be allowed to roam. 



Care should be taken at the beginning to see that the hen 

 accepts her responsibility kindly, for sometimes chicken hens are 

 antagonistic to young that is not their own, and will kill the 

 guineas. When the hen has proved her dependability she may 

 be given twenty chicks; she can easily take care of this number; 

 and if she is a very large hen, twenty -five chicks are not too 

 many. 



The hen and her brood must be confined in a coop for the 

 first few days, after which they may be given the freedom of a 

 small yard. Later, after the attendant has observed that the 

 chicks respond to their foster-mother's guidance, they may be 

 allowed complete freedom with the hen. Do not confine the hen 

 within a slatted coop and allow the chicks to run abroad, as is 



