Pea Eggs Scheduled to Hatch?

[Yoda]

hehehehe
They are cute! I am glad both hatched out!

 

[Lil Zoo]

Disgusted, Disgusted, Three perfectly formed developed babies have died in their eggs. They didn't even pip. I thought they would be IB's but all three were BS. I guess my yearling BS's are the ones laying at the end of the season. So proud of them as the eggs have all been fertile except for a three,

but then I kill them apparently

. Next year I will have my own bin of mixed feed and a different incubator. I pray that will make a difference as this is just too heart breaking. The eggs were so lively then they just slowed down and I threw six out this evening that were cloudy the veins were gone. I have the little alarm that is suppose to go off if the incubator falls in temp. If it did it sure didn't work.

I have one question with the protein I have been feeding the peas about a 5 gallon bucket of garden left overs, tomatoes, apple peelings, watermelon and cantaloupe would this alter the protein level to much?

Why can I put chickens in the incubator and have very few that don't hatch and these peas are driving me absolutely

nuts.

 

[zazouse]

So sorry Lil Zoo this is just so heartbreaking..

I think as long as you have the rite feed the extras which are good for them will not make any difference, you know how peas eat, pick pick walk away come back late and pick pick again, so i think their bodies tell them what they need, unlike a chicken that will gobble down just about anything you throw out to them, leaving them totally full.

To make sure my peas get enough protine i feed scrambled eggs sometimes they gobble them down other times they hardly touch them oh and mine love, love, love cheese which i feed daily as a treat

 

[Lil Zoo]

Zaz thank you I always have eggs that go to waste will give the eggs to them also. I just couldn't see why garden sloop would weaken them as they are a bird use to scavenging for their food in real life. Fall seems you loose the tails but the peas are a lot more playful with each other. You are so right about the peas and chickens. When I give a 5 gallon bucket to the chickens they never bring their noses up for air unless one thinks the other stole the best piece. The peas just investigate pick a few bites go about their business then go back and look for another bite or two. Picky they are. I had a few red grapes, then I have tons of concord. They love the red ones but the concord grapes I had to rake back up and throw in compost pile.

I have been adding a lot more humidity to this hatch. Man they were so lively in their eggs. It finally started raining here, maybe I should of decreased the humidity because the outside humidity was so high. It's just crazy crazy crazy. Big strong bird, big hard eggs this mother nature just doesn't add up

and I'm getting mad

and disgusted.

 

[zazouse]

guess it is part of the learning curve LilZoo them Pea are edumakating us ..

Sometimes i have to give new things to the peas a couple times before one takes it, course once one itryes it the rest follow.
I fed mine green grapes for the longest time off our vines, when they were gone i purchased red ones from the store, you think they would eat them at first? NO they were rubber necken them grapes like they are monsters.. then along comes the chickens and eat them all up while the peas seemed to watch in disbelief....

 

[Lil Zoo]

