Ice hatched out her eggs!!!

[little blue]

my dad is right i am posting

ice is pretty our peahen charlotte is broody right now on 4 eggs i hope they hatched but since our peacock lost his tail after we think she laid them i am not sure if they will be fertile or not congrats on the little one's!!!

 

[Frosty]

They are adorable, I look forward to the pictures as they grow! Please give Ice a treat from me for a job well done.

 

[MinxFox]

This morning I opened the small pen for Ice to enter the larger pen. After Church when we got back Ice was in the big pen with the peachicks. I got a better look at all of them and the one in question looks like it is a dark pied since I saw a few white flights. The other is definitely a pied and I am thinking the white one is a white. I was wondering if Damsel my pied peahen is the real mom since she is pied and she could have laid the eggs but Ice just incubated them, then I thought about that and Damsel was still incubating her one egg when I found that one egg that then turned into three with Ice nesting on them so I guess Ice is just split to pied...Of course Dragon is the dad (he was pied). I just can't get over the odds of three peachicks all being the three different varieties you can get from matting pieds...What are the chances of that? I really like how all of them are different and I can't wait to see how the little pied turns out. It has a lot of white on its wings and a thin white stripe going around the top of its neck so it might be an interesting bird.

Ice was in the grass chasing bugs and catching them for the peachicks to eat. Alto was displaying a little his small train is almost gone and I can see some nice backplate feathers coming in on him. I watched the white peachick get separated from Ice when she left some bushes and the peachick started to cry because it wasn't paying attention when she left and got left behind in the bushes. Ice called for it from the other side of the bushes and I watched as it jumped over branches and leaves to get to Ice and the two other chicks.

 

[Kedreeva]

*smiles* With all three varieties you can get, it's sort of like Dragon left behind all the bits of himself in his kids, innit? Makes me tear up a little.

 

[MinxFox]

Aww yes it is.

It makes me so happy that all the eggs hatched and the chicks are healthy and active.

 

[Kev]

If the white is a white, then either Ice would have to be split white OR a pied hen or another split white hen added eggs to the nest.

Split pieds never can produce a white chick. Only whites, split whites or pieds would be able to.

A split white will be able to produce a pied if bred with a pied, dark pied or a split pied.

Due to unknown parentage, too early to assume the one chick with white on wings is a dark pied just yet. It could be split white. For example, Dragon bred with not-split hen would produce half split pied and half split white chicks.

It could be one chick is Ice's and other two are someone else's added to nest after she started sitting. As it seems the chicks hatched very close together, would suspect eggs were added to nest by other peahens close to the first egg as peahens lay one egg every other day... if all eggs were one peahen's, the third egg would be expected to hatch 5 days after the first one.

Lastly but not least, congrats on the Dragon progeny!

edited to add: Is that blue container in second picture full of water? Highly recommend removing all open containers that hold water immediately... peachicks drowning in open containers is a very common problem, due to being able to fly so well while they're still real small.

 

[MinxFox]

I got some pictures, the peachicks are doing a great job walking through the tall grass and learning from Ice. Ice has scratched all over the pen finding bugs for the peachicks to eat. She also scratched at the medicated chick food. I gave Ice some nice lettuce. I had her take it out of my hand because I want the peachicks to see that they can trust me. She was not afraid to take the food from my hand and trusted me being close to her peachicks. They don't seem very afraid of me so that is good. Thank goodness Ice is tame and used to me.

They kept darting around so in some pictures they will be a bit blurry.

All three of them!

Here is Ice pecking at probably a bug and all the peachicks crowding around her pecking.

After they eat the bug Ice walks on to find another spot for bug hunting. When I gave Ice the lettuce she held her head up high to keep the peachicks from taking the lettuce from her. They were all staring up at her eating it and jumping up for it.

Mom has to eat too!

This is just what I wanted, a peahen to hatch out some peachicks so I can watch a peahen and her peachicks interact and grow. It is so fun!

 

[clinton9]

Hi Minx,
You have interesting beautiful peachicks

When they were hatched ???

Cheers

Clinton.

 

[MinxFox]

They hatched out Thursday or Friday of last week.

Ice flew up onto a high perch in the afternoon. She must have thought the peachicks were ready to roost but it was too high and the peachicks just stood there peeping. Ice flew down and then we herded them into the small pen and Ice lay down over the peachicks on the ground. The peachicks have been flapping a bit but I haven't seen them perch on anything, except for Ice.

 

[nevsma]

Awesome chicks! Congrats!! Looks like Ice is making a great mother.