Ticks, Snakes and a few other questions.

73bolt · **Joined:** Sun Sep 18, 2011 8:41 am **Posts:** 32

Hello.

Recently our family moved onto a property sth of Brisbane and we inherited a lovely Peacock named Paul. Paul is a great friend to have around the place comming and going as he pleases and tapping us on the arm when its been too long between snacks. yesterday while feeding him some bread, I noticed a tick under his chin, high up on his neck where he couldnt reach it. We caught him and removed the tick(including the head) and found it was a paralysis tick, so we were very lucky to spot it when we did. Later that day Paul allerted us to a 6ft brown snake in our yard not too far from our house.

Do you treat peacocks for ticks as you do for cats and dogs?

Are Peacocks known for sounding an alarm when danger approaches?

We are unsure exactly how old Paul is. The previous owner said that his 2 other peacocks were killed by dogs and Paul was left with only one eye as a result of the same attacks. Lately we have been thinking of getting him a mate (or even a second male as well as a peahen). I have read some of the articles here about when to release peacocks into your yard, but how would I go about intergrating a totally free range peacock with one or 2 that I introduce?

Thanks, any information would be appreciated!

dannyB · **Posted:** Mon Sep 19, 2011 11:08 am

Birds rarely, but not never, need treatment for paralysis ticks. They are a little less sensitive to the toxin but the feature that allows them to survive intoxication is the way in which they breath. Mammals rely on the muscular diaphragm to move air in and out of the lungs. Parlyse the diaphragm - breathing stops. In birds, air is drawn in in both inspiration and expiration and uses multiple air sacs, supported by multiple muscles to do so - it is many times more efficient than mammal breathing. Thus paralysing numerous muscles only reduces respiration until they are highly intoxicated. In many cases the tick will drop off with a full belly before the birds gets that sick.
If they do get paralysed, they do respond to the same antitoxin when given carefully intraperitoneally.
I have seen paralysis in pelicans, chickens , one peafowl, a mute swan, a black swan and a brush turkey.
Regular short term exposure will infer some short lasting (6 months) immunity.

Sebducks · **Joined:** Wed Mar 11, 2009 3:41 pm **Posts:** 812

Peacocks, geese and guinea fowl are all known for sounding alarms when there is danger including snakes. My guinea fowl do sound for large birds of prey also. We don't have ticks out here, not paralysis anyway so i can't be of help with that.
I wonder if you got another male would it evetually become dominant over Paul and displace him? Perhaps you can just get a young peahen and try to integrate them together. You'd have to get a pen for the female that she could not get out of and keep her in for about a month until she knew it was home, then she should be fine free ranging with Paul.

Squeakz · **Joined:** Wed Jul 27, 2011 6:14 pm **Posts:** 14

I have seen numerous cases of tick paralysis in geese and ducks, mainly runners as they spend more time on the land, but also other breeds. They are almost always on the head or neck, the first symptom is difficulty in walking and if the tick is not removed death will occur within 24-48 hours. Frontline or similar isn't an option, so regular visual inspection, looking for any lumps under the feathers around the head/neck is a must if you live in a tick area. The good thing is that due to the birds fast metabolism, recovery is usually rapid after removal of the tick without any further treatment necessary
I have rarely seen ticks on chickens, my theory is that the other birds pick them off before they become a problem. Don't be blase about ticks on poultry, peafowl included, because they can and will kill them.

73bolt · **Joined:** Sun Sep 18, 2011 8:41 am **Posts:** 32

Thankyou for the reply's. Paul is still eating from our hand so catching and removing the tick hasnt stressed him too much. We have an old stable that would convert easily into a nice pen for a new peahen, however it doesnt have (at this stage) an area that is open to the elements. Is this a concern? Do they need to fossick around outside if they are being 'hand raised' so to speak, for a short time until they are released into the yard?

PeacockNSW · **Posted:** Mon Sep 19, 2011 6:59 pm

Sebducks wrote:

You'd have to get a pen for the female that she could not get out of and keep her in for about a month until she knew it was home, then she should be fine free ranging with Paul.

Keep her in for 3 month if she is younger or double or longer if she is older or good chance she will be gone

Rolland · **Joined:** Mon Sep 19, 2011 4:36 pm **Posts:** 5

If you had a pair would they not pick off the tick off each other? I live in thick bush and we do have ticks but to date never had one on the peacocks or the guinea fowls but the dog yes!

FlockPheasants · **Posted:** Tue Sep 20, 2011 4:25 pm

Yes 9/10 the other will pick it off but not always so check them in tick season

George

PeacockNSW · **Posted:** Wed Sep 21, 2011 10:18 am

I have also never had a tick on any of the birds but its not to say they haven't had any just eaten before I saw it

freerunpeafowl · **Joined:** Wed Sep 14, 2011 10:48 pm **Posts:** 6

Is it worth have a few guineafowls with the peacocks for tick control as I read they are good for that?

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