Peacock eggs are cream-colored. The peacock has about fifteen eggs deposited in a basin that the female has previously dug in the ground and filled with dry leaves. The waiting period lasts twenty-eight days. Learn more about this incubation process.
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Turkey Reproduction
The turkey begins laying as early as its tenth month. The normal spawning season is spring, during which time it lays a maximum of 20 eggs, at the rate of 1 per day if the temperature is mild, 1 every 2 days only if the spring is cold. It is not uncommon, especially if not defaulted or if hatched very early, the turkey is still laying in July. But it hardly gives, in this case, turkey eggs are only 10 to 15 eggs.
She tries to hide her eggs as much as possible in the thousand and one hiding places that nature offers her. So, we are obliged to release her every morning only after she has laid eggs. In order not to keep it trapped unnecessarily, it is necessary to feel it to make sure that the egg is well formed and is close enough to the anus to allow us to conclude that it will be laid during the day.
As with the other birds, the turkey eggs are removed as they come to return them to her at the end of the laying, when, tearing the feathers of the belly to make more cozy the nest that she prepare, we hear him laugh. Depending on the weather, the eggs take between 28 and 30 days to hatch.
But it is important to take into account the number of turkey eggs, usually 15, that have been entrusted to her because she often leaves one or two eggs after the start of incubation, eggs that will naturally come to hatch several days after the others.
When the first turkey appeared, the turkey would go with it, leaving the others that, fatally, would perish. It is therefore necessary to take his cubs with him when they hatch and return them to him only after the appearance of the last ones. Hatching is simpler here than in other birds; there are practically no accidents. During the entire incubation period, it is important to make sure that every day the incubator has left its nest to eat and drink, otherwise it should be forced.
During this time, make sure that the food is not hot enough; salads should dominate, with wet bread, to combat the effect of the seeds. As a good mother and a good incubator, the turkey dries and warms her poults, so sensitive to cold and humidity, by removing pieces of shells whose sharp angles could injure them. Therefore, she will never take her eyes off them, striving first to teach them to eat, which is not easy for them themselves.
Unfortunately heavy and clumsy, she sometimes crushes them with her fatty mass the moment she tries to serve them more. The first two days, turkey birds may fast, then they are fed exactly as said for the chicks. Very fragile in their early youth, the birds fear both cold and direct exposure to the sun’s rays, and even the dew is baneful to them if, upon realization, they do not immediately dry out and warm up.
As a result, they are kept for ten days in a closed room with a moderate temperature of 18 to 20 0 , then, choosing the middle of a beautiful day, preferably a little cloudy to keep the birds from direct exposure to the sun, they are let out for a few hours. At the slightest threat of rain, they are returned.
Turkey Breeding
Concerns bands of a few birds. Housing, equipment and routes:
- Same as those recommended for chickens: the laying house is very suitable for turkeys.
- The turkey should have large areas; it is better to graze it in flocks, every day in different places, so that it can find food and exercise.
- The birds are only locked up at night.
Reproduction
- Starts laying turkey eggs between 18 months and 2 years of age.
- It takes practically one turkey of at least 2 years of age for 4 to 6 females.
- It lays 15 to 20 turkey eggs in 3 to 4 weeks; it is an excellent incubator; it is necessary to enclose it in a box.
- Turkeys can be raised year-round, it is preferable to have them covered, turkey eggsfor hatches to be completed by the end of April and turkeys at the end of April are plucked at the beginning of the rainy season.
Power Supply
Here are some feeding methods for turkeys:
The first method:
- Hatching of the turkey occurs around day 28. The first meal is served after 24 hours of rest: it consists of hard bread soaked in water or milk, hard-boiled turkey eggs and chopped onions.
- millet flour and corn pate, diluted in curdled milk with a few pieces of cayenne pepper is an excellent meal.
- All sprinkled with a little pepper.
- Young people love rice. Parsley is a very important plant to add to the food.
- Termites that can be easily found in the field are sources of protein in young turkeys
The second method:
- Feeding “chicks 1 age”: 1 kilogram
- 2 hard boiled eggs, finely chopped,
- 1 handful of cooked corn,
- 1 tablespoon of pulverized dried fish,
- 1 tablespoon of oyster shells,
- 1 tablespoon egg shells,
- 1 pinch of charcoal,
- 1 or 2 finely chopped red peppers (depending on size).
