2015 Peafowl Hatching Support Group - Eggs and Chicks!

[ellymayRans]

I do!

I do too...But...my incubator doesn't drop humidity hardly at all when I do. As long as there isn't an external pip I do.

 

[BYC-user-174785]

I was wondering what humidity you guys incubate at. I have still yet to hatch a peachick this year, and I am getting quite frustrated. My pheasant eggs and ornamental duck eggs have been incubating at 55% humidity and I have been doing great with them, especially the ducks that I have nearly one hundred of. Fertility definitely is an issue with my peafowl, and the rain we have been getting is not helping I am sure. Out of the fertile eggs, most of them die midway or towards the end of incubation. I have tried them at 55% humidity and some at lower humidities after reading suggestions to try lower humidity. I did give the last eggs of the first clutches to a local person to incubate at roughly 40% humidity to see if he has luck. Also, the two that made it to hatch were malpositioned and did not survive. I am expecting second clutches soon, and I am still hoping that I can hatch some peachicks. I did contact a breeder and they are making out okay considering the large number of breeder birds they have, but some other breeders he knows only have chicks in the single digits.

 

[DylansMom]

I was wondering what humidity you guys incubate at. I have still yet to hatch a peachick this year, and I am getting quite frustrated. My pheasant eggs and ornamental duck eggs have been incubating at 55% humidity and I have been doing great with them, especially the ducks that I have nearly one hundred of. Fertility definitely is an issue with my peafowl, and the rain we have been getting is not helping I am sure. Out of the fertile eggs, most of them die midway or towards the end of incubation. I have tried them at 55% humidity and some at lower humidities after reading suggestions to try lower humidity. I did give the last eggs of the first clutches to a local person to incubate at roughly 40% humidity to see if he has luck. Also, the two that made it to hatch were malpositioned and did not survive. I am expecting second clutches soon, and I am still hoping that I can hatch some peachicks. I did contact a breeder and they are making out okay considering the large number of breeder birds they have, but some other breeders he knows only have chicks in the single digits.

I do 45-55% in mine. We cut our hatching season short this year, but still got 17 chicks to hatch. I had a lot of clears, that Purple BS Pied 2 yr. old was not fertile yet, so both hen's he was with were laying clears. I had less quitters in the first 2 batches which were in the hovabator, the sportsman gave me more quitters, but I'm far from used to that machine yet. Good luck, I hope you do better on your second round.

 

[thndrdancr]

I have 5 eggs due today, 3 that I had under broodys look good and movement, the ones incubated no movement at all and one I am pretty sure was/is a quitter. These are ally own.

I have 4 from Kedreeva due in a few days I need to candle tonite. Last I looked 3 looked good! I so am hoping I get hers to hatch! I the post office is awful on them.

 

[AugeredIn]

I was wondering what humidity you guys incubate at. I have still yet to hatch a peachick this year, and I am getting quite frustrated. My pheasant eggs and ornamental duck eggs have been incubating at 55% humidity and I have been doing great with them, especially the ducks that I have nearly one hundred of. Fertility definitely is an issue with my peafowl, and the rain we have been getting is not helping I am sure. Out of the fertile eggs, most of them die midway or towards the end of incubation. I have tried them at 55% humidity and some at lower humidities after reading suggestions to try lower humidity. I did give the last eggs of the first clutches to a local person to incubate at roughly 40% humidity to see if he has luck. Also, the two that made it to hatch were malpositioned and did not survive. I am expecting second clutches soon, and I am still hoping that I can hatch some peachicks. I did contact a breeder and they are making out okay considering the large number of breeder birds they have, but some other breeders he knows only have chicks in the single digits.

Drop the incubation period humidity. Stop turning them a couple of days earlier.

Rain kills fertility.

 

[DylansMom]

Rain kills fertility.

This is so true, but why? Are they just not amorous when there isn't enough sun, or is there an actual scientific correlation?

