Hatching peafowl eggs

[dwsbr2]

I am new to this. I have tried 3 times to hatch peafowl eggs. The chicks die maybe a week before hatching. What am I doing wrong. I will post a picture of my last failure. I hope it doesn't upset anyone. The other were more advanced than this.

Please, any advice would be welcome.

 

[Sylv]

I share your pain. I have now lost 2 hatchings of peafowl eggs. The first loss might have been due to the incubators but the last lot I bought a new incubator for and everything seemed to be going right until none of them pipped at hatching time. Too late to try again this year, they would be coming off heat at the beginning of winter. Unfortunately I have just bought a large shed and had more land fenced in expectation of getting at least a few out. Now I think I will have to buy some birds. I do know how disappointing it is.

 

[dwsbr2]

It's just heartbreaking to see them get this big and then die in the shell. Probably just a week before hatching. I just don't know what I did wrong. The temp and humidity all seemed good. I have an automatic turner but turned them by hand twice a day also. I will try again next year.

 

[NajmoNests]

Can we blame these casualties to climate changes? I too had dead in shell... so sad when it "coulda" been. My temp was at 99.6, humidity was 50-60 and raised for lockdown. Those that died in shell, here, had not broken into air pocket, they just quit! I could not fault the machines and my flock is properly fed and maintained. Changing weather patterns blamed here. :'(

 

[dwsbr2]

Like you, I thought i had everything under control. I didn't just decide one day I wanted to do this. I read everything I could find. Bought the best incubator and egg turner that I could afford. The eggs were not cheap either. My heart just broke when I finally picked the shell apart and saw how close they were to hatching. I will try again next spring Thank you for your reply!!

 

[Midnightman14]

Eggs are generally a crap shoot I would just spend the extra money and get juveniles or adults.

 

[Chicken Keith]

Like you all, I've had this same heartbreak. Im at a loss for explanation. I finally resorted to letting chickens hatch my peas. True confession, but my 5 year old male IB was hatched by a cuckoo maran, and he was NEVER fed any AB to combat coccidiosis. Not at all. I believe the mother chicken passed on her antibodies somehow through her skin through the egg shell and into the baby boy. I named him Buddy and he definitely has a personality and attitude. Also Buddy has never been direct wormed before. I put safeguard in the water and that's it, which really isn't enough to do a lot of good. Who knows?

 

[ThreeWillows]

I have hatched peafowl successfully this year, both local and shipped eggs. I can tell you what I did.

1. Used a digital circulated air incubator that was calibrated with a Brinsea thermometer.
2. Turned eggs by hand 3 to 5 times per day.
3. Used no added humidity the first two weeks (dry incubation), then gradually increased humidity levels.
4. Candled a few days before hatch, marked the air cell, oriented the egg for hatching accordingly.