Breeding Season.

snowbald · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2005 9:03 am

Hi all,
1ST.DAY OF SPRING :lol:

and the first thing that greeted me in the white Peacock pen was a broken egg under a perch, I think it's the same hen as did it last year,who laid three eggs from the perch before she started laying in a ground hollow in the gage. Had a look in the gage and there are now two dug out hollows :D :D :D

Although there has been plenty of display's and tail rattling by the males I have seen no sign of mating yet,but there again I'm not there all the time.However one hen thinks it time to go :!:

Regards,
Snowball :lol:

R_M · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2005 9:57 am

You are very lucky.
Snowball, does she sit on the clutch first go or does she lay heaps of eggs and then finally sit on some through the season?
The reason why I ask is that my hens seem to lay about 10 or 15 eggs...(mostly fertile cos I hatch them in the incubator) but don't sit on them.
Then finally, right toward the end of the season, they finally decide to sit.
Maybe they/she doesn't feel secure where she is laying.
Does anyone have a shelter of some sort around/over the nest area?....Like a big dog kennel or something?
The two free roaming hens just laid in a very open area even though there were more protected/obscure places to nest.
It's hard to work out what's going on in a Peacocks brain...(not much?)

Mrpeewee · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2005 3:29 pm

Hi all,
I have heard a bit of fanning calling happening here as well as a few mating charges. No eggs as yet, although the guineas and turkeys have started already with eggs in the incubator. I keep my 2 males in together all year round, they have no problems until I let them free range and sometimes they squabble when I pen them up again. I am looking forward to getting some eggs this year, does anyone have any ideas to keep ravens away from the eggs? I am having alot of trouble with them every year eating the pea eggs, they pull the nests apart and raid the eggs, and I collect them every day. I am using straw and branches to cover the nesting sites within the pen. If worst comes to worst I will purchase some netting and try cover the entire yard. Hope to hear about your breeding success soon.

snowbald · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2005 4:24 pm

Buggsy,---She does not sit first up but lays a few eggs around the yard which last year were not all fertile, then she will get serious and lay in a hollow inside a covered and surrounded bottomless cage with a small door opening,the cage is approx.1.5m x 1m and about 1m high. I have tried straw in this cage but it is normally thrown out and the eggs laid onto the dirt and feathers. The other white hen usually lays straight into a hollow in the cage and they will set side by side. Most eggs I rob and incubate but have always left them some with very poor results. However if I let them set free range they seem to have a better hatching rate. Buggsy check your private mail I have message for you.

Mrpeabody --- I don't know how it will work with Ravens, but I have seen old CD's tied in tree's to keep birds from vegie gardens and in chook pens to keep finches away from the feed --- not sure what the chooks think about the CD's :!:

Regards,
Snowball :lol:

R_M · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2005 4:32 pm

I suppose it depends on the artists on the CD's...Ha ha.......
Heavy metal probably isn't any good.........perhaps classical or soft folk music..........
Sorry !

Peacocks Australia · **Joined:** Wed Jan 02, 2002 9:14 am **Posts:** 310755

You might want to stay clear of the CD and single " Where's your head at" that might just give them Nightmares!!!!!

But serouisly, we have the same problems here with Bloody crows, they eat our free roaming Guinea fowl eggs, one will distract the hen and the others will raid the nest. really the only way to stop the buggers is to Roof the pen.

Thanks
Peacocks Australia :lol:

Janb · **Posted:** Sun May 21, 2006 5:38 pm

Hello all,
We introduced 'Piper', an Indian Blue Peahen to 'Sir Percy' on 26th December 2005, by January 2006 Piper had laid 4 eggs in her nest of straw and grass inside a car tyre, placed in the hens house. She started laying on the straw on the floor of the hen house and after 2 eggs I put the tyre in and placed the eggs in the tyre on some of the same straw/grass. Piper seemed quite happy with this and went on to hatch 3 chicks on 29th January. I did not move the tyre out until she started to settle just on the floor with her chicks at night (I think the weather was warming up at this time). I am hopeful that I can repeat this experience this season.

snowbald · **Posted:** Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:46 pm

Hi all,
Today I witnessed the first mating charge of the season by my split white peacock --- however the hen was not at all interested and ran away, which I think is good as it's still too cold up here for them to start breeding. But there's lots of train fanning and tail rattling going on with the whites,might be an early season :!:

.

Have approx. 100 chooks out of the incubator at this time.

Whats happening to everyone else,
Regards,
Snowball :-D

Janb · **Posted:** Thu Jul 27, 2006 5:51 pm

I am also observing displays and rattling of trains by the males, Snowball. I have one white and one Indian Blue male (separate pens) the hen is in the same pen with Sir Percival (Indian Blue) but really does not seem too fussed. Lord Snowdon (Snow) does not have a mate yet, but he can see Piper through the separating wire. The young males (6 months) are also displaying regularly through the day. The young hen is rather bewildered by all the activity.
Janb

snowbald · **Posted:** Thu Jul 27, 2006 9:43 pm

Hi Janb,
Glad to hear you are getting some activity down your part of the world, hope you have a good season. Have you any way of blocking Snows vision of Sir Percival and Piper once the true breeding season starts as Snows really going to get stressed out being on his own. :!:

If I have a pened male on his own who has close visual site of another pair during the breeding season I hang up hession or something like that to block his view,it seems to keep them calm.
Regards,
Snowball :-D

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