How Many Days Is Guinea Fowl Incubation? Temperature, Humidity and Keet Care

The guinea fowl (Numida meleagris) is the quiet hero of gardens and free-range systems, with its hard-shelled eggs, hardy build and extraordinary tick-and-insect hunting. Its incubation resembles the chicken's but runs longer, the shell is harder, and the keets are unexpectedly delicate in their first weeks. This guide explains guinea fowl incubation duration, temperature and humidity settings, the hatch period and keet care, step by step.

How Many Days Is Guinea Fowl Incubation?

Guinea fowl eggs hatch in about 28 days (normal range days 26-28) — longer than the chicken (21 days) and on par with turkey and duck (28 days). The eggs are small, pear-shaped and thick, hard-shelled; that hardness affects both humidity management and candling.

Parameter	Value
Incubation period	28 days (26-28)
Temperature (forced-air)	37.4-37.6 °C
Humidity (phase 1)	50-55%
Lockdown day	Day 24
Hatch humidity	65-70%
Turning	5× a day (odd number)
Candling	Days 10, 18 and 24

For a species summary see our guinea fowl species page.

Temperature and Humidity

In a forced-air machine keep the temperature steady at 37.4-37.6 °C and verify the display with a separate, calibrated thermometer. Target 50-55% relative humidity in the first phase. The hard, thick shell of a guinea egg passes water vapor more slowly, so tracking the air cell's growth rather than chasing a single humidity number is especially important — details in our incubation humidity guide.

Turning and Candling

Turn the eggs 5 times a day (an odd number); if you have no automatic turner, mark them with a pencil and turn by hand. Candle on days 10, 18 and 24. Because the thick, often dark-speckled shell makes light hard to pass, candling a guinea egg is harder than a chicken's; use a strong LED light and a fully dark room. Delaying the first candling to day 10 lets the embryo become visible. Cull infertile eggs and dead embryos at these checks — what to look for is covered day by day in our candling guide.

Lockdown and Hatch

On day 24 stop turning (lockdown), raise the humidity to 65-70% and keep the machine closed as much as possible. Hatch is expected on days 26-28. Because of the hard shell a guinea keet may struggle a little more at hatch; still, a long wait after the pip is normal, so don't intervene early. How the hatch progresses and when to assist is in our hatch day guide.

Keet Care

Although adult guinea fowl are very hardy, the keets are surprisingly delicate in their first 2-3 weeks; the most critical issues are heat, dryness and drowning:

• High, steady heat: Target 35 °C the first week and drop ~3 °C each week. Keets are more sensitive to chilling than chicken chicks.
• Dry bedding: Wet, cold flooring is a leading cause of keet death. Keep the bedding dry and change it the moment it gets wet.
• Shallow drinker: Small keets can drown even in shallow water; add pebbles or marbles to the drinker to make the water surface shallow.
• High protein: Give a turkey/game bird starter with 24-28% protein; standard chicken chick feed is a little weak for guinea fowl.
• A covered pen: Keets fly early and escape through small gaps; cover the top of the pen.

The general setup is like our brooder guide; the difference with guinea fowl is the extra sensitivity to cold and damp and the protein-rich feed.

The Most Common Mistakes

• Candling thick, dark-shelled eggs with a weak light and culling wrongly.
• Chasing humidity as a single number and never checking the air cell (critical with a hard shell).
• Raising keets on wet/cold bedding (a leading cause of keet death).
• Using a deep drinker (keets drown).
• Leaving the brooder top open (keets escape).

Track your guinea fowl incubation's 28-day calendar and the turning, candling and hatch days with the KuluçkaTakip app: pick the species, enter the start date, and let the app calculate the critical days for you.