2015 Peafowl Hatching Support Group - Eggs and Chicks!

[DylansMom]

After I remembered that I have lab quality mercury thermometers in my HatchCraft inc and hatcher I started checking the temps in the HC hatcher and the Sportsman The HC inc was good at 99.5* the hatcher was running at 102* and the Sportsman at 101*

Even though they are all digital controlled and high end at that, they are off. AugeredIn said that his Sportsman would 'wander off' nd to check them. So, now I have them both running at what I think is right, 100* on the Sportsman and 99.5* on the hatcher.

I am hoping that fine tuning my temps will alleviate the problems I have been having. Oh, and the Sportsman now has the auto fill water bucket back on like last year and the humidity has been raised to 50%.

My sportsman also appears to be running hotter than it says it is. It is currently set at 99.3 and it says it is 99.2, however my third party thermometer/hygrometer says 100.6. No eggs in it yet, so I will continue to experiment until I get a handle on it.

Of the 15 I set last Thursday, 10 are developing. One had a crack I missed, and 4 were clears, 3 of the clears were the Violettas. Not really surprising considering the stress of moving halfway across the country and the young ages of the birds. Hopefully this will change as the season goes on.

 

[Pyxis]

​Not at all!   Welcome aboard. How did you make out the first time around?

First time was great, got two eggs shipped to me, hatched them both. But then they died when they were about two weeks old Still not quite sure what happened.

 

[DylansMom]

First time was great, got two eggs shipped to me, hatched them both. But then they died when they were about two weeks old

Still not quite sure what happened.

Tell me more, how far did they travel during shipping? You must be doing something very right to get shipped Pea eggs to hatch or you are very lucky, I've had successes and failures with shipped eggs. Where were you brooding the babies when you lost them? Were they exposed to any other birds/chicks? Were they on Amprolium medicated starter? Sorry for the third degree, just hoping to help out.

 

[Pyxis]

Tell me more, how far did they travel during shipping? You must be doing something very right to get shipped Pea eggs to hatch or you are very lucky, I've had successes and failures with shipped eggs. Where were you brooding the babies when you lost them? Were they exposed to any other birds/chicks? Were they on Amprolium medicated starter? Sorry for the  third degree, just hoping to help out. 

They were shipped from southern Pennsylvania to me in Vermont. I was brooding the babies. They were on gamebird starter with medicated chick feed mixed in. They were in with some chicks, so maybe that was what caused the problem.

 

[Peafowlssssssss]

How much protein your feed has?

 

[Pyxis]

How much protein your feed has?

Honestly I can't remember, it was a year ago that this happened. But it was the dumor brand that Tractor Supply sells.

 

[DylansMom]

They were shipped from southern Pennsylvania to me in Vermont. I was brooding the babies. They were on gamebird starter with medicated chick feed mixed in. They were in with some chicks, so maybe that was what caused the problem.

Hmmm, I am in south central Pa, I wonder who they came from? I know most of the Pea People around here. Oh well.. congrats, that is a good distance for them to travel and do well. Usually when young chicks are lost I think of cocci, having had my own losses from that. I feed manna pro medicated starter, also purchased at TSC. If they have any contact wit the ground or other birds I will also use the preventative dose of Corid(amprolium) powder in their drinking water. Haven't had any cocci losses since starting this.

 

[Peafowlssssssss]

When they dies at 2 weeks old without showing any sign of diseases i think directly about the feed, in my opinion they need feed with 23%-26% protein for the first 2 weeks of their life.

 

[PhoredaBurds]

@Pyxis Congrats & good luck!!

@q8peafowl What do you feed your pea chicks? What do you feed ur adults?

Did someone on here mention supplementing with dry cat food?

 

[DylansMom]

This is one of those situations where what works for one may not work for another. I have always fed the manna pro starter and the protein in that is 18%, I have not had any unexplained losses with this lower protein feed. We feed dumor layer feed and flock raiser to our adults and we supplement with dry cat food for extra protein.