Can you successfully move a peahen and her eggs to a safer place?

[amsunshine]

I have a peahen sitting on 5 eggs in our Quonset. This is her second nest. Her first got destroyed by who-knows-what. I was able to salvage 2 of the eggs from that nest, and now she's built this new nest in a much safer location that she chose. She's been on it for about a week and a half.

I'm really concerned that one of our cats, or a varmint, will get this nest too (we live on a working farm). I have a big pen set up and ready for her that is predator-secure (a windowed room in the concrete-floored granary of our barn). It's got a thick layer of fresh straw on the floor.

Can I move her and her eggs successfully to this new location at this point, so that she'll settle back down on the eggs within the hour?

She is a seasoned mommy. Last year she made a nest in the same location as this year's first nest, and once the two babies hatched, we moved her then to a pen. She's a wonderful mommy and doted on her babies so graciously and lovingly. It was wonderful to see this happen up closer since we kept them penned up until the babies were about 3 months old.

I guess I'm just afraid that when she does hatch out the babies, the cats will zoom in and make a grab. We have 7 more cats than the 3 we had last year. Plus, I'm working in town a couple more days, and I don't think we'll be around as much to get momma and her babies after the fact. If we could move her and her eggs before then, that would make me feel a lot better about the security of all, especially since her first nest was destroyed this year.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

 

[Trefoil]

I'm hoping that someone that has tried moving a pea nest will respond, but until then. Is there any way to make the area where she is nesting secure? That would be a lot more of a sure thing. Yes cats will hunt baby peas, and worse yet, in my area at least, anything nesting is almost sure to get killed unless protected.

 

[Mehjr10]

Do you have room to put up a temporary structure or wire around her that would protect her? I have done that with guinea nest. I will let the more seasoned Pea Peps chime in on the moving.

 

[amsunshine]

Oh yes there lots of ROOM around her. Problem is that my husband was a bachelor till he met me (at age 53) and has lived in the same place all his life...so as a working farmer he has not thrown much out. The peahen has made her nest against an old unplugged-in fridge (where hubby keeps farm tools) and there is who-knows-what JUNK around her - big pieces of metal that I have no idea what they're for). We could put an enclosure around her but I think the problem would be getting it down to the ground to be secure from the chicks getting out, or something getting in, because of all the big pieces of ???? right around that area. She found a patch of dirt in the middle of this sea of ??? (some of the things we use and some, ??? need to be gone through and discarded)., and made her nest there.

 

[chicks4kids]

I have never moved a peahen, but I have moved chickens. But couldn't you just move her to the pen that you used last year after her chicks hatched? She knows that pen, so maybe she'd be more accepting of it. Move her at night just like a chicken....Good luck! I wish I could give more solid advice.

 

[amsunshine]

Thanks, perhaps I could. That pen is now occupied by 38 chicks I hatched from an incubator...would require some moving around! Thank you for the idea.