 

[carriemacf]

Help! I have been hand feeding and watering my broody chicken who is sitting on 6 peahen eggs that are due to hatch next weekend. Today I noticed a rotton smell under her that was not there yesterday...i carefully picked up each egg one at a time to see if i could easily identify the culprit but i couldn't tell either by sight or smell...yesterday she did take a break for awhile to dust bathe and stretch her legs...do you think she could have been off the nest for too long...and if so would the eggs rot that fast? She couldn't have been off the nest for more than 3 hours. Or was this egg domed some time ago and is just now smelling? I've never candled eggs before...how do i do this and will it tell me if the peachicks are still alive? We have come so far i would hate for it to end this way...please help!

 

[Birdrain92]

Help! I have been hand feeding and watering my broody chicken who is sitting on 6 peahen eggs that are due to hatch next weekend. Today I noticed a rotton smell under her that was not there yesterday...i carefully picked up each egg one at a time to see if i could easily identify the culprit but i couldn't tell either by sight or smell...yesterday she did take a break for awhile to dust bathe and stretch her legs...do you think she could have been off the nest for too long...and if so would the eggs rot that fast? She couldn't have been off the nest for more than 3 hours. Or was this egg domed some time ago and is just now smelling? I've never candled eggs before...how do i do this and will it tell me if the peachicks are still alive? We have come so far i would hate for it to end this way...please help!

Do the eggs feel light yet dense on one side? If the eggs have peachicks in them you can feel the egg become light when they get close to hatching. Yet one side of the egg will feel weighted down. What kind of scent are they giving off? Is it a kind of scent that would make you cry and run away from the eggs that could kill a skunk, or is an egg smell? If it is a smell that could kill a skunk then the egg would have been dead for a long time.

 

[carriemacf]

Do the eggs feel light yet dense on one side? If the eggs have peachicks in them you can feel the egg become light when they get close to hatching. Yet one side of the egg will feel weighted down. What kind of scent are they giving off? Is it a kind of scent that would make you cry and run away from the eggs that could kill a skunk, or is an egg smell? If it is a smell that could kill a skunk then the egg would have been dead for a long time.

To me it smells like rotten eggs...something rotten....when i picked the eggs up i could tell they were heavier than the last time i picked them up about a week ago...but i wasn't paying attention as to weather they were dense or light on one side...but tonight when i candle them i will try to pay attention to that along with being able to see if the chicks inside are alive...thanks for the info...I'm keeping my fingers crossed

 

[ellymayRans]

I was wondering what humidity you guys incubate at.  I have still yet to hatch a peachick this year, and I am getting quite frustrated.  My pheasant eggs and ornamental duck eggs have been incubating at 55% humidity and I have been doing great with them, especially the ducks that I have nearly one hundred of.  Fertility definitely is an issue with my peafowl, and the rain we have been getting is not helping I am sure.  Out of the fertile eggs, most of them die midway or towards the end of incubation.  I have tried them at 55% humidity and some at lower humidities after reading suggestions to try lower humidity.  I did give the last eggs of the first clutches to a local person to incubate at roughly 40% humidity to see if he has luck.  Also, the two that made it to hatch were malpositioned and did not survive.  I am expecting second clutches soon, and I am still hoping that I can hatch some peachicks.  I did contact a breeder and they are making out okay considering the large number of breeder birds they have, but some other breeders he knows only have chicks in the single digits.

Well I'm no seasoned Pea hatcher. Lol. I have been keeping track of weight. Regardless I wouldn't expect humidity to affect the embryo unless it was significantly one way or the other. It should only affect it at hatch.

Either way I'm finding 47-51% during and 73% at hatch. Mine have lost more weight than I'd like but that's because there's always about 3 days I try to lower the humidity about midway through because it seems they haven't lost enough and I tend to over do it. Those 3 days it usually drops to 39%.

My last hatch 4 made it to lockdown. But I think 1 died right around that time. 1 externally pipped but died before zipping. 2 hatched.

This time around out of 3 that developed only 1 made it to lockdown and it has internally pipped. Still waiting for it.

Again, I'm doing very small scale and very new to hatching peas. From everything I've read though to have hatched at all and the fact they were shipped I must be doing something right.

Have you tried weighing them?