Incubator?

[Horsemama]

My Peacocks an Peahens are 1 yr. at what age do they breed and lay eggs and can someone suggest a good incubator I know pea eggs are hard to hatch. And should I look in to a couple of hens and what hens are good at hatchin!

 

[new 2 pfowl]

You may have already looked at this, but there is a lot of very useful basic pea information in the Peafowl Stickies: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/389059/peafowl-sticky-topics-index

You can probably get many questions answered in one place there!

 

[SunBaked]

They are generally ready for breeding at 3 years old. Although in rare cases hens can lay eggs at 2 years and I have a 2 year old male that just had 3 fertile eggs come out of his pen this week. The peahens in with him are all over 5 years old. The eggs at the beginning of the season from his pen were all blanks though.

As far as incubators the best I know of are the Brinsea's and the Lyons. They are kind of pricey though. I think about $400ish for the small ones. I just got a Hovabator Genesis for $130 that I really love. It stays at the right temperature all the time and has built in digital thermostat and humidity reader (not sure what they are called). It is nice and tall, perfect for the peachicks to be able to stand and the fan has a guard so you don't have to worry about the chicks getting their head cut up on the fan blades. Since I've had it the temp hasn't gone over or under 100 degrees, stays right where it should be and even came preset for bird eggs.

The best broody hens I've had were cochins and buff orpingtons. not sure what kinds other people use. I did have a rhode island red that was a good sitter but only 1 out of 4 of the reds that I had sat so not sure if they are good to recommend.

 

[casportpony]

I love my Banty Cochins, they're very good sitters and mothers, but my best broody has got to be my Buff Japanese, but she can't cover more than two eggs.

-Kathy

 

[Horsemama]

Thanks everyone for the info. I'm new at this and thanks Sunbaked I guess I have another year to wait for eggs I thought they started laying at 2 yrs but that will give me time to get an incubator. Is your hatch rate better with a incubator than hens? And not to sound stupid but how do you get to these Stickies everyone says to look at for information?

 

[new 2 pfowl]

One of our 2-year-old girls laid and hatched eggs this year...

 

[casportpony]

Mine laid a few eggs when they were two, but I don't know if they were fertile or not, 'cause the ducks I put them under cracked them.

-Kathy

 

[AugeredIn]

They will sometimes lay some fertile eggs at two years old. We get very few though. In the third year they lay like crazy. If you let the hen incubate there are two disadvantages. The first is that she may not set or she may not do a good job. The second is that she will lay far fewer eggs in a season.

To recommend an incubator you really need to let us know your budget. I will tell you from experience that on the low end, a hovabator genesis is the cheapest I would go. If you want to go REASONABLE high capacity I like the GQF digital sportsman or a Dickeys.