Early Christmas present

[Bill Matthews]

She's actually a Cameo Black Shoulder Peahen, not a chicken. And when I say 5 or 6 at a time I am referring to clutch size.

A 19 year old chicken would be quite extraordinary, but Peafowl will live to 30 or more, so she is right on track for her species.

Welcome to the Peafowl section Bill!

I wasn't trying to be hateful or sarcastic....I had been looking at prices for them online and they were called pea chicks....My interest in pea fowl was sparked by a good friend who is Hindu and he showed me many beautiful prints and pictures he has in his office.......The"' fire up the incubator" phrase came from the Cackle Hatchery advertised price of $51.00 per chick...Others even want much more...Thanks for the info and taking time to post .....Also, you are to be congratulated for breeding an animal of such long historical involvement with or human race...

 

[DylansMom]

I wasn't trying to be hateful or sarcastic....I had been looking at prices for them online and they were called pea chicks....My interest in pea fowl was sparked by a good friend who is Hindu and he showed me many beautiful prints and pictures he has in his office.......The"' fire up the incubator" phrase came from the Cackle Hatchery advertised price of $51.00 per chick...Others even want much more...Thanks for the info and taking time to post .....Also, you are to be congratulated for breeding an animal of such long historical involvement with or human race...

Hi Bill, I wasn't really thinking you were being hateful, but when you referred to her as an extraordinary chicken, I just assumed you had mistakenly wandered over into "Pea Land". We get lots of chicken folks who don't realize at first that we are talking about Peas and they question posts because they think we are talking chickens. And yes my girl should get a medal for managing to survive being "my" bird during my novice years. She was one of my first and is still with me and still laying. She has graduated to the heated barn in recognition of her many years of service. $51 is pretty normal for hatchery peachicks, but if you look around on here you may find one of us who is fairly close and we usually don't charge that much for a chick( probably a straight run chick as well?), at least I don't.
My old girl this past July.



Again, Welcome to the Peafowl section... glad to meet you.

 

[AugeredIn]

We used those little flat split rings on the chicks but they fall off too, as a result we lost track of some of our chicks lineage.

OK, back to eggs.

Do you think that a hen that lays eggs with calcium deposits will have those deposits on every egg or just some or most? Yes for some no for others but it has never been indicative of problems.

Do you think that a hen that lays round eggs, will only lay round eggs or will the shape change? They change. Continued round eggs usually mean a problem.

Do you think that a hen that lays a certain color of egg, will be consistent in that color? No. The color can fade over the breeding season.

Do you think that diet changes the color? No, but it related to diet the rest of the year but I have no idea what cause the coloration and what they run out of. Some breeders say that peafowl egg color is related to nutrients in vegetable matter particularly dark green veggies.

What ever "it" is, I don't believe it has anything to do with egg production or fertility just egg color. We get the same number and quality of eggs from birds fed very little "extra" green matter. We get about 20-24 eggs per hen on an annual basis.

If anyone has an opinion we would love to hear it!

 

[KsKingBee]

Thank you! VERY informative, I do however, have a couple of questions about your answers.

You said round eggs can be a sign of a problem, what problem?

Would you consider the alfalfa pellets I rehydrate in the wet mash I feed as a dark green veggie?

 

[AugeredIn]

Thank you! VERY informative, I do however, have a couple of questions about your answers.

You said round eggs can be a sign of a problem, what problem? I don't know specifically. The couple we have had it happen to have quit laying or never lay fertile eggs. Might be more tun one issue.

Would you consider the alfalfa pellets I rehydrate in the wet mash I feed as a dark green veggie? Probably not. I am thinking Kale, Collards, turnip greens, etc..

 

[zazouse]

I do not believe the shape of an egg has anything to do with hatching, the thickness of the shell will have an effect many times, to thin of shell and the egg looses to much moisture to thick and it does not loose enough.

I get all kinds of shapes and colors here, one hen layed long thin eggs last year another layed round ones , had no problem hatching any of them.

these eggs got stained by the wet leaves and still hatched

below is a photo of a skinny egg next to what i call normal egg













My chickens lay all different sizes and colors and have no problem hatching them out.

 

[AugeredIn]

I don't consider any of those eggs round. I would not consider any of them to be unusual.

 

[Garden Peas]

Woohoo !!

I thought the oldest egg still in the incubator had quit and was developing a blood ring after a quick check of it the other day. I left it for a few days more, thinking I would recheck it before pitching it.

I rechecked it tonight.... it definitely has not quit

I'm so happily surprised!

Still has another week and a half to go, and that long, perilous hatching process, still not counting on anything hatching.

But there was also some visible hanky panky this afternoon, so maybe this is going to continue for awhile? She's laid 16 eggs so far

 

[thndrdancr]

Congrats, sure glad you didn't pitch it. Crossing my fingers and toes for you!

 

[Garden Peas]

We have about 1 1/2 inches of brand new snow in the backyard this evening...

And we also have number 17