Show off your Peas!

[zazouse]

My male was weird last fall when he was a little over a yr old he developed a lump on his neck. I knew he was too young plus it was the wrong time of the year. Any ideas about him this year!

My young males get a hump sometimes but they do not keep them like a mature male and don't go threw what i cal morphing, they look like they are in distress as the hump appears, it almost looks painful.

 

[jldward]

Males will breed to a harem (a group of females). If the hen is really territorial and broody your dogs might get bit or clawed if it's one of those hens. Some hens can get nasty when you get close to their nest. Usually they fan up to give you a warning but if you ignore her you might call her on it and she won't do anything or you might regret what you did. I wouldn't be surprised if the hen ate the snakes or killed them for getting close to the nest. My peafowl are cooped up so I won't be able to help you on finding nests for free range peafowl.

They sound like "my kinda bird"--maybe they'll break my egg-eaters.
I would prefer to have them penned for breeding, but just can't do that right now, at least. Thanks again. This is all very interesting to learn.
I have a Welsummer rooster running free (he needs to go when we get the chance), & he tends to be a man-fighter (the reason why). I usually make the first move to run him off or keep him at bay. When I did, the other day, Mikey the white hen, finished running him off for me.
Thanks again for all the input.

 

[Garden Peas]

They sound like "my kinda bird"--maybe they'll break my egg-eaters.
I would prefer to have them penned for breeding, but just can't do that right now, at least. Thanks again. This is all very interesting to learn.
I have a Welsummer rooster running free (he needs to go when we get the chance), & he tends to be a man-fighter (the reason why). I usually make the first move to run him off or keep him at bay. When I did, the other day, Mikey the white hen, finished running him off for me.
Thanks again for all the input.

Have you tried fake (ceramic) eggs for your egg-eaters?

 

[zazouse]

My peas let me check the eggs while they are on the nest, they do hiss but then move to the side till i am done. i even find chicken and guinea eggs in their nest before they commit to sit.

 

[MinxFox]

I have had to take eggs that a peahen was sitting on, and like Zaz said it isn't that hard to take the eggs. You just reach under the peahen, and yes she will usually do some hissing and sometimes she will try to bite you, but even a mad peahen doesn't seem to have a nasty bite. It doesn't hurt. Then she will get up. I make mine run off because I have seen them lay back down in the nest with nothing there, so I want them to understand that all the eggs are gone.

This is a spring 2014 photo:
A hidden nest.

 

[zazouse]

I have had to take eggs that a peahen was sitting on, and like Zaz said it isn't that hard to take the eggs. You just reach under the peahen, and yes she will usually do some hissing and sometimes she will try to bite you, but even a mad peahen doesn't seem to have a nasty bite. It doesn't hurt. Then she will get up. I make mine run off because I have seen them lay back down in the nest with nothing there, so I want them to understand that all the eggs are gone.

This is a spring 2014 photo:
A hidden nest.

Last year i replaced a peahens eggs with guinea eggs and it came a flood and her nest was a foot under water, i found here standing over the now empty nest as the eggs had floated away, i picked her up and moved here cause she would not budge, she went right back where the nest area and stood in the water, i had to put tree branches over that area so she would stop standing in a foot of water over the nest .

 

[margaret8]

Last year i replaced a peahens eggs with guinea eggs and it came a flood and her nest was a foot under water, i found here standing over the now empty nest as the eggs had floated away, i picked her up and moved here cause she would not budge,  she went right back where the nest area and stood in the water, i had to put tree branches over that area so she would stop standing in a foot of water over the nest .

I know what you mean by hidden nest!

This was in my asparagus in my raised garden!

 

[jldward]

The thing about the egg eaters is, oddly, they're inconsistent--it can go for a while & they leave them alone, then one day we see egg shells in the yard or possibly even catch them in the act. I don't have the ceramic but have wood I could try, but may look into ceramic as well.

I have to check eggs under my boyfriend's game hens, & some of them can be pretty vicious--he has a few I call pit bull hens because they don't peck--they actually bite, hold & shake. Even had a couple flat fly at me, so I'm always on guard when doing that anyway. Finding a nest hopefully won't be too hard, as long as they stay within the perimeter fence, which they're doing so far (knock on wood). There's lots of hiding places like junk trucks & trailers that don't move often, & some deadfall, which is all good cover for them but means inaccessible for me. I'll just have to see how it goes, learning along the way.

Thanks guys!! Side note: in the middle of this post I had to go help Joe with some tractor work. When we were done he told me I had a passenger & had for a while--Patch was on the roll bar above me . Cool...I remember Zaz saying he likes a tractor. Wish I had gotten a pic.

 

[Birdrain92]

Maybe I don't know if it works with peafowl but with chickens how we taught the new hens where to lay we would use anything that is egg shape and they would lay in it. I don't know if it would work with peafowl if you could get them to lay somewhere specific or not. I've yet to try it.

 

[jldward]

Maybe I don't know if it works with peafowl but with chickens how we taught the new hens where to lay we would use anything that is egg shape and they would lay in it. I don't know if it would work with peafowl if you could get them to lay somewhere specific or not. I've yet to try it.

While a specific spot would be great, I'm ok with them choosing their spot. I just prefer they stay within our property boundaries--we have only about 3.25 acres.