help please

[vizbizz]

2 weeks ago we found a stray peacock outside our house. We've tried to find it's owner but no success yet. Your forum has helped