preparing nesting boxes??

[evonne]

hi guys

so, i moved into this house in may, and it has 4 peafowl that freerange between here and the neighbors house... 2+ acres
last spring one of the hens had a nest here under a tree, which was fine... until my spaztic dog scared her off it....
then she made a new nest with new eggs down at the neighbors house.... as did the other hen....
i also found 4 different nests... not sure if they were this year or last year... didn't think to check the insides of the eggs to see if they were really old or not.. lol...

anyway, i'm hoping to collect their eggs this year so they continue to lay through the season.... i'm hoping they cooperate with this idea...
does the golf ball trick that works with the chickens work with the peahens??
they've been eyeing the nest that my chickens use, and i think they might be able to fit into it.. it's an old ornamental parrot cage...
i've also got a neglected setup in a small dog crate (corgie size.. so larger side of small) that i think they might fit into...
i'm also thinking of making them their own nest boxes on my 2nd story patio.. they hang out there in the evenings sometimes, and i've been known to put treats out there for them... they sleep on the roof, so it's close to where they roost.... i'm hoping if i put food and water up here for them they'll find it nice and cozy and decide it's a good place to lay...

any thoughts on convincing them??? also ideas on what to use for boxes?? i have some old tires that i had put hay in hoping the chickens might like them for a nest... they don't.. but the peacocks seem to like to hang out on them.. would that be an okay box?? maybe an old tire under a little shade??

i'm hoping to collect a lot of the eggs and then let them hatch the last batch of the season....
i'll be incubating the others, or maybe letting a broody hen do it if i end up with one.....

 

[chocolate m'scovy]

Well, my hens have laid in "real" nest boxes, a small box, a mop bucket, drywall bucket... They also lay them on our porch shelves, so sometimes a Leghorn will look inside our window and start screaming...not like we really care. She should go lay in the "real" nest boxes like a civilised chicken.

 

[Kev]

My free range peahens seemed to all prefer areas far away from where the food/water/usual hang out spots are. So I doubt putting food/water would do much in encouraging to lay in that area. Might backfire too, if the food also happens to attract predators such as raccoons, rats etc which could endanger the setting peahen nearby(I never, ever advise putting food close to ANY setting bird for this reason).

You can try putting the tires in a suitable location, either on ground or off ground.. it's up to them if they use them or not. Also possibly worth a try are making platforms or putting up something large like half of a barrel up in a tree, on the side of something like against a wall.. under a patio if you have a high patio.. (they very willingly nest high off ground). If great horned owls are present, that could become a problem if the peahen goes broody though..


I have noticed the free range peahens seemd to strongly favor locations that have something large, such as a large rock, a log or along a fence that has tall weeds growing up through it. At the old house, they were crazy about using the mini roof over the porch as a nest spot.

I don't know if golf balls work for them.. but there are also fake and wood eggs that are closer to peaeggs, those should do the trick if golf balls don't do the trick for them.

 

[deerman]

Try penning them till they start a nest, yes you can use a nest egg, even used guinea eggs as nest egg(they have hard shell) or even a peafowl egg, just mark it. Once they start laying let them free range if you like, should return to the nest to lay.

 

[chickenzoo]

My hens seem to make several nests before they decide on the one they like, but I also find eggs on the roof of their enclosure and just about anywhere.... LOL

 

[NateinFL]

Do they really make a nest, like bring sticks and hay to it, or do they make a scraping like a chicken would? Got curious about that...

 

[1lpoock]

At our local veterans home there is a peacock courtyard and they raise babies there every year. You can also see eggs on the top of the buildings there haha