I always hold the egg exactly how it was under the hen. So if it was sideways with say a brown speckle facing up, I keep it that way and move it slowly and carefully. If there is still a live peachick inside you don't want to shift it too much because by now it is probably in the correct hatching position unless if it is malpositioned. Personally, I like having the peahens hatch their own eggs because I worry when I am the one incubating them. Of course I can no longer let them do so because of raccoon issues I have had and I think it will take a loooong time for me to trust letting a peahen sit on a nest in the pen and be safe because the last hen I let sit on her own eggs she was killed by raccoons - in the pen. What I like about having the peahens hatch their own eggs is it is their problem. I don't worry at all. In the wild that is how it works is some eggs hatch and some don't and the strongest peachicks are the ones that are able to hatch and survive to adulthood and those that can't hatch just don't make it. I did have a peahen's peachick hatch with very bad crooked toes. It took me forever to figure out how the peahen hatched all three eggs but I only saw two peachicks. Finally we found the third still wet and struggling to move. We took it home and after almost all day of wearing shoes the peachick's toes were fixed and at night we slipped it under the peahen and the next day we couldn't tell which chick was the one we helped. I personally would leave it alone because I personally agree with Birdrain's statement that I quoted bellow:
Quote:
That is just my opinion and also of all the times I let my peahens hatch peachicks they hatched every single egg underneath them so I never really had a problem with un-hatched eggs. I did have a few times when the peahen would accidently break an egg and then abandon the nest, but that was usually early in the incubation.
My pen doesn't have small fencing around the border and the first year I had a peahen hatch her own peachicks all 3 peachicks survived to adulthood and they all stayed inside the pen. In the next years every single group of peachicks would not stay in the pen and some would venture out and get eaten by who knows what. One year Ice and Damsel had around 6 peachicks each and by the end of the year Ice and Damsel had one peachick each - both ended up being males. The thing I noticed is that the peachicks that survived were the ones that always stuck close to their mom and stayed in her shadow rather than wandering off with their brothers and sisters.
When the peahens are hatching eggs I just leave things be and relax. The only thing I worry about is if the peachicks are getting enough small food without competing with the other adult peafowl in the pen.
