Possibly broody peahen got off her eggs!!

So you guys tell me if my hen was even broody in the first place. I have a 5 year old hen who hasnt gone broody all these years most likely because i take her eggs away ( although i started taking them away in the first place because she woudnt set in the first place). so yesterda night as expected she layed an egg which i didnt go out to collect on until a about 1 afternoon because i was out of the house. after seeing she was still sitting there since she layed the egg, which my grandpa observed, i went to put the last egg she layed under her thinking she wouldnt get up, i put the other egg right in front of her and she got up. its been about 15 mins and she hasnt gone back to sitting on her eggs. there is a male in the cage with her. Was she ever even broody? what should i do to make her go back?

-- Areeb

To me it sounds like she was never actually broody but was possibly thinking about it. One of my chickens once sat on eggs for a couple hours but then left the box. Usually a way to know for sure is if they stay on them for a few days

Good to know. She just went back to sitting on both the eggs. If she continues should i get the male out of the cage?

Hmm, she sounds like she may be seriously thinking about it and was disturbed by you but usually broodies stay put, some even get vicious ha, so she may not quite be fully broody but probably will be soon. And well, I don't think you have to remove the male unless you don't want to hatch anything out. But if that's the case then you should try to break her and take the eggs not give her them and maybe try a wire bottom cage if she persists so air flows underneath, makes it hard to keep the eggs warm. If you wouldn't mind her hatching then just leave her be. But I've never had a broody or peafowl so hopefully someone with more experience can help.

Maybe @Birdrain92 he's very knowledgeable about peafowl

Okay, couple things about peas. First, they aren't going to start sitting on the eggs until there's a full clutch, at which point the hen will start sitting (if she ever does). Until then, it will look as though she is ignoring them. Eventually she may start gathering them together. Since peahens typically only lay every other evening, it can take a week or two for her to start sitting, or even a bit longer.

Second, some hens take awhile (a couple of seasons) to get the hang of it, and some never do. Third, yes, she may be much happier without the male once she starts sitting. Fourth, peahens lay eggs on dirt/shavings/straw (whatever the bedding in the pen may be) scratched out into a shallow depression, so putting one on wire to lay would be unkind at best.

These are not chickens.

Peahens, when they get the hang of it, make wonderful mothers. You can encourage her to gather the eggs together and/or lay them together by putting a few ceramic "duds" (fake eggs) in whatever scrape she may have started for her first couple of eggs. That may also signal her to stop laying sooner. I used brown ceramic eggs (Tractor Supply and other sellers online have them) and it helped my hen a lot. At five, there's a good chance she will see the process through. When the hens are only two or three, it's a bit harder for them to figure it out. Keep track of when she starts sitting (she may have 5 or 7 eggs by then, or even a few more). It takes about 28 days to hatch peachicks -- try to keep things calm and quiet around her. When the chicks start hatching, the male definitely needs to be out of her space so she feels safe.

If a peahen feels unsafe, she may abandon her nest.

Good luck!

areeb said:

Good to know. She just went back to sitting on both the eggs. If she continues should i get the male out of the cage?

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I have a 12 year old peahen who is sitting on eggs for the first time in her life! She never showed any interest until now, unfortunately, she is in with a male who has a habit of breaking eggs when the hen gets up to eat and drink. I have no other pen to move him to, so we'll just have to see what happens. Usually I move males out when a hen decides to sit, I've had males jump on top of hens while they were sitting and try to mate and end up breaking all the eggs under the hen.

Looks like you got some great answers and clarified most of the mistakes I gave you, sorry about that, I only have chickens so was going off what I've read for them but I guess it's kind of common sense that different species would act completely different especially the more exotic fowl. Sorry. Definitely follow their advice and ignore mine

Although for the wire thing the only reason I mentioned it was to break them of being broody not to lay on it but would they lay in the cage anyway? I was, again, going off it working for chickens but guessing it doesn't work for peafowl? Sorry

No worries -- you were trying to help, and that's a good thing

Hey @KDOGG331 , we can get you started on some peas, and then you'll be up on all the pea-trivia. They are such fun birds How many would you like?

And to both of you, welcome to the peafowl forum a fun place to hang out!

no worries

Last year Penny, an IBBS imprinted hen, sat and raised four peachicks. She taught them to be very friendly as you can see in the picture.



Earlier this week I would find Penny sitting on the eggs when I went out to get them after dark. Two night in a row I would have to take eggs out from under her in the dark. The third day I decided to let her set and gave her six eggs. She sat on the eggs for two days, but when I went out to get the eggs from that pen she would be on the ground and not on the eggs. I put her back on the nest twice but on the second night she did not stay on the eggs so I brought them in and put the eggs in the incubator. I will let her try again later in the season, perhaps by the end of July.