anxiously awaiting...

[klcvt]

It is getting so hard to be patient. We lost our peahen earlier this spring as she went off in the woods and laid a nest and something grabbed her off the nest. We found it and put the eggs under a broody hen. Well, those eggs were infertile as my pair of peafowl are only just turning two this summer.

So, I ordered some eggs online. I put them under a broody hen four weeks ago (same hen that was sitting on the first four). Well, a week ago, she stopped sitting. I think she decided she had been on them long enough (7 weeks total between 2 different sets of eggs so not sure she knew we switched them out). Anyway, not sure how long she was off of them before we caught it, but I got them under another broody hen. Tomorrow is the hatch date and so far I have not seen (or heard) any thing from the eggs... I did candle them at 16 days and it appeared that there was something in each of the eggs (2 looked like eggs at 14 days development and 2 looked like 16 days development). I am just worried that the hen may have been off of them too long, but giving them the benefit of the doubt. I am just so anxious because of the time off from the hen and the fact that it looked like that they were developing on time at the halfway point.

Anyway, just wanted to ramble as I am hoping somebody has had a similar experience. I have had the incubator set up for a couple of days in case this hen comes off, but she has been very loyal.

One question - if these don't hatch, is it too late in the year to find another set of eggs that I can put in the incubator? I was hoping that a hen would be better but if these don't hatch I would like to at least try the incubator if it isn't too late. I really want to have some youngsters as my peacock is a lonely guy right now. Is there anybody on here that I can get eggs from?

Thanks everybody!

 

[klcvt]

Day 28 - Nothing yet.... :-(

 

[C&Rman]

Oh I hope they start pipping tonite!!

 

[FeatheredObsessions]

I have had to switch out eggs and put them in an incubator after the brrody left. They did fine. I think it would depend on how long she was off before you found out. She can leave the nest for 1.5 hrs and they should be fine. Hopefully it was a quick lapse. Good Luck!

 

[deerman]

Lot of the northern peahens are still laying.........so yes you should be able to find eggs

 

[klcvt]

I am going to give them until this weekend. Hopefully they do something. I am not sure how long the hen was off so that has me a bit worried. I have read of eggs hatching with a hen being off of them up to 8 hours.. There were 5 chicken eggs laid in that box that day, so it appears that one hen or another would have been on them to keep them warm through the day with that many chicken eggs laid in the box during the day. Silly chickens will be in there two at a time laying eggs as well, so hard to say....

 

[klcvt]

So very excited! We had one hatch this morning! I just went out to check as I saw the crack this morning and baby is hatched and doing well. No signs of cracks in the other eggs though but I am going to give them time. I did have to go on and move them to the incubator because the hen was off. The eggs were still warm, but it didn't look like she really wanted to be there with the baby. Bad momma! So, I am glad that the incubator has been going for the past 4-5 days and is regulated. Hopefully they will hatch and then will move them to the brooder box which is ready and waiting!

 

[C&Rman]

Congrats! Hopefully you have some more pip and zip.

 

[klcvt]

Well, only one hatched. Right now I have it in with 2 chicks. I did see a posting on craigslist today for week old peachicks, so I am going to get them tomorrow. We are going to get four and once they get bigger, my neighbor will be taking two of them. I am sad that three of my eggs didn't hatch, but also very happy to know that I don't have to go through the whole incubation thing again!