Who is getting eggs?

[DylansMom]

Hi. I am new to this thread and to peafowl but I have a question I hope someone can help me with. My neighbors peafowl (1 hen & 1 male) moved into my coops this winter. They are free to come and go but mostly prefer to stay here. The hen has been making a constant calling sound today (kind of like a honk), could this mean she is about to lay? I have three large pens and places for eggs to be laid everywhere. Are their any signs or behaviors I should be looking for? He is always showing but she prefers to be with my chickens. I hope I will be able to tell the difference in the eggs.

Please all help and pointers are so appreciated.

They are 3 years old this spring.

Start a new thread and ask members to post pics of what their hens look like when they are about to lay an egg. I don't have any good pics myself, but I've seen lots on here. The hens often have a peculiar stance and their wings will droop a bit while their butt appears to be up in the air. I doubt the honk has anything to do with laying, they tend to be secretive when they start to lay, so they probably wouldn't want to make a lot of noise and attract attention to themselves.

 

[SunBaked]

Here is a picture of Momma Jane on a day she was getting ready to lay an egg. She doesn't always get like this, usually she just does what I call the egg dance. That is just agitated pacing along the pen wall because she is closed in. She does this in the late afternoon when she is about to lay. If yours is free roaming she will just go off somewhere when she is ready.

 

[casportpony]

And may I suggest that if one sees this "laying dance", but doesn't see any eggs for several days, do a cloacal exam and check for a stuck egg. I can provide more details on how to do this exam if anyone is interested.

-Kathy

 

[margaret8]

You have to put your finger where!?!?!?

 

[casportpony]

You have to put your finger where!?!?!?

Just think OB/GYN exam, lol. It's easy to do and might possibly save the life of ones bird if caught in time.

-Kathy

 

[autumnmfisher]

wow, with out knowing about the hen "laying" stance, wings down, tail up - we figured it out, noticed this on our hens - first year getting eggs. I thought we were smart.... hehe, guess we're just paying attention to them.

so, anyways, we got our first egg about 3/3, poor girl laid it on a perch and it fell, broke We are right on lake Erie and its been freezing here, can't believe we're getting eggs. but since 3/5 we've been getting them on a steady increase, first 6 days inbetween, - then three, then two, now we are getting one egg every night. they lay at sunset - is that normal? have not had a morning egg yet.

also, we have one male and four females, can he handle them all? we can tell and he's only mated with two - the feathers are pulled off the back of their necks. the other two have no signs of mating. oh and they're all two years old.

this is our first year getting eggs and we are soooooo excited. did not plan to incubate any but no one we're selling to was ready for eggs and I didn't want them to die so we threw 6 in last night - the oldest egg was 9 days old, then right down to the egg laid last night. HOPING HOPING HOPING to get some chicks

 

[autumnmfisher]

and so did the chicks hatch? any picts yet?

 

[margaret8]

It's working on it!!

 

[DylansMom]

wow, with out knowing about the hen "laying" stance, wings down, tail up - we figured it out, noticed this on our hens - first year getting eggs. I thought we were smart.... hehe, guess we're just paying attention to them.

so, anyways, we got our first egg about 3/3, poor girl laid it on a perch and it fell, broke We are right on lake Erie and its been freezing here, can't believe we're getting eggs. but since 3/5 we've been getting them on a steady increase, first 6 days inbetween, - then three, then two, now we are getting one egg every night. they lay at sunset - is that normal? have not had a morning egg yet.

also, we have one male and four females, can he handle them all? we can tell and he's only mated with two - the feathers are pulled off the back of their necks. the other two have no signs of mating. oh and they're all two years old.

this is our first year getting eggs and we are soooooo excited. did not plan to incubate any but no one we're selling to was ready for eggs and I didn't want them to die so we threw 6 in last night - the oldest egg was 9 days old, then right down to the egg laid last night. HOPING HOPING HOPING to get some chicks

I'ts good you grabbed those eggs, with the hens only being 2 years old they will probably lay only 1 small clutch of eggs. They could lay twice, but usually the first year is like a test run, and they are laying very early for your location. We are in south central PA and ours haven't laid a thing yet. Good luck with them and keep us posted!

 

[margaret8]

...

How long does it take?!?! I can hear them chirp!!![/quote}
One of them (the first egg) has it's beak out it chirps when it hears my voice! Does that mean what I think it means? Is it bonding to my voice? The third egg that I put in the hatcher last night is already cracked! The war I set them I may have an egg a day hatch!