Show off your Peas!

[jldward]

He had never seen a real little person when he lived here, he is probably trying to figure out if it is a critter or a human   

That's what it seemed like

 

[margaret8]

My peas are going bonkers! The peacock is displaying and the hens and the peacock are flying all over the place!

 

[jldward]

Ok, Zaz & anyone else, fill in this newbie on what I'm watching for to tell me when these peas are of breeding age & how I will know what's going on? I'm reading your posts & can guess at what it means, but I may need a glossary of terms lol. Zaz, you said you thought these hens would start laying this year? Is there a certain time of year for laying or breeding? I know chickens lay eggs all the time (more or less), fertile or not, but do peas lay any time once of age or only when fertile, like pigeons & doves, among others. Thanks in advance to anyone willing to help enlighten me

 

[zazouse]

If they are going to lay it will be around the end of April or first of May, it will depend on if they are an early hatch or late and with hens i could not tell by looking at this age, Peacocks can be pretty sly about breeding and i am not sure when the males will take a mate, when my hens first layed my oldest male had already dropped his train and they were not fertile.

Patch may breed some but i don't expect he will be taking care of all the girls if the train governs that his is small compared to some i have here younger than him, you will just have to get lucky and see if he gets lucky

they are kinda fast like mabe 20 seconds fast and they do not run around making hens squat like a rooster, the hens pick them then will give them that eye ands he runs up behind her and she squats.

 

[Birdrain92]

Usually if a male is ready to breed he will have a distinct feature that shows that it's breeding season. The bump at the top of the neck below the head. When a hen is ready to lay she will lower her tail feathers and wings but she will still look healthy as can be.

 

[jldward]

If they are going to lay it will be around the end of April or first of May, it will depend on if they are an early hatch or late and with hens i could not tell by looking at this age, Peacocks can be pretty sly about breeding and i am not sure when the males will take a mate, when my hens first layed my oldest male had already dropped his train and they were not fertile. 

Patch may breed some but i don't expect he will be taking care of all the girls if the train governs that his is small compared to some i have here younger than him, you will just have to get lucky and see if he gets lucky   they are kinda fast like mabe 20 seconds fast and they do not run around making hens squat like a rooster, the hens pick them then will give them that eye ands he runs up behind her and she squats.

Thank you. I assume, like you said before, it'll be luck if I find where they lay, if/when they do. Sorry, I will read up on all this, but while this question is on my blind, as far as mating, is it for life or just per breeding season, or how does that work? If Miss B chooses Patch (they're together a lot-she's the older blue hen), are the other 2 left out just for this year or how does that work? Like I said, I will do some reading, so if there aren't short, easy answers, that's fine. I don't mind reading. The real challenge, besides just finding a nest, when there is one, will be hoping my egg-eating dogs &/or chicken snakes don't find it before I do. I'm just hoping they stay within my fences to make a nest. They've been hanging out more around my layers which is somewhat wooded, so hoping they decide that's an acceptable nest area when/if the time comes. Thanks again!!

 

[jldward]

Usually if a male is ready to breed he will have a distinct feature that shows that it's breeding season. The bump at the top of the neck below the head. When a hen is ready to lay she will lower her tail feathers and wings but she will still look healthy as can be.

Thank you! I can't at the moment, but I'll come back & make notes on all this. I very much appreciate the input.

 

[margaret8]

Usually if a male is ready to breed he will have a distinct feature that shows that it's breeding season. The bump at the top of the neck below the head. When a hen is ready to lay she will lower her tail feathers and wings but she will still look healthy as can be.

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!

 

[Birdrain92]

Thank you. I assume, like you said before, it'll be luck if I find where they lay, if/when they do. Sorry, I will read up on all this, but while this question is on my blind, as far as mating, is it for life or just per breeding season, or how does that work? If Miss B chooses Patch (they're together a lot-she's the older blue hen), are the other 2 left out just for this year or how does that work? Like I said, I will do some reading, so if there aren't short, easy answers, that's fine. I don't mind reading. The real challenge, besides just finding a nest, when there is one, will be hoping my egg-eating dogs &/or chicken snakes don't find it before I do. I'm just hoping they stay within my fences to make a nest. They've been hanging out more around my layers which is somewhat wooded, so hoping they decide that's an acceptable nest area when/if the time comes. Thanks again!!

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.

 

[Peafowlssssssss]