- some salad leaves, preferably lettuce (finely chopped)
- All this well mixed, slightly moistened with water.
The Yield of Turkey Eggs
Stored for 8 to 15 days and processed ?? in Re-Store, improves by 7%. The longer the egg storage, the lower the yield. You can maximize the yield of your turkey eggs by 6 to 7% by applying heat treatment to store for up to 15 days as part of your standard hatchery practices. Standard programs have been developed to bring embryo development to a more robust stage.
Recover yield losses due to storage by up to 60%. Heat treatment of stored turkey eggs has long existed under various names, e.g. SPIDES (short incubation periods during egg storage = short incubation periods during egg storage), PRESI (pre-storage incubation = pre-storage incubation) or Ideas. That said, the results were previously spotty and the process was not recognized by the industry.
The machine uses a technology specifically designed to control the heat treatment program. It relies on the temperature of the turkey egg shell not only to regulate the machine’s air temperature, but also to control the timing of the program steps. (See Article: Quail Eggs)
The “special” steps only change when the turkey eggs signal to the machine that it is time to change them. The use of this technology allows each egg to undergo the same treatment, ensuring uniformity of results that was previously unattainable.
The longer the storage period, the greater the yield losses. Turkey eggs stored for 1 to 7 days are considered fresh and suffer only small losses due to storage time, while losses of turkey eggs stored for more than 7 days can be considerable.As an indication, it is possible to recover up to 60% of the performance that, under the storage effect, would have been lost.
Because turkey production is more seasonal than hens and their flocks are smaller, turkey eggs are generally stored longer than hens, so they can take advantage of Re-Store. The Re-Store process promotes the morphological development of embryonic embryos from embryonic to oviposition to a more robust stage of development. In this way, storage of turkey eggs negatively affects hatch performance.
How do I get my turkeys to lay fertilized “eggs”?
The first thing to know about turkey egg laying is that females lay eggs once they reach sexual maturity.
Flock of Turkeys
That is, with or without the presence of a male, the female will lay turkey eggs. In reality, in the absence of a breeding male, the female lays eggs and not eggs because by definition the egg is the result of the meeting of the male and female gametes. It is through an abuse of language that we speak of eggs in the absence of breeding males, otherwise it is really about eggs. In short, turkeys will start laying eggs once they reach sexual maturity. For turkeys to lay the maximum number of fertilized eggs, 3 aspects must be taken into account:
- The presence of breeding turkeys: As I said before, without the male, the turkey can lay eggs. If you want to have fertilized eggs, you must make sure that the breeding turkeys are regularly raised by breeding turkeys.
- Sex ratio: This is the number of females to one male. It is necessary to provide one breeding turkey for every 8 to 10 breeding turkeys.
If there are more breeding males, they fight with each other to mount turkeys so that eventually no turkeys are mounted. Because at the end of these fights, the breeding turkeys get tired and injured most of the time. If there are fewer breeding males, the latter may exhaust themselves by mounting all the females.
Or, you can mount the females but in reality the sperm will be insufficient; a number of eggs will not be fertilized. The percentage of fertilized eggs that is indicative of a good consideration of sex ratio.
3. Arrange turkey breeding: You can attract the breeding turkey to raise a turkey. All you have to do in the presence of the breeding turkey is to catch the turkey and put it on the ground with its head facing you. The breeding turkey can come and mount it in your hand. You can secure the mounting of your turkeys yourself to prevent unfertilized eggs from being produced.
How do I know if the eggs are fertilized?
It is during egg mirage that fertilized eggs are identified. Mirage occurs in turkeys between the 8th and 10th day after reproduction. Unfertilized eggs detected at that time are still edible.
Are they eaten?
The egg is a food derived from an organic, spherical or oblong body, produced and laid by most female birds: chicken, ostrich, duck, turkey, quail, pigeon.
The eggs of various species of birds have been consumed since ancient times. The Phoenicians feast on ostrich eggs when the first recipes arrive in antiquity. Lucullus, Roman gastronome, invented the honey omelet “ovamellita” and Apicius, in 25 BC, created by mixing the cream in a bowl of milk, honey, beaten eggs and simmered.
