The peahens, Pania and Tui, are spending most of their time in the barn lately. Of course Kupa is up there with them. They are together much more than previously so I have high hopes of some eggs. They should start laying sometime in late March or early April. These are young hens so they should lay one clutch of 4 or 5 and then sit. I have read that they are good mothers. I do hope so. I hope to nick a few eggs, if I find them, and pop them under a broody chicken so I can raise a few peafowl for sale.
Yesterday we had a delivery in a large strong box with a lid. I took both pieces of the box up into the Gods, right into the top of the barn and hid them in two of the darkest corners, behind bales of straw and assorted barn junk. I filled them with straw, in the hopes that the Tui and Pania will use these for nesting boxes. I have read that you can do this with big tires or triangular wooden boxes in the corners of the loft.
Wild peahens usually create nests in the long grass but with the packs of wild domestic dogs and coyotes and raccoons and hunters I would rather they chose to nest in the barn. I don’t cage my big birds though so who knows what they will choose. Fingers crossed. Just imagine a whole gaggle of pea-chicks!
Tilly watching me watch her from up in the barn loft. Just in case a bottle should appear and fly straight down into her mouth.
Mia is still very quiet. I am sure she is not in pain anymore but she is so slow, so deliberate in her movements. 
Interestingly here is Mia exactly a year ago, recovering from her last miscarriage. A vastly different sheep. This time she has not recovered her vigor. I should never have let her breed again but this is such a tiny property and I wanted to give her another chance which turned out to be a cruel choice. Well, I will keep an eye on her. When it gets a little warmer I shall put all the sheep outside, it is much healthier OUT of the barn. And in a wee while all this snow on the ground will soak in and it will get warmer and the grass will start to grow and then the health and spirits of all the animals will take a leap upwards.
Good morning. Today we are doing another junkyard run to work on the recycled timbers for the trim and counters and shelves in The Coupe. I have a man who will work with me on this when The Kiwi Builder is ready. It is slowly all coming together.
Have a lovely day.
celi
c
The Kitchen's Garden 
47 responses to “Creating Nesting Boxes for Peahens – Hows that for Positive Thinking!”
and you. I feel for poor Mia – reminds me of how I felt for ages after a hysterectomy. We need Spring, not snow!
Yes we do Viv! It will come, not sure when but it will come.. c
Poor, sweet, Mia. I hope she’ll be OK. You don’t think there’s any babies left in there do you?
Can’t wait to see what pea-chicks look like! Looks like you’ve finally gotten a bit of snow. It’s snowing sideways here and we are bracing for their prediction of 8-12 inches. We’ll see. Hoping the majority of it passes us by. We still have a foot and a half on the ground from one of the past storms.
Bring on Spring! 🙂 Have a great day ~ April
I pulled out four lambs and was reasonably sure that there were no more in there, she has had a rough time.. it was not fair.. and oh dear, you are getting some real old fashioned snow out there.. c
Don’t be too hard on yourself, C…you had to try again. You had to give her a chance to be a productive member of the household. Poor thing, it’s just too sad…
Lovely snow photos. Just imagine all that lovely water, gently soaking into the ground!
It is a lovely image, water soaking in! morning marie, did you get more snow, i shall pop over.. c
Poor Mia, hope she recovers well enough to help babysit Blue Murphy and Tilly. C, I’m curious as to why some of the Peachicks will have to be hatched by a chicken, can’t they all stay with the Peahen? Hope your thaw starts soon 🙂 Laura
If I take a couple of eggs, she will lay a few more, and the ones that I hatch with my chicken will be sold, the ones the Peahen hatches (given that anyone hatches anything!!) will be raised by her and impossible to catch I am sure plus the risk of predators etc!! At a year old they are worth 100 each, which will buy lots of bird food! c
The peahens are beautiful, Tilly so cute and poor Mia. New to your blog and really enjoying hearing about your rural life, thanks for sharing with us.
welcome.. welcome.. c
The snow looks positively lovely. We had a pigeon lay eggs on our Juliette balcony at work last summer and they hatched. The stupid mother pigeon abandoned them and they died; they were the ugliest babies I have ever seen. Really ugly. You should Google it. I hope the peahen babies are cute.
Oh dear, we don’t want ugly chicks, though the ones I have seen are not the prettiest .. ! c
Life goes on and we continue to live in hope and grace. Planning for peahens, waiting for snow to melt into the ground, caring for the lambs and for the mother who was not, all move us in the direction of a tomorrow filled with life and growth. Take care of you!
Morning Joss and thank you for your lovely words!! You are right – this is the cycle.. we need to let it run.. have a lovely day.. c
They’re so beautiful!
morning Fruge.. i shall pop over and see what is in your kitchen shortly!! c
My heart does go out to Mia…what do you do with pea hens…can you eat the eggs? Or do you just breed them so that you can sell the males as you mention?
They do not lay many eggs so I would not want to eat them, and the males and females fetch a reasonable price! (bonus!) But I should not be counting my chickens before they are hatched let alone LAID should I ! c
That wire basket. I am trying to figure out its use. But, alas, my brain is not telling me. Love it. The basket. Not the brain at this moment.
the basket is one of a collection I found in an abandoned barn, I am not sure what they were used for initially either but I use them for just about everything, very handy! and very pretty.. c
Pea chicks! can’t wait to see some of those – it will make a change from our more usual chicks and ducklings.
christine
I think ducklings take the prize for the prettiest though!! Do you have anyone sitting? i must pop over and see.. c
As though you don’t have enough on your hands as it is… now pea chicks..?? I am actually in awe of you and what you do on a daily basis… typical NZ.. always on the go…
It is not that bad really and it will get better when we open the gates and let them into fields, a while away yet though, this is the worst time of year for me, the animals and i all suffer from cabin fever! c
Cecilia,
Do you think maybe Mia has an infection in her uterus? You said that some of lambs appeared to have been dead awhile which would raise the risk. She maybe running a fever which would explain her laying out in the field when it was so cold, her way of fighting the fever. We had used a human thermometer in a pinch on baby calves, be sure to tie a string/ thread on it so it doesn’t slip inside her and you have to search for it. If you don’t already know I’m sure you can Google normal body temp for a sheep.
I can remember baskets like that in my high school locker room (number is kind of high though for my old school), the YWCA locker room, swimming pool and the meat locker/butcher as a kid. The gold tag is like a giant safety pin and you pinned on your swimsuit/gym uniform (which makes me think it is probably from a pool or gym back when they had attendants) so you could claim your clothes afterwards.
I thought the same..that the basket came from a swimming pool. When I was much younger my Mom would take my sisters and I to a town nearby to swim. They gave us a basket like that. You put your clothes in it (and whatever else you couldn’t take into the pool area) and pinned the safety pin, with the corresponding number, to your suit. When it was time to go home you gave them the pin back and they gave you the basket with the matching number that contained all of your belongings. How times have changed!
I have given her a course of antibiotics due to the intervention, she is recovering, eating and drinking, etc Her nose is cool and her ears are warm. just not her bouncy old self. She is slowly improving however. Not as fast as last time though.. c
I was hopefully that there was a quicker fix, poor Mia. Tis one of the sad parts of a small farm, everyone must contribute or they can not remain. Although some did get to stay if they had put in many years of work/service. I assume that Mia is Mama’s daughter, do you think that multiple lambs will continue on in her other daughters?
I hope not.. we will see. Mama has definitely won her long term badge though, she is such a good mother, and manages those big numbers easily…. c
If the peahens start laying successfully I’d be very tempted to cook one of the eggs:
http://www.endlesssimmer.com/2012/06/18/eating-oddities-peacock-eggs/
Please tell Mia that all of us hope she feels better soon, she has been through a lot. Also i agree with the others, please take the really neat metal basket and use it in the new Coupe, it would look great on a open shelf holding towels, magazines, whatever! Have a great day.