Some backstory:
I put three peafowl eggs under my broody silkie hen and she hatched all three successfully. A week or two later one of them was looking a little sick, so i checked her over and found some poo not covering her bottom but stuck onto her belly feathers. After a closer look I realized there were fly eggs attached to the poop and her feathers. I used a toothbrush, a pair of scissors and some tweezers to remove as many of the eggs as possible, and I used a damp rag to clean the poop. I made sure she was dry before I took her back out to her adoptive mother, yet when I went to check on her in the morning, she was dead :/
And then another three weeks later, one of them collapsed and was very weak. I took her in and gave her electrolytes and some vitamins because I suspected vitamin deficiency and that one didn't make it either.
Now I'm down to one and I'm diligently making sure he gets his protein and the correct diet. Before I had been feeding him normal chick starter, but now I'm supplementing it with wet cat food. He's doing great as of now, and he was my favorite from the start. I noticed when he grew in his wing feathers that he had white wingtips on one wing. I read that means he's split white but there are no white peas out of the local flock. I noticed an adult male with the white wingtips also. If I breed him to another split white hen when hes older, does he have a chance of making pied or pure white chicks? What else can I do to make sure he stays healthy?
And also, he still needs a name. Suggestions?
I put three peafowl eggs under my broody silkie hen and she hatched all three successfully. A week or two later one of them was looking a little sick, so i checked her over and found some poo not covering her bottom but stuck onto her belly feathers. After a closer look I realized there were fly eggs attached to the poop and her feathers. I used a toothbrush, a pair of scissors and some tweezers to remove as many of the eggs as possible, and I used a damp rag to clean the poop. I made sure she was dry before I took her back out to her adoptive mother, yet when I went to check on her in the morning, she was dead :/
And then another three weeks later, one of them collapsed and was very weak. I took her in and gave her electrolytes and some vitamins because I suspected vitamin deficiency and that one didn't make it either.
Now I'm down to one and I'm diligently making sure he gets his protein and the correct diet. Before I had been feeding him normal chick starter, but now I'm supplementing it with wet cat food. He's doing great as of now, and he was my favorite from the start. I noticed when he grew in his wing feathers that he had white wingtips on one wing. I read that means he's split white but there are no white peas out of the local flock. I noticed an adult male with the white wingtips also. If I breed him to another split white hen when hes older, does he have a chance of making pied or pure white chicks? What else can I do to make sure he stays healthy?
And also, he still needs a name. Suggestions?
