Clueless need help!

[keakuki6]

Ok so I have had adult peafowl for several years n haven't delt with babies due to no eggs being fertile(my guess) this year I bought eggs from local couple and let one of my hens hatched 2 out 2 weeks ago and due to her having more eggs to lay on I took the babies and brought them into the house. They are in a wire sided cage with solid bottom n shredded newspaper bedding. I'm used to baby chicks n didn't think these would be any different. They cried constantly! I realized after a day they weren't eating/drinking or pooping for that matter... So I watered down some of the ground corn n oats we feed all our birds and tried teaching them to eat by finger pecking. They didn't seem to catch on so I tried several times a day. One died after about a week n I focused on the other whom by the way would snuggle w me for hours all content! I cleaned it's poopy hinder everyday! Sadly it passed away yesterday. My hen hatched 4 more out yesterday and after reading I think a million differing posts I brought them in! Put then in the cage w pine bedding w a vitamin mineral electrolyte sugar water mix, crushed egg yolk dyed red and game bird crumbles w 24% protein. I also put two 1 mnth old silky chicks w them and tried teaching them to eat n drink. I also put some sulfamed-g (sulfadimethoxine) into the water to handle coccidiosis. I don't want to lose any of them! Please help! What am I doing wrong? what else should I do?

 

[new 2 pfowl]

Do your adult peas live in a pen or free range?
Why not just leave the chicks with their mother?

And, by the way,

, in particular, the Pea Corner!!

 

[keakuki6]

The surrogate mama another hen n a peacock live in an indoor outdoor pen... They don't wander. N I pulled then because of all this info I've been reading says they have a better chance of survival inside instead of on dirt... I don't know what I'm doing, hence asking for help...

 

[zazouse]

If you pull a peachick after a day or two or after it has been being taught to eat by the hen it can be very very difficult to get them to eat, i have learned here to pull the chicks the day they hatch and put them with chicken chicks or guinea keets as they will learn to eat faster watching them, peachicks love to be fed or shown everything to eat by their momma be it a chicken hen, peahen or you but it is a had habit to break sometimes and i can see them starving themselves.

Guinea keets are pretty much the same way, if i do not pull them the day momma comes out with them, they refuse to eat 7 out of 10 times unless i have some older chicks to go with them. Plus they cry constantly like the peachciks do which can burn lots of energy and when they are not eating well you understand can what happens next

.

 

[keakuki6]

I left them to dry... I read that was the correct thing to do... They were w "mama" for 24 hrs n didn't leave the nest box. I have two one mnth old silky chicks in w them.

 

[Trefoil]

1. Do they have access to a heat source?
2. For the first 4 weeks, they need 28% gamebird starter or as close as you can come, medicated,feeding a chick anything else without grit will kill it eventually.
3. Whether you remove them from their mother or the incubator, as you pick them up, dip their beaks into the water source and then let them raise their heads so the water goes down their throats.
4. It helps to scatter food on their clean,slip proof floor at first as well as in their dish.

Hopefully someone with more experience with pea chicks will give additional help.

 

[casportpony]

It's very important to get them eating and drinking ASAP. For food they need a starter crumble for chicks, gamebirds or turkeys. I happen to feed mine turkey starter, but many others here feed 18% medicated chick starter. To get mine started I make a small bowl of crumbles mixed with water, dip my fingers in it and then they peck it off my fingers. I also dip their beaks in water. Some will say that they don't need to eat for the first 72 hours, but I have found that the sooner you get them drinking and eating, the better they will do.


-Kathy

 

[keakuki6]

There is a heat lamp in one corner that they can sleep under. They have 24% game bird starter but I dnt think it's medicated... It's all I could find. I did the beak dip. They have pine shavings not a non slip floor but I did sprinkle some food down since they wanted to peck the bedding

 

[new 2 pfowl]

Perhaps try mealworms, especially those tiny wiggly live ones - in my experience, peas of all ages find them irresistible...

 

[casportpony]

I worry about mine eating shavings, so I brood mine on dark towels. Dark because they can see the crumbles they spill and are more likely to peck at them.

-Kathy