Mine are the opposite anything red they are right there. Take out red apple peels they are right to investigate take green ones and they turn their butts at me. I see they eventually get to them. I guess they must not be color blind. Think they would be just as happy to get the cantaloupe but look at me like and where are those watermelon. I thought watermelon was their favorite food, but sense all the vine ripe tomatoes they just go nuts over them they even love the seeds and skins left from making tomato juice. They are always gone the next day. Believe me I have told them about being picky and how much I appreciate raking up what they don't want.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Funny your talking treats here,,but yesterday I took 6-7 slices of bread out to treat the Peas,,I had previously filled their feed bowls with crumbles and many of them was busy eating that but a few IB hens noticed me with bread and stood there with their heads cocked,waiting for pieces to start coming their way.They go nutts when I break small pieces off and throw it on the ground.But several pieces I broke off and just threw on top of the metal roof of their new rain shelters.The hens seen me do this and a few flew up on top to check them out but they didn't eat the bread pieces,,,seems they like the thrill of snatching and running.
Betty,,I went thru exactly what you just experienced with previously bought fertile eggs,as well as 2 bouts with it this summer at the Palace,one with my BSSP and the other with my Opals.It is expected on bought-shipped eggs,but on eggs you get from your own flocks that fails to make it is really,,REALLY is a pisser.I watched several BSSP eggs fully develope,could see them moving like crazy a day before hatch,then all activity would cease,,no pipping,,Went thru this with 2 sets of eggs then the hens stopped laying for a week,,(I bought and moved these 4 BSSP birds here in late May) so I changed my ration and got the protein levels up from 18% to no less than 22%,,eggs laid and incubated 3 days after the feed change started hatching out,,I hatched 2 eggs from this pen with eggs they laid immediatedly after they came here,,then lost 10? in a row before they quit laying,,then hatched out 13 outta 15 after the feed change,,
I think what we think is a good diet may not hold true in all circumstances.The birds must get all it's nutritional needs in it's total daily consumption,,for example if an adult hen only has the capacity to eat say 10 dry ounces of feed per day,,by the time she is done consuming all 10oz,,all of that feed intake needs to be at what protein level we want.If you feed her treats with lower protein levels than say 22-23%,,it cuts back on her ability to consume her daily full 10 oz.
If she eats 3 ozs of watermelon scraps,(Maybe 10% protein if that),this leaves her room for only 7oz of your feed ration of 23%,,so she will not be getting a steady 23% protein intake.Make sense? In all reality if you feed green and other scraps of lower protein then your feed ration needs to be considerably higher in protein levels to make up for the undesirable scraps protein level.
Corn is only about 8% protein,,but other grains are much higher in protein levels.Soybean meal is about 33% protein,,thats why it's the main ingredient in corn based rations,,to get the protein levels much higher. Beet hulls is another high source of protein.And with corn prices going up as well as soybeans this doesn't mean we can't find other sources to prepare a proper ration protein level using only corn and soybeans.BOSS (Black oil Sunflower Seed) is also very high in protein around 15%.and peas luv-um! Diamond dry cat food is 29% protein,,so it comes down to what you can locate thru your feed supplier and if you want to mix your own,or have them mix and bag.

 

[Lil Zoo]

FBC, Well I was just sitting thinking about the food scraps being the culprit because of a post you put on. You know I really think I did everything so careful. I guess I thought about the proper food but not because I was trying to save on feed bill, just thought fresh vegetables and fruit scraps would be even better for them. Up-ed my humidity, monitored my temp so close every so many hours. Got in incubator and out as fast as possible. When I did candle they just seemed to be running around in the eggs. I thought boy this is it I am going to have a room of peachicks to spoil. Then they are dead.

The peas did their job so many eggs and so many fertile. I can't seem to do mine. Well I have the winter to make some drastic changes and hope for a better result. I sure need something to start working. Darn right if you got the eggs from someone else you could blame them. This is all mine. Maybe you should wave that old crock pot or hammer at me.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Lil Zoo,,you will if not already have learned,,the toughest hill to climb with peas is getting them to hatch.The other half is seeing them reach 6 mos of age.So far this year I'm very close to 60% hatched that was developing,,but one of the three power outages we had contributed to losing 18 eggs all put in a few hours before one 8 hour outage.Sure a generator would have been nice but if I was gone for a day and not here to know the power was even out,,a lot of good that would have done me.Someone has to start the generator. Don't beat up on yourself,,you've come a long way from no peas,to now having a passle of peas.Strength is in numbers.And knowledge.Feeding garden scraps is fine,,and if birds are penned and cannot easily access greens they are great to offer.Another breeder and I was just speaking today about diet specifically for Charcoal birds.Seems Charcoal males don't live but about 7-8 years and thats too young to die,especially when you really have a unique bird.This breeder found out thru a blood test that their charcoal bird did not have equal results of other peafowl being fed the exact same diet.So we're wondering if the Charcoal mutation needs higher protein and iron levels than other colors because of the bloodwork findings they discovered.
Every bird metabolizes vitamins and minerals diffrently.,you may have a perfect 24% protein ration with all trace minerals needed for perfect health,,but if 1 bird cannot extract everything in that ration,,it does no good to feed it.Kinda like feeding dogs protein levels derived from cereal grains,,a dogs intestines are not designed to extract protein from cereal grains,rather meat.Canned dog food from meat is more digestable than dry food using soybeans as the main source of crude protein.
I know from the two pens I changed the protein level in,I noticed a big diffrence in hatchlings,,the quitter syndrome ended within days of the new feed.So next March all my birds will have a higher protein diet including 18% layer crumbles,and the balance to get a 23-24% protein level by using Black Oil Sunflower seeds and dry catfood mixed.Peas love Millet and Sorghum seeds,,they will pick them out of the feed first but they alone are not high enough in protein.My feed store can get any bagged grain you want.I've read Kelp is super high in protein and easily digestable,,and my feed supplier can get some with notice.Alfalfa meal is one thing I add to chicken feed in the wintertime,,it alone is over 20% protein and sometimes much higher.Sugar beets is another form of high protein I need to check into.But the most important part is will your peas eat it? If they are picky and don't like your ration they just as well eat plain corn or grass.