The food current in the Middle Ages under the impetus of Charlemagne in the Capitular De Villis, the egg remains forbidden by the Church during Lent. Laying hens have their turkey eggs stored in liquid fat or wax until Easter.To make it presentable, the egg is decorated before being offered on Easter Day! Accused of symbols and traditions, the egg is very present on the court table.
Louis 14 is greedy of the winds, ancestor of the floating islands. In the mid-seventeenth century, they saw more than 60 ways to prepare this food. Louis 15 prefers to blow with a single fork the small end of his eggshell on Sunday, while the manager solemnly announces: The king will eat his egg! A primordial ingredient of our gastronomy.
Cooking The Egg
As many cooking methods as primers for this food are widely consumed!
- egg cooked in water and in its shell: 3 minutes for a soft-boiled egg.
- egg boiled in water without its shell or “poached egg” 3-4 minutes in simmering water
- fried egg
- egg in the mirror: in the baked dish
- molded egg: cooked in a bain-marie
- egg casserole: broken in a small mold with a primer
- scrambled egg: diluted instead of beaten
- spun egg: poached egg in the form of filaments
- omelet
- egg whites in snow
Consumption
Version alone, sweet or savory, it combines with a multitude of seasonings, flavors. From the mimosa egg to the boiled egg, very appreciated by children, it is found in casserole cream. From the simplest to the most refined, the egg is extra plain alone or accompanied, in the fight with truffles, veal with asparagus tips and Madeira sauce.
Famous, it offers famous regional finishes such as omelette, eggs brayons, eggs in jelly, eggs in pieces. In combination with other dishes, the egg has the power to enrich, unite, emulsify or make them tastier. Yellow is found in the base of many stable emulsified sauces, such as mayonnaise or aioli. On the pastry side, egg is used in the preparation of most cakes and pastries.
How To Hatch Peacock Eggs At Home
Have you ever wondered how to incubate turkey eggs, here are some features to make incubation possible:
Peacock Housing
There are two situations that will depend on the space you have. With a large park, opt for semi-freedom. If not, prefer the breeding of birds:
Semi-Freedom
The first possibility available to you refers to peacocks raised in large spaces (parks, farms, different green areas) without paddocks or night shelters. This is called quasi-freedom or semi-freedom, and, like wild peacocks in India, they will choose stable and safe places to roost.
These places are more or less dispersed, depending on the structure of the group and the peacocks will be faithful to certain areas where they will perform their daily and seasonal activities. Depending on the annual climate (especially depending on the severity of the winter), they can be left permanently in this environment where they can be closed during the night in aviaries with paddocks, to provide them with additional protection during the winter.
The great benefit of parole is that the peacocks are larger (actually appreciated in all galliformes), as they can grow and show their will, their plumage is impeccable and they do not have access to additional food sources, inaccessible for life in aviaries.The disadvantages lie in the fact that the peacocks will be subject to all the vagaries of the weather in the area (cold rain, frost, ice, snow, hail, heat wave, etc.).
It will be impossible to know the exact decline (for the color variety), which females that convent will be exposed to possible predators (foxes, stray dogs, ferrets) and the number of dead chicks will be large enough due to the vagaries of the weather and at the same time, if they are not used enter into aviaries
In an Aviary
Peacock habitat, the second situation is the breeding of peacocks in special aviaries. Generally grouped in harems (families). In this case, it is advisable to build a large paddock (e.g., a chicken coop) or the peacocks could take shelter if weather conditions become unfavorable. This paddock (hen house) can be enclosed, with a small access door that can be closed, especially on cold winter nights and days. It can also be semi-enclosed with an open wall located against the predominant wind direction (usually east).
There is no standard paddock size, but the size of the male’s crawl (which implies a minimum height of 1.4 to 1.5 m from the support on which he sleeps) should be taken into account. of subjects that have access to this space. The pen can have plastered walls, grooved planks (to reduce internal currents) or cellular polypropylene planks and it is also advisable to construct a “window” if there are opaque walls.
