AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

We are new to this and have found it hard to get information. We have had a male and a female (Lady Brenda and Gordy )for just over 6 months now. They had 5 chicks when we got them. Two died within a couple of weeks. We had them penned for about 6 weeks (have since learned that it should have been a lot longer but we are totally new to this) Anyway when we let them out they took off during the night but all returned (including chicks) two days later. They have always since then roosted in trees fairly close to the house but are around the house all day. Unfortunately we lost all the chicks which was very distressing. I have been trying to find out where we went wrong with the chicks (a fox got one, one was hurt when trying to fly up to the tree and the other one seemed strong and healthy and died aat 2-3 months??) as we are hoping for more babies this season.

HELP!!!

When they had the chicks they used to roam around ( we have 50 acres and mostly just bushy) now they just sit around the house in the same spot all day till the afternoon when they preen and dig around in the dirt get fed then take off into their tree which is a big gum tree close to the house. Is this normal? My husband is making a new enclosure for them so when it comes to breeding season we can keep them penned. Any help appreciated so we get it right.

Hello Eve, Welcome to the "Forum"

Unfortunately very few free range Peachicks survive, there are just to many Predators and bad mothers. The following is part of an Article we wrote and should help, the full Article is available on our Web Site.

We do not allow Peahens to Incubate or raise chicks, we will and do use Chickens (Including Pekin Bantams) but under strict conditions, all our "Peafosters" as we call them are kept away from all other birds especially Poultry, they are penned away from all other Chickens and at no time in or out of the breeding season will they come in contact with other Poultry. They are not allowed to free range at any time, and are kept on a strict diet and like all our birds they are vaccinated with Baytril, Emtryl, and wormed, but they are given one additional dose prior to incubation of Peafowl eggs. All "Peafosters" are set in our "Brooder Boxes" in our "Brooder Shed" and are treated the same as Incubated Chicks including heater lights where needed.

Important points:

Peachicks are very susceptible to a couple of diseases and must be treated like a new born human baby (sterile conditions) "Turkey Starter" will help build their immune system and vaccinate them. They should NOT have ANY contact with Adult birds, particularly Peafowl, Chooks,(excluding the foster bird of course) Turkeys this is one of the most important points and will help to insure your Peachicks stay strong, healthy & disease free. Peachicks are most susceptible from age 0 - 20 weeks so it's important to give them the best start in life. Over the years we have developed these procedures (above) which in turn has improved our success rate to 90%. (including Hatching) We cannot emphasize enough that a good breeding plan is accentual to breeding success regardless of what you are breeding and remember "Prevention is better than cure". Peachicks MUST have heat for at least the first 6 weeks, they are very happy in 35c and need the heat to aid growth and mobility. If you have more than one batch of Peachicks, you should wash you hands from brooder to brooder and anything in one brooder should never go in the other, including Chicks. Do not mix Peachick batches, do not allow them to have contact with each other or any birds. Do not introduce a juvenile bird to the flock until they are at least 5 months old (6 or more is better)



The above is a Guide only.


Article by Peacocks Australia / January 2006


It is quite normal for Peafowl to be inactive this time of year, this is the "Off" season a time for them to rest and Peahens to regain weight. Not a bad life?

Hope this helps, please if you have any further questions just ask

Thanks
Peacocks Australia

Have any members experience with running free roaming peafowl with chooks/guinea fowl? Can they mix with each other or do the peacocks tend to "bully"? Watching my existing peafowl with crows, possums and wallabies fear that any new poultry will have to remain penned. (It is usually my girls who do the chasing off!)

my guinea fowl constantly try to peck at my peacocks tail feathers, but they go reasonably well with chickens if they have been raised around them.

when my peacock did roam free, I had no problems at all with either chooks or guinea fowl.

But I agree, guinea fowl are a bit "bossy" with anything.

We ended up getting rid of our guinea fowl because the males continually TORMENTED the peacocks and our rooster in the testosterone season. They chased them endlessly, pulled out their tails or worse still snapped the ends off the feathers, and the rooster had a bleeding bum from being pecked continuously. We keep our chooks in now because of a naughty hawk, but the peas can fly in there. The worst they do is display all day to the chooks, and very occasionally one will chase a chook for a few minutes. But in our experience the guineas are the aggressors. The worst offending male was the rooster's best friend out of mating season, and followed him slavishly around everywhere. But he ended up being totally cowed. Cheers, Pam

Pam, When I had my Peacocks they would sometimes hang around the chook pens etc. and would display to the chooks, and on one occasion when I let the chooks out for their daily free range stint a blue peacock tried to tread a Rhode Isl.Red hen. . I often wonder,if it was possible,what would be the outcome
Snowball

i remember when my peacock tried to breed with my commercial laying hens but he was too young.

Yes, a lady I know bought only one male and she had trouble with him trying to mate with the chooks. But it seems pretty unusual. We have only seen a peacock actually mating twice, so I think it is a lot of froth and bubble usually. We have 4 full tail males and three juveniles. The two 18 month olds spend their days practising for the future. They display at EVERYTHING! This am Lord Snowtime, with only his premmy tail feathers was bowing and scraping to a couple of crimson rosellas feeding nearby, who were, needless to say, totally ignoring him.

An RRXpea cross??? Goodness!! Nature has many bars to crosses occurring. I did see in the Featherdale Wildlife Park in Sydney, a corella/ galah cross.

BB, I looked up our dates when our pea started breeding and it was about halfway thru October. May help you in your location. Gosh, you are a brave man going for the greens, but I must admit that we would have a go if they were located closer. What puts me off is that they have to be caged. Why PA???? Cheers, Pam

Hi Pam, It’s purely genetics, Green Peafowl ,Muticus-Muticus (Javanese) Muticus-Imperator (Indo-Chinese) ,Muticus- Specifier (Burmese) have a very different genetic make-up than Indian Blues. By nature they are shy and reclusive species, generally weary of humans and human activities. This genetic make-up has not change even with selective line breeding; the gene to bond to a Person or Place is simply not there. In the late 90’s a breeder referred to as Mrs. Spaulding was recorded as being the first to cross Green & Blue Peafowl with the aim to alter the Greens genetics. This cross did have some success in the “C” gene (as we will call it) which is naturally absent from Greens, however it was limited & the losses out weighed the gains. The Spaulding’s (as it is referred to in the U.S.A) that were and are produced today are as varied as their owners, there is no “normal” behavior pattern, with some showing real aggression toward Humans. The Spaulding family hoped to introduce the Blue “C” gene to Green Peafowl without any other blue traits as they believed that Green was dominant (which it is) but the results were approx 80+% were still showing ALL the behavior traits of Greens but now without their magnificent colour. We don’t refer to these as Spaulding as this seems to some how ratify it as a species we call it as it is “A Hybrid” We have many Greens that are friendly (they tolerate us) in their pens but we have no doubt that given the chance, they would fly off into the sunset regardless of the fact we have had some of them for 15+ years

Thanks
Peacocks Australia