21 chicks total hatched out of 24 eggs set (1 dud, 2 non-hatchers).
87.5% incubation success rate
19 chicks survived (0.2 EV lost, one to ticks, one fell off perch overnight and chilled) past the first 2 weeks (FTT threshold). 90.4% survival rate.
Chicks are spread across 6 hens in 3 pens.
4 with Corona (2.2 very sure of 1.2.1, pretty sure it's 2.2)
5 with Aris (0.0.5 NO idea yet, realistically would be weird to be 5 blue het purple males but it does look that way…)
2 with Eris (0.2 pretty sure 0.1.1 100% sure)
2 with Bug (0.2 100% sure by genetics/testing)
1 with Wendy (1.0 pretty sure)
5 with Heather (0.2.3 but I am beginning to suspect 2.3)
Total: 2.10.9, with 2.8.9 surviving.
So, 2 I'm certain are males, 8 I'm certain are hens, and 9 where I could probably make guesses on half, but I'm not willing to call it just yet. I'm guessing Bug's are harder to tell because they're the highest Spaldings of the group.
3 EV hens will be staying with me (1 from Wendy [Princess w/ Bug], 1 from Bug [Ladybug w/ Eris], 1 from Heather [undecided which one]). Brooke (from last year) will be going to friends in NC in late Oct/early Nov because she's not getting along with anyone here. The last EV hen (Heather's 2nd) might go as well, but I'll probably hang onto them for a year to see which one I like better. Bill DID say it was fine for me to sell her if I wanted, and there's a possibility I will do that instead.
1 blue hen [Dragonfly] will be staying here, the rest will be sold [2 blues from Wendy w/ Corona, 1 blue from Wendy with Eris, 1 blue from Heather with Heather].
No males will stay here, they will either be sold by or processed in January 2027.
I reported on these stats to one of my peafowl group chats with a couple other breeders, because they were saying peafowl eggs have a 42% incubation success rate like that's normal....
[Last year I had too many males, and processed the extra for the freezer, which he KNOWS I did]
Anyway, that's part of why I linked the research article I linked a week or two ago, about peafowl nutrition and its link to fertility/chick health. SO MANY PEOPLE are starving their chicks of the protein they need, and they'll argue til they're blue in the face that chicks can't have high protein because it will "twist their legs." When leg twisting has BEEN RESEARCHED. And results from a high MINERAL content, particularly calcium!! These birds need LOW calcium and most people are NOT giving low calcium feeds, or they're giving low-quality high-protein feeds like Purina. Which is garbage and should never be used.
And I've gone round and round and round with one of the two in this group, because she's always complaining that they stopped making "ultrakibble" (which was junk imo, I tried it with my birds, it's JUST a "feed supplement" that is higher protein and contains fish meal), and she doesn't want to feed a processed chow (though make it make sense, Ultrakibble was a processed supplement....). She absolutely won't take my rec for the feed I used because it's processed, but WILL talk about 40% hatch rates being "normal" for them and how she could get it a little higher with ultrakibble.
But, what do I know? My success rate is only double what they think is normal. Probably don't know what I'm doing.
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