We should not heat this space during the winter! So far we have not encountered freezing or other such problems, even with winters at -20°C (as long as there is no draft and the floor is insulated with straw). It is not the low temperature that is dangerous during winter, but cold draughts, snow, hail or periods with cold rain (sleet). The floor should be built with wood to ensure warmth. In any case, if we have already used concrete, we recommend placing a thick layer of straw, sawdust or sand and change it periodically to ensure proper hygiene. (See Article: Peacock)
We recommend keeping peacocks in warm spaces during the winter, as it is not necessary (apart from the chicks’ final rounds of the year) and weakens the subjects afterwards. Everything will be fine if there are places where peacocks can retreat at night or hide in bad weather in paddocks or shelters, without heat and without cold drafts. You often saw us peacocks kept in barns, and these subjects almost always have respiratory problems due to the confined air, ammonia fumes and high microbial load of this environment.
The aviary should be wide and high, but it depends on the available space and the farmer’s financial investment. The minimum area for a “family” aviary (one male and 3 to 4 females) is 15 to 20 m2, has the shape of a square or rectangle, but not too long, and a height of 2m MINIMUM to allow the peacock to make a complete rotation. If the aviaries are developed vertically, it is advisable to place supports (rulers, beams) at considerable heights, because the peacock likes to have a good perspective on the ground.
One thing neglected by some breeders is the nature of the support the peacock uses for resting or roosting. Wood is the best material because it is “warm”. We have already encountered situations where peacocks were roosting on iron pipes or other “cold” materials such as concrete, which is very damaging, especially in winter.Sooner or later, these birds will contract some leg diseases, sometimes very serious, resulting in permanent lameness or even loss of toes.
Aviaries can be covered or not against rain, with light, transparent and resistant materials, the optimal solution being a partial cover. The aviary should be constructed to prevent access by rats, feral cats or other pests, with a minimum of foundations and netting with adequate holes. The floor of the aviary can be a spread-out soil (clay) or concrete, covered with a good layer of gravel, coarse sand or even ballast to ensure adequate drainage. (See Article: Characteristics of the Peacock)
The Reproduction of Peacocks
As a polygamous bird, families will consist of one male and several females.
Breeding in the aviary
For aviaries, breeding stock will consist of one male and 2-5 females and each family will have adequate space. It is not recommended to keep several males in the same aviary (with females) during the breeding season. In general, males become very aggressive towards each other at that time. Severe injuries and large numbers of sterile turkey eggs are the result of confrontations.
Virtual free-range breeding
For peacocks bred in quasi-freedom (large green spaces), depending on the size and complexity of this green space (herbaceous vegetation, trees, shrubs), we must take into account their number, especially the ratio between the number of males and females, to avoid possible conflicts that may arise, especially during courtship. Peacocks will establish their own territories and rotation sites where they will display their plumage to attract them for mating.
The families formed on this diet are quite stable until the time of laying and the incubation period (in the case of a natural incubation). Reproduction of this species occurs in spring and early summer, sometimes until late summer. Courtship (rotation) begins early in the spring, depending on weather conditions (if it is warm, courtship will begin faster).
Reproduction in general
Breeding in peacocks, the sexual maturity of peacocks, contrary to the opinions of several breeders, is reached at 2 years, for males (even if they do not yet have the train definitely developed) and for females. Personally, whenever we used 2-year-old peacocks for breeding, we obtained chicks and the proportion of fertile turkey eggs was not different from the production obtained with older subjects. We have heard of eggs laid at 1 year (1.5 years) during the summer, which is neither undeniable nor acceptable.
We have not encountered such situations within our breeding. In any case, for 2 or 3 years, the diet is very important, which affects the quality of the eggs (size, shape, the density of the shell) and even their number at bedtime. Eggs are deposited at night, very rarely in the morning, one or two days (sometimes up to 3 days). Spawning can be from 4 to 8 eggs (sometimes up to 11).
At the end of the laying period, if the eggs are left in the nest, the female hatches them. As farmers are very good mothers, incubation can be natural without a high risk of failure. However, if this is not the case, it can be done artificially with incubators or by adoption with hens or turkeys. The theoretical incubation period is 28 days, but we observe that the chicks hatch after 27 days. Chicks are raised in the same way as pheasant or chicken chicks. During the first months.
