Chick Pics for New 2 and Our Chart

[new 2 pfowl]

I'd kill for a head of hair like that! Mine is getting a bit thin these days.

 

[DylansMom]

Thanks!

 

[KsKingBee]

Ok, four-week pics of my mystery chick update. I think I will send these pics to Brad, maybe he will know what to call it.

And Brad said, ,,drumroll please,,, Black Shoulder Silver Pied - Male

http://www.leggspeafowl.com/photo/blackshouldersilverpied.htm

 

[Peafowlssssssss]

Congrats!

 

[KsKingBee]

Congrats!

Congrats to you, you called it right! So did Mindy and Phil too. I should have asked Brad the color while I was at it, I assume IBBSSP.

 

[KsKingBee]

Now to make the best use of Rocky next season, I will have to rethink my dance card. I am thinking the same three WE hens as I don't know which was the mother to the SP chicks, and my IBSP in my avatar for sure, and maybe my Cameo SP. Only other SP's I have will be two-year-old Peach SP. The Peach SP cock will only be two next year and it may be a waste of time to pair them up.

Hmmm, things to ponder.

 

[Peafowlssssssss]

Now to make the best use of Rocky next season, I will have to rethink my dance card. I am thinking the same three WE hens as I don't know which was the mother to the SP chicks, and my IBSP in my avatar for sure, and maybe my Cameo SP. Only other SP's I have will be two-year-old Peach SP. The Peach SP cock will only be two next year and it may be a waste of time to pair them up.

Hmmm, things to ponder.

Its depend on your peach male, if he want to produce chicks then he will do, i have a two year old boy producing fertile eggs this year, he isn't doing a great job, but at least i hatched a chick from him and i still have two more fertile eggs in the incubator, your hen needs to decide laying too

Do you mean you want to put 5 hens with Rocky? That's not a good idea to me.

 

[KsKingBee]

Its depend on your peach male, if he want to produce chicks then he will do, i have a two year old boy producing fertile eggs this year, he isn't doing a great job, but at least i hatched a chick from him and i still have two more fertile eggs in the incubator, your hen needs to decide laying too

Do you mean you want to put 5 hens with Rocky? That's not a good idea to me.

I really hate to keep quoting Brad Legg and what he has told me, but here I go again, so prepare yourself. He told me that a two-year-old does not have to have train eyes to breed. That they are totally capable although the viability of the sperm is lower, couple that with their inexperience and they don't do as well in a breeding program, but still capable. What that makes me wonder is if they don't need eyes to be viable, why do people assume that mature males are not either?

My supposedly high percentage Spaulding Purple BS two-year-old pair were alone in their own pen and did not lay one fertile egg out of the dozen she layed. That was dissapointing.

As I understand it, hens choose the males based on the appearance of the train and number of eyes. Perhaps they are not interested in a cock who has lost his train, and therefore we assume that he is not viable.

Also, he pairs them up in the fall to assure that they are well aquainted and more likely to breed come breeding season. Many of his pens have six hens to a cock. This year I did not sell off all the extra IB hens I wanted to and had nine hens with one cock in my IB pen. I was concerned that I would have many clear eggs, but the hatch rate was just as good in that pen as in the pen where there were only three hens to one cock. It was not my intent to run that many hens in that pen, I would certainly have liked to have had only six although it turned out to be ok probably because the cock was mature enough to handle the situation.

 

[Argus]

As I understand it, hens choose the males based on the appearance of the train and number of eyes. Perhaps they are not interested in a cock who has lost his train, and therefore we assume that he is not viable.

A 2014 study from a researcher at Purdue found otherwise: "Surprisingly, the peahens are looking at the lowest edge of tail feathers and aren't paying much attention to the rest of the five-foot tall displays," said Yorzinski, who is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biological Sciences. "According to our study, the females' gaze rarely fell at or above the peacocks' heads. Of the small portion of time spent looking at the males, females looked longest at the legs and lower portion of the train."


Here is a short story about the study and how it was done: http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/rele...-attract-most-attention-during-courtship.html

 

[Birdrain92]

A 2014 study from a researcher at Purdue found otherwise: "Surprisingly, the peahens are looking at the lowest edge of tail feathers and aren't paying much attention to the rest of the five-foot tall displays," said Yorzinski, who is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biological Sciences. "According to our study, the females' gaze rarely fell at or above the peacocks' heads. Of the small portion of time spent looking at the males, females looked longest at the legs and lower portion of the train."


Here is a short story about the study and how it was done: http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/rele...-attract-most-attention-during-courtship.html

First time I've read that theory. I've watched my peafowl before and sometimes I'll notice she will look up towards the top of his train or the sky and she usually does it while he vibrates his train. Though for all we know we can't tell where she was focusing her sight. Animals can move the eyes looking at different areas or the whole picture without having to move the head. That's the only problem with cameras. Since the camera would have to be on her eye and move with her eye and focus where she focuses to be 100% accurate. I could be wrong but I think it's more of a hypnotic thing. The bigger the train the more the hen would be distracted from the male moving closer. The male uses calls and spins drumming his wings to get the hen's attention. Then once he gets her attention he vibrates his quills to keep her focused on the train while he tries to make an attempt at breeding her. The reason why the train is so big, has lots of feathers, and a repeating pattern is "hypnotize" the hen. Just my little theory on the courtship of peafowl. I could be wrong just something I thought of when watching how my male will only move closer to the hen when she's busy watching his train, when she takes her attention off his train he starts drumming his wings, calls, and spins and then she looks right back at him.

I really hate to keep quoting Brad Legg and what he has told me, but here I go again, so prepare yourself. He told me that a two-year-old does not have to have train eyes to breed. That they are totally capable although the viability of the sperm is lower, couple that with their inexperience and they don't do as well in a breeding program, but still capable. What that makes me wonder is if they don't need eyes to be viable, why do people assume that mature males are not either?

My supposedly high percentage Spaulding Purple BS two-year-old pair were alone in their own pen and did not lay one fertile egg out of the dozen she layed. That was dissapointing.

As I understand it, hens choose the males based on the appearance of the train and number of eyes. Perhaps they are not interested in a cock who has lost his train, and therefore we assume that he is not viable.

Also, he pairs them up in the fall to assure that they are well aquainted and more likely to breed come breeding season. Many of his pens have six hens to a cock. This year I did not sell off all the extra IB hens I wanted to and had nine hens with one cock in my IB pen. I was concerned that I would have many clear eggs, but the hatch rate was just as good in that pen as in the pen where there were only three hens to one cock. It was not my intent to run that many hens in that pen, I would certainly have liked to have had only six although it turned out to be ok probably because the cock was mature enough to handle the situation.

Colbolt bred a peahen at 2 years old and most of his train was barred but few of the feathers were solid green. It's possible for a male to breed at two years old or earlier as a rare occasion. Chances are they are more successful at breeding when they are 3 years or older. I've heard how the female chooses the male but sometimes they will choose to breed with more than one male or they try and run and still get bred. That's why I think the female doesn't choose the mate. My hens have never squatted for a male to breed them until he gets their neck feathers then the hens give up.