New owner needs advice on nesting

[Glenmar]

Hello All,
I just got my IB pair in September. They are living in a 48 x 36 horse barn. They now have access to free range. They mostly stay in the barn.
They have food and water in the barn. They roost in there at night. The male is tame enough to eat out of my hand. The female does not go very
far from him. He follows me around when I do barn chores.

My question is : If I put a nest box in the barn with a fake egg in there, will she use it when the time comes? I can keep them shut up in there if I need to, but when
should I start doing that. What are the chances that she will want to nest out of the barn.

 

[deerman]

best to pen her if you want her to set her own eggs, setting peahens are easy prey....or if you want to gather the eggs, pen her until she lays in the barn, then leave the fake egg ,for her to return to the nest.

 

[Glenmar]

Ok Thanks for the advice. One more stupid question. How do I know when to start closing up the barn. I am sure I will see the male displaying for her.
Will I have to close it up from March- May?
I know next to nothing about incubationg eggs. The guy that I got them from indicated that she would set her own eggs.

 

[deerman]

yes most of my peahens will set their eggs if i don't gather them......laying season for mine here are late april til aug. but if you don;t pull the eggs she should only lay one clutch and set them early.

 

[patti'speeps]

I also will be hoping to get some eggs from my peahen this season. Peafowl eggs are very toucy to incubate i'm told so i'm thinking of letting my peahen incubate most of them herself. I'll try a few and see what happens. Any suggestions?

 

[deerman]

Yes pull the first few clutches, try broody hens, incubators, you can alway let her try the 3 rd clutch of eggs.