This time last year the peahens had mostly stopped laying peafowl eggs!  But not this year.  Towards the end of the peafowl laying season we leave the eggs where the peahens lay them. We let the peahens incubate and hatch the peafowl eggs naturally.  I love to see the peahens with their young peachicks. Especially watching the peahens teaching the peachicks how to fly. It is lovely seeing them keeping the peachicks warm under their wings, when the evenings start to get colder.

In fact we try to time the last few incubated eggs to hatch around the time that the peahens are hatching their own eggs so that we can slip some of the seasons late peachicks under the peahens who will adopt them into their brood and look after them.

We like a peahen to adopt some of the late hatched peachicks

At Peacocks UK we find these late peachicks do better when they are placed with a peahen to look after them rather than being the smallest in the peachicks pen and having to fend for themselves where they will be at the bottom of the pecking order.

Usually I just have a few peahens laying this late in the season, however this year the Opal peahens are still laying, in the Burford Bronze pen I have three Indian Blue peahens laying, all in the same nest of course! The Silver Pied peahens are still laying, but the Silver Pied Peacocks have already lost their tails so the eggs are likely to be infertile.

Black shouldered peahens and the Indian Blue White Eyed Peahens are still laying.

Artificial or natural incubation of peafowl eggs?

I have a week to decide whether to incubate another batch of peafowl eggs in the incubator. Alternatively do I leave the peahens to incubate and hatch so many eggs naturally? Decisions, decisions in Peacock land!

If you are looking for peacocks for sale click here