1st time peachick mom...lots of questions, help......UPDATE

OH, my...they finally figured out how to make a peachick...great, lol. Sweetpea and Snap, our two hens, co-mothered on 6 eggs. Just one hatched, as far as I can tell..today. I was just breathing a sigh of relief because I knew Sweetpea's eggs were a week past due and had not hatched...but Snap's eggs were a week behind her, and hers are the ones that did.

They are still setting on the remaining eggs with baby cuddled up there too.

So, if it was chicken chick, I would put mothers and baby in a pen, and feed chick starter. I was reluctant to try to take on two peahens and baby too, by myself. Our hens have never tamed up very well. However, I would like to sell this baby eventually.

So, how long do chicks typically remain with mom? I want the baby to stay with mom (s) til it would naturally be "fledged", because Sweetpea in particular has gotten so upset in the past if she loses her eggs, I can't imagine how she'd be losing a baby, i think it would be horrible for us and her. I say Moms because both hens are with the chick, and this is technically Snap's chick, although Sweetpea seems to have stolen it from her. Neither hen has ever had chicks before.

Will the hens peacefully continue to co-mother the one chick?

Should we get any special food for the chick? Since they are with the chickens, I'm not sure how the chick would get much anyway, unless we confine them, as I said. Would it be better to confine them? We have a big pen but it is not all that big if we are talking about a matter of weeks.

How long will it be before they decide to get down with the chick?

These birds free range. How difficult do you think it will be to catch baby, as opposed to an adult, once we decide to rehome it? And other than trying to hand feed, are there any other tricks to get the chick tamer and more used to people than it's mother (s) are? As I said, our peacocks, especially one of them, are quite tame and very used to people, but the hens have never been, though Sweetpea is four years old and Snap is two, and we've had both since they were under a year old.

Some of these questions sound kind of dumb on reading over them, but honestly peafowl are such a whole different ballgame than chickens, so I just want to make sure.

I hope that this is not going to create problems for the rest of the flock, as Sweetpea got down twice right before the chick hatched, and ran around the barn chasing the chickens......

Congrats on the chick!

They remain with their mother at least 6 months, feathering out slower than chickens. They remain juveniles until a year-old.

I don't have peafowl, so I don't know if they will work together to raise a chick or not. I would keep an eye on them.

Gamebird chick food that is high in protein and unmedicated should be given for at least the first couple months. This can be supplemented with treats and forage. You could try guiding them into a pen and keeping them there for a little while, until the chick gains some strength.

The mother's should wait a few days to see if the other eggs hatch. If they don't you should remove the eggs so they will get up and feed their chick, who will be running out of its yolk supply by then. Make sure the eggs truly are dead/infertile before tossing them.

Chicks can be very difficult to catch, especially since they scream and that alerts angry mothers. You can teach it to come for treats and enter a pen for catching, if it won't tame to the hand.

Here's a link on moving broody peahens:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/530206/moving-a-broody-peahen


Best of luck! I hope it all works out!

Here is Mama P covering Sonny P and Peanellipea at seven months of age.

Adorable photo!

Make sure it is fed medicated chick starter. My peahens that was free ranging with her chicks died in the fall and her chicks were still with her and very upset when she died. I would recommend you wait until the fall before taking the chick away. There are others on here with more experience with broody peahens and with their chicks, so they should chime in soon.

When my hens successfully hatch babies, and they are on the ground from day one. I not only feed the Amprolium medicated starter, but also add the preventative dose of Corid to the drinking water. I know our soil is Cocci heavy and the peahens like to feed their babies all kinds of stuff besides just starter, so I want to make sure they get enough Amprolium. We did not lose any chicks to Cocci last year following this regimen.

OK. Thank you! I'm a bit worried because the two hens are still on the eggs and I have only seen the chick once. I have just not had time to worry about it too much, due to the Holiday weekend and on top of that I have a friend who is critically ill in hospital, plus work, it's just been crazy the past few days and we haven't done anything besides feed the flock. Tomorrow should be better so I will read the link more thoroughly and see what we can work out. That's what I was planning, is just trying to coax them into a pen to eat, I've been working on that off and on with the two peahens, and they sometimes cooperate, so hopefully it won't be a problem. Six months! That's a long time, but that's ok. Will give the family time to enjoy the baby, if it lives. I'm pretty sure it's just one.

I keep reading mixed things about feeding peachicks medicated chick starter! I do have it here for my chicken chicks. But I went and bought unmedicated game starter. Can I mix them for the peachicks?

RubyNala97 said:

I keep reading mixed things about feeding peachicks medicated chick starter! I do have it here for my chicken chicks. But I went and bought unmedicated game starter. Can I mix them for the peachicks?

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this will dulute the medcation in the food and your babies could go unprotected IMO you could add corrid to their driniking water to compinsate but i do not know how much because i do not use medicated feed or corrid.
the wee peas need at least 24% protine for the first 6 weeks of life for proper muscle growth if not they will be thin at least that is my findings.