 

[Lil Zoo]

Lil Zoo,,you will if not already have learned,,the toughest hill to climb with peas is getting them to hatch.The other half is seeing them reach 6 mos of age.So far this year I'm very close to 60% hatched that was developing,,but one of the three power outages we had contributed to losing 18 eggs all put in a few hours before one 8 hour outage.Sure a generator would have been nice but if I was gone for a day and not here to know the power was even out,,a lot of good that would have done me.Someone has to start the generator. Don't beat up on yourself,,you've come a long way from no peas,to now having a passle of peas.Strength is in numbers.And knowledge.Feeding garden scraps is fine,,and if birds are penned and cannot easily access greens they are great to offer.Another breeder and I was just speaking today about diet specifically for Charcoal birds.Seems Charcoal males don't live but about 7-8 years and thats too young to die,especially when you really have a unique bird.This breeder found out thru a blood test that their charcoal bird did not have equal results of other peafowl being fed the exact same diet.So we're wondering if the Charcoal mutation needs higher protein and iron levels than other colors because of the bloodwork findings they discovered.
Every bird metabolizes vitamins and minerals diffrently.,you may have a perfect 24% protein ration with all trace minerals needed for perfect health,,but if 1 bird cannot extract everything in that ration,,it does no good to feed it.Kinda like feeding dogs protein levels derived from cereal grains,,a dogs intestines are not designed to extract protein from cereal grains,rather meat.Canned dog food from meat is more digestable than dry food using soybeans as the main source of crude protein.
I know from the two pens I changed the protein level in,I noticed a big diffrence in hatchlings,,the quitter syndrome ended within days of the new feed.So next March all my birds will have a higher protein diet including 18% layer crumbles,and the balance to get a 23-24% protein level by using Black Oil Sunflower seeds and dry catfood mixed.Peas love Millet and Sorghum seeds,,they will pick them out of the feed first but they alone are not high enough in protein.My feed store can get any bagged grain you want.I've read Kelp is super high in protein and easily digestable,,and my feed supplier can get some with notice.Alfalfa meal is one thing I add to chicken feed in the wintertime,,it alone is over 20% protein and sometimes much higher.Sugar beets is another form of high protein I need to check into.But the most important part is will your peas eat it? If they are picky and don't like your ration they just as well eat plain corn or grass.

Matti and I have a lot to learn. We need to make some adjustments big adjustments it's just to hard to throw the dead babies out. We are putting another in the hatch-er tonight. It looked real good the last time I candled, but sure won't hold my breath. We will sprinkle some cat food around on the ground tonight. If we can get them to eat it will incorporate it into the food. Sadly it's to late for this season I'm sure. We were going to start a large aviary for the babies this fall, but think I will put that on hold to make sure I can hatch. If we don't get this right soon I think maybe we should just watch the ones we have.