Peacocks are beautiful birds that many people yarn to see and even own. However, one of the most common questions that bird enthusiasts ask themselves is; do peacocks lay eggs?
First of all, the word peacock basically means. However, the term is also used to refer to both males and females.
The correct term for female peafowls is peahens, and yes, they lay eggs. They do not lay eggs in their first year after reaching maturity. During the breeding season, a peahen can lay one egg in three days and a total of about 30 eggs.
When Do Peafowl Start Laying Eggs?
Peacocks reach maturity at the age of about two years. Within the first one or two years, your peahens will not lay eggs. They will only start laying after attaining maturity. However, in some rare occurrences, some peahens may start laying eggs before reaching two years of age.
On the other hand, peacocks will reach maturity a little later, at the age of about three years. It is easy to tell when a peacock is mature. Their tail feathers or trains are usually fully developed.
If you have never raised a peafowl at some, it can be very difficult for you to pinpoint the age of a peahen. They also develop their train feathers, and by the age of two years, they will have several tail feathers.
The breeding season for peacocks usually kicks off in early spring. Therefore, your peacock will more likely start laying depending on several things, such as your location and when the weather starts turning into spring.
What Month Do Peacocks Lay Eggs?
In the United States, climates vary across the country. In most parts, spring typically starts in March. Therefore, your peacock can start laying eggs anywhere between March and April. They will lay their eggs depending on the weather. Once they start laying, you can be sure of finding one egg in their nest every other day.
The birds can go broody if you decide to leave their eggs. They usually build up a clatch of about 6 to 8 eggs before going broody. If you collect their eggs every day, it will stop your peahens from going broody and a constant flow of fresh eggs coming.
A peahen will continue laying eggs up to the end of summer. In most cases, it comes around August. During the breeding season, they tend to lay eggs in cycles, usually about five weeks at a time before they take a break for a week or more.
How Many Eggs Can a Peahen Lay in a Year?
Generally, peahens are not prolific egg layers. They only lay eggs between March to August and tend to go through about two to three breeding eggs when laying eggs.
Peahen keepers who keep collecting their eggs so that they do not go broody and stop can expect a range of 20 to 30 eggs in a year. However, it can be very hard to pinpoint a number. There are many other factors that can determine the number of your eggs your birds can lay. Some of them include dynamics in their party and their living condition. Your peahens will lay many eggs if they are provided with better living conditions.
What Does a Peacock Egg Look Like?
The Indian Blue Peafowl, the most common peafowl species, lays buff white color eggs. The color is more of creme or an off-white shade of white. Since peacocks are relatively large birds, it should not surprise that their eggs will be bigger than other eggs of common birds, such as ducks or chickens.
The Green Peafowl lays eggs that are pure white. On the other hand, the Congo Peafowl, which is the rearer among the three species, lays buff white eggs with brown freckles.
What is The Cost of Peacock Eggs?
Raising peacocks comes with a wide range of benefits. One of them is the high profits you can reap from selling their eggs. Therefore, if you have been thinking of raising peahens and selling their eggs, then you can be sure of making a lot of money as long as you find buyers to supply to.
First, it will depend on the purpose of the eggs you are selling. You can sell your eggs to be eaten or peahen hatching eggs for specific breeds. The price of the Indian Blue Peahen eggs to be eaten ranges from about $10 to $40 each.
On the other, hatching eggs for peacocks range from one breed to another. With as low as $20, you can buy peacock hatching eggs from a reputable breeder or farmer. Hatching eggs for some breeds may also cost as high as $100 or even more.
How Long Is Peacock Breeding Season?
The breeding season for peafowl slightly differs depending on the climate and weather in your area. However, you can expect your peafowl to be in the breeding season from March until August, spanning the spring and summertime.
A peahen will go through two to three breeding cycles during the breeding season. They will lay eggs for about one month, then take a break of about seven to ten days. After the break, the birds will start laying eggs again. It can be very rare to find peahen eggs during the winter months. They start laying less frequently at the end of summer.
Peafowl Chicks
You can expect to see a peahen’s cute chicks after about one month of incubation. Peahens are usually good mothers to their kids; thus, you can let them raise the peachicks. To avoid harmful and common predators, you should keep peachicks and peahens in a separate pen until the chicks have grown enough.
Breeding
Generally, it takes about two years for peahens to gain maturity. Some peahens may start laying fertile eggs immediately after their first birthday. Male peafowl usually takes more time to mature as compared to their female counterparts.
It mostly takes about three years for peacocks to gain maturity. Their tails will be mature after the age of three years. A peacock usually shows off and preens its tail feathers for impressing its female counterparts for potential mates. In most cases, they will be ignored by the peahens.
A peahen will accept the impression for a short period of time when she is ready for breeding. You should allow one peacock for every five peahens for the best breeding results.
Where Do Peahens Lay Their Eggs?
Occasionally, a peahen will breed while sitting on a perch. However, in the breeding period, some peafowl breeders tend to remove the perches. What we do is add thick layers of straw under the perches. These perches are left on the pens, and the straws are used to catch the eggs.
Do Peacocks Cover Their Eggs?
Peacocks usually lay eggs in pairs and, at times, trio. The peacocks keep the eggs until they hatch while the peahens are given access to the nests. The conducted research from most experts says that females breed and will have no babies.
How Can You Successfully Incubate Peahens Eggs?
Successful development of peahen eggs begins even before the first egg is laid. Breeder birds are supposed to be protected from interior and exterior parasites. Before the first egg is anticipated to be laid, breeder birds should therefore be on a chicken layer feed for a month.
Additionally, numerous products are available to incubate peahens eggs with ease successfully.
What Happens if You Remove Eggs From a Peahen?
If you try and remove the eggs when peaches are sitting on them, the peahen will still lay the eggs. She will only stop when the breeding season is over, close to three cycles. However, if you keep on picking the eggs each day, the peahens might lay eggs for a whole month then stop laying for 7 to 10 days. Afterward, she will start to lay again.
How Long Will a Peahen Sit on Unfertilized Eggs?
Before giving up, a chicken hen spends 6-7 weeks sitting on an unfertilized egg. Peahens also do the same, and they will only step off the eggs for a drink and food very quickly. You should also quickly collect peahens’ eggs a few hours after being laid.
If the eggs build a clutch, let’s say 4-8 eggs, there is a high chance of the peahen going cogitative and sitting on them.
How Do You Know if a Peahen Egg is Fertile?
Candling is used to determine if the peahen eggs are fertile. It simply involves shining a light into the egg to see if a chick is forming.
When the egg is incubated, it’s very difficult to see anything at a minimum of 7 days. After seven days, a pocket of air developing at one end of the egg will be seen. As from 20 days or so, you will now clearly see a pocket of air and a darker shade covering most of the egg.
Peafowl eggs may take 30 days to hatch. At around 27, you will start seeing a ‘pip’ appear in the shell. This is the chick tapping at the shell with its tooth to break out.
Conclusion
The word peacock typically means a male peafowl, and it does not lay eggs. It is the female peafowl (peahen) that lays eggs. However, most people use the word peacock to refer to both male and female peacocks. A peahen can lay about 20 to 30 eggs in its season, starting in March and ending in August.
