Tuna

So in previous posts I had mentioned that I tried my luck at incubating and hatching guinea fowl eggs back in May. I put in 5 eggs and 2.5 hatched. You're asking yourself how half an egg hatches? Well let me tell you. Two of the eggs hatched normally on the day they were supposed to hatch (day 26). I was hopeful for the other three and waited rather impatiently for them to hatch. The days went by and my hope faded. Then on day 30 one of the remaining eggs started to hatch. It sat like this for a day and a half.

My research told me not to intervene unless you really know what you are doing, which I didn't. So I kept the humidity up to help keep the membranes moist and watched it struggle. I finally couldn't take it anymore and opened up the incubator and helped him out of the shell. There are many sites online that tell you to dump the eggs that don't hatch after day 28. They will be stunted or have leg issues. Also many that need help getting out of their shells don't make it because they are so weak. So here we have this little guinea that is weak with curled toes and mis shaped legs. I didn't hold out much hope for him. He was noticeably smaller than his hatch-mates and about half the size of the chicks that hatched just a week before him.

He's the little guy at the top on the white towel.

 I told the kids not to get too attached as I wasn't sure he'd make it but he did. Wesley was watching The Office reruns at the time and we decided to name him "Big Tuna". Ironic since he was indeed not big or a fish. But the name stuck. He walked around on his elbows instead of his feet and didn't let the bigger chicks pick on him.

While the older chicks and guineas got bigger he grew slowly and struggled to get around. I knew he wouldn't be making the transition to the outdoor nursery coop with the others which led to the question of "What to do with Big Tuna?".

Well get more chicks of course! I decided to pick up 5 bantam chicks so Tuna could have his own little flock of similar sized birds. Bantam chickens are miniature chickens and since I'm fairly certain he will be a miniature guinea I thought it would suit him well.

He took to his new (much smaller than him) friends and now acts as a mother to them, letting them snuggle up under his feathers.

Here are two of the newest additions, silkie chicks.