What do I do with my newly layed eggs

[smcginnis]

Help, today I found 5 peacock eggs in the peacock pen. I read that the hen lays one egg every other day till she is ready to set on them. That means she has been laying them for over a week, but since I hadn't seen them mating, I hadn't been looking for eggs. Two were laid in one clutch, two in another, and the fifth was on the roost. I put them all together in one of her nests, and hope she will set on them and give us some chicks. Did I do the right thing, or did I totally mess it up? What should I do? She isn't setting on them. Should I take them out and try and find someone with an incubator, or maybe find some one with a turkey, or a duck that will set on them for me and her?

 

[DylansMom]

Help, today I found 5 peacock eggs in the peacock pen. I read that the hen lays one egg every other day till she is ready to set on them. That means she has been laying them for over a week, but since I hadn't seen them mating, I hadn't been looking for eggs. Two were laid in one clutch, two in another, and the fifth was on the roost. I put them all together in one of her nests, and hope she will set on them and give us some chicks. Did I do the right thing, or did I totally mess it up? What should I do? She isn't setting on them. Should I take them out and try and find someone with an incubator, or maybe find some one with a turkey, or a duck that will set on them for me and her?

Hi Steve!
Before you get too excited, does the male have a Train, or has he molted already, and if he molted...how long ago? I know you are in the Philippines, so I am unsure of your breeding season there. The general consensus is that males can stay fertile for several weeks after losing the train feathers, but eventually they will be unable to fertilize eggs. So if he shed his tail 2 months ago, chances are not good for fertile eggs. My experience with penned hens is that if they intend to sit on the eggs they will lay them in one spot, if they are not feeling broody they will lay them wherever they happen to be standing at the moment. If she were mine I would try to find a surrogate broody or an incubator as I would have little faith in her broodiness, having laid in 3 different spots. If you can find a broody or 'bator don't wait too long, I try to get them started in 2 weeks or less and the first is probably 10 days already. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[MinxFox]

What penned peahens normally do is lay 1 egg here, 1 egg there, etc. they almost never sit on their first eggs of the year. Some say they do this as a decoy for predators so that they don't find the real nest. I think that is probably it. Putting all of the eggs together probably won't help convince her to sit on them. When she starts laying eggs in the same spot over and over again, she will lay around 6 eggs in one spot and then sit on them. I have had peahens even sit on 1 egg late in the breeding season. Usually the first eggs they lay are fertile so you can incubate them yourself or use a broody chicken, etc. Peahens are great at hatching their own eggs, it just takes them laying a few eggs randomly around the pen before they get serious and pick a nesting location and start laying all new eggs there until they have a clutch. Then it takes around 25-30 days for the eggs to hatch once the hen sits on them. In that time the peahen will get off the nest to eat,drink, etc for a little bit and then she will go back to her nest. I think my peahens have always been able to hatch out all of their eggs. They are really good at getting a 100% hatch rate!

 

[smcginnis]

 

[smcginnis]

Don't know what happened to the writing so I will redo it. After my baby peacock died about 3 months ago, I bought the mom and dad. They, I am told, are about two years old. The male molted about 5 months ago, and his train has been regrowing, and is now about 30 inches long. They have a pen where they stay at night, but I usually let the out to roam around during the day.

 

[smcginnis]

Update: Today I had no new eggs, but the hen was moving the eggs around in the nest. I went to town and asked around till I found a place that said they would incubate them for me. The cost would be 10 pisos each, down, and then 5 pisos for each one that hatched. For those who don't know a piso is the Philippine currency, and about 45 pisos make 1 US dollar. That means it would cost me about 33 cents each to have them incubated if they all hatched. I was going to tell the guy, 10 pisos to start and 15 pisos more for each one that hatched. That means it would cost me about 58 cents each. I figure the extra 10 pisos would be a good incentive. I was planning on taking them to him on Monday morning. Any way, this after noon, there were still only 5 eggs, but when I went to feed them about 5:15, there is now 6 eggs. At least she put the sixth one in the nest I made with the other 5. At any rate, I guess I will wait until Tuesday to see if she lays any more, or maybe starts to set on them, before I take them to the incubator guy. I have changed my Avitar to show the male.

 

[Garden Peas]

Update: Today I had no new eggs, but the hen was moving the eggs around in the nest. I went to town and asked around till I found a place that said they would incubate them for me. The cost would be 10 pisos each, down, and then 5 pisos for each one that hatched. For those who don't know a piso is the Philippine currency, and about 45 pisos make 1 US dollar. That means it would cost me about 33 cents each to have them incubated if they all hatched. I was going to tell the guy, 10 pisos to start and 15 pisos more for each one that hatched. That means it would cost me about 58 cents each. I figure the extra 10 pisos would be a good incentive. I was planning on taking them to him on Monday morning. Any way, this after noon, there were still only 5 eggs, but when I went to feed them about 5:15, there is now 6 eggs. At least she put the sixth one in the nest I made with the other 5. At any rate, I guess I will wait until Tuesday to see if she lays any more, or maybe starts to set on them, before I take them to the incubator guy. I have changed my Avitar to show the male.

Hurray, good job that she likes the nest!

Don't wait too long before starting to incubate if she doesn't start sitting, though... What's your weather like? How hot/cold? And did this hen hatch out the previous chicks or were the eggs incubated in a bator or under another bird?

 

[smcginnis]

Last Saturday she laid a sixth egg. I waited till Tuesday, and since she hadn't laid any more, I took them to the Agravite store to put them in an incubator. One was browken, (maybe the one she was trying to roll out of the nest,) so I ended up with 5 for the incubator. We are supposed to candle them on the 10th, I think. I will post an update after the candeling.