HELLO TO ALL! Peacock/Peahen owner

[DCSRALEY]

HELLO! I am so happy to have found this site for support! I have a Peacock and Peahen.....and My PeaHen has laid 4 eggs over the past 6 days....they are still in her nest outside..she is not sitting on them-- I felt the eggs and they are cold....is there anything I can do to ensure at least one hatches??? thanks

 

[zazouse]

How cold is cold, not freezing cold i hope. you could incubate them or put them under a broody hen if you have one

 

[DylansMom]

As Zaz stated, as long as they do not freeze cold is okay. Peahens usually lay a clutch of 6-8 eggs before they sit on them, if she is laying them all in one spot she may sit on them. Peahens are notoriously fickle about brooding and if she is laying them different places she may not decide to sit on them. If she doesn't sit they will likely remain viable for 12-14 days and you can either incubate or stick them under a broody chicken hen if you have one handy. If she doesn't sit she will probably continue to lay eggs. What are your night time temps like?


PS.

 

[MinxFox]

The first clutch of eggs a peahen lays she usually will NOT sit on them. This doesn't mean that they are not fertile. They usually are fertile. She doesn't sit on her first eggs because she uses them as decoy eggs to distract predators so that they do not find and eat the eggs in the real nest. Usually 6 eggs is the max my peahens lay before sitting on the eggs and mine have just now recently started to get into making a nest for the eggs. Later in the season they will want to sit on their own eggs so badly that they might start sitting on just 1 egg when normally they wait until they have more eggs before sitting.

I think with freshly laid eggs they are good for about a week and then chances of it developing get slimmer the older it gets. You can collect the eggs and then incubate them for 7-10 days and then candle them using a flashlight or an egg candler and see if anything is growing inside.

If you don't want to incubate the eggs yourself you can collect the eggs and eat them. Your peahen will definitely lay more eggs and I figure she will eventually get broody with the next clutch she lays or the one after that.