My Peahen is not setting on her eggs.

[Joan Gaudet]

My Peahen has 9 eggs but my problem I think is her last years chicks are still trying to hang around and won’t leave her alone. She runs them off but they keep staying close. I have since put her in a separate pen close to her nest but she still has visual of chicks. Is this an important issue. How long will the eggs be good in the mean time. Been there about two weeks. Will she get broody in this situation and how can i tell that she is broody. I really want to address this problem before losing this years eggs. She did so good last year and is such a good little mother. I appreciate any advise in advance. Thank you

 

[sourland]

@casportpony - can you help here ?

 

[casportpony]

I have almost zero experience with broody peahens because I pick up the eggs. Maybe @KsKingBee , @Midnightman14 , @Kedreeva will be able to help.

 

[ocap]

I have tried to let peahens get broody and hatch their chicks, the success is worth the risk to me. about 50% of broody hens will hatch some, if the eggs are fertile. I think you should give her more time.

Here is a resource:
http://www.leggspeafowl.com/
http://www.leggspeafowl.com/incubation---hatching-peafowl-eggs.html

 

[Joan Gaudet]

I have almost zero experience with broody peahens because I pick up the eggs. Maybe @KsKingBee , @Midnightman14 , @Kedreeva will be able to help.

Thank you so much

 

[Midnightman14]

Doubt she will sit on them after they were moved and all that other excitement.

 

[Kedreeva]

Same, if she's not sitting on them already, she likely won't. You'd know she was broody because she would hunker down on the nest and hiss at you for coming near her rather than get off the nest. As for the length of time, I know I wouldn't personally set eggs in an incubator after 2 weeks; my maximum is 10 days, but I try to set not more than 7 days after being laid. After 10-14 days, they start losing viability and run the risk of being clears even if they started out fertile.

Also, you penned her "close" to the eggs, but does that mean that she doesn't have access to her eggs? That wording is a little muddy, so I wanted to be sure I understood. If you've penned her separately from her eggs, there's no chance she'll go broody.

Also @casportpony I'm dying over here I pick up all the eggs too, but every year Aurora at least gets really broody and tries to fight me about it. Silly gal

 

[KsKingBee]

I'll second Kedreeva post. I take all the eggs until I am sick of incubating and brooding, usually in July, and then leave the last of the eggs for the hens to set if they want to.

 

[Kedreeva]

Hey @KsKingBee , not to derail the thread, but when they set that late, how do the chicks fare over winter? Do you notice any growth or hardiness differences between late and early hatch? I usually stop setting eggs by the end of april/beginning of May because I only hatch a few, so I'm curious to hear from someone that hatches much longer.

 

[KsKingBee]

Last year I had a split Charcoal hen set and hatch six eggs in September and they were small to go into winter and we were concerned when she was having to cover all of them in late October but she did great keeping them warm. Yes, they stayed smaller than the rest of our earlier hatch birds but now at a year of age, they have caught up and are just as big or bigger than the brooder raised birds. Actually, I think they grew faster and stronger with the mother than being brooder raised.

Concerning a hen going broody, you sill see her 'practicing' for a few days before she actually goes broody. I have one now that is setting in the empty box during the day but you can see the difference between a practicing hen and one that is flattened out and fully brooding.