There are three options to incubate the eggs:
- natural incubation through the peafowl hen
- incubation with a chicken hen as foster mother
- or artificial incubation (additional information for artificial incubation)

In general, the animals need a balanced diet and be free of internal and external parasites. Only healthy animals also lay good and viable eggs.

Peacock hens are hatching the eggs generally safe and reliable. The requirement is that you can provide them a secure and reasonably undisturbed hatching place.

However, there are many breeders who hatching the eggs in an incubator. But this happens mostly to increase the number of chicks, because if you take away the eggs the hens are laying much more than they lay 5-6 eggs. In case of artificial incubation you have to ensure that the incubation temperature is not too high, otherwise there is danger that the chicks will have deformities of the feet after the eclosion.

After eclosion of the chicks it is important to consider some issues otherwise many chicks and young animals will die soon. In the first weeks of their life, the chicks are very sensitive to cold and wet conditions. Therefore you must ensure that they do not freeze or getting wet.
We have seen that old, experienced hens do know exactly what they can expect of the chicks. As soon as the weather is too bad for the young, they disappear immediately with their chicks into the protective cot. Once the chicks freeze in the outlet, they notify it and then the hen put them immediately under their warm wings. But that should not rely on it in all cases, especially when you have a young inexperienced and overstrained hen.

Peacock chicks are in the first few weeks are very sensitive and vulnerable. So you have to pay attention to hygiene.

The room in which they will reside after hatching, should be thoroughly cleaned and fresh sprinkled. Our peacocks are always de-wormed before breeding period, that the chicks can not be infected in the first few days after eclosion. An infection with worms may have a negative effect on the growth of young animals or weaken their immune system. Often, a worm infection remains undetected for long periods and the chicks die because of a subsequent infection, due to a weakened immune system.

It should also be avoided, that the peafowl chicks will get in contact with chickens or chicken excrements. Chicken often are transmitting coccidia or histomoniasis (blackhead). Peacocks are generally susceptible to these pathogens and the young ones are naturally more vulnerable. If the young will get ill on it within the  first two months, there are in most cases no chance to help them even if you will react immediately. When the symptoms begin to appear they are already severely damaged and weakened.

Once the young are two to three months old, the risk that they will die is then greatly reduced, because the immune system is much more stable then.

The chicks are in the first two months are very sensitive to moisture, cold and hypothermia. They should be in the outlet only during dry weather. You should also make sure that the grass is no longer wet with dew in the morning.

In the natural incubation the hen already provides sufficient heat. The chicks show her exactly when they have cold. The hen lays down immediately and takes her chicks under her protective wing. With an experienced hen it is starting from the third week no problem, as long as there is no cold rainy weather.

With artificial incubation this is much more difficult. You can offer chick with a red light enough heat, but if they are in the outflow it is not necessarily the case that they will use it. This is the breeding of chicks from artificial incubation much more complicated, because mistakes are punished with losses.

The hens are escorting and guarding their chicks extremely well. The first two month the chicks are always in  the closed aviary. Only when the young are big enough that they are not attacked by domestic cats, we leave the hen with the young out of the aviary.

The protein content of the forage should be very high in the first few weeks. The best way to feed the chick at the beginning is to give a special pellet forage for chicks. Our experience has shown that they take the food in the first two weeks, much better if the pellets are broken.
This is especially problematic for artificial incubation, here you have very often to baiting the chicks because they do not begin to take the forage by themselves. We feed in the first weeks Show 1 of Versele Laga. It is a special starter feed for the pheasants, etc. which is already broken.

In addition, we always give some flour-worms. But it is important to note that these may be fed in the first two weeks, only dead. It should not be exaggerated. As I said, it is only a supplement and not for a complete feeding.

If the chicks due to bad weather can to be outside, we feed dandelions leaves which we slice in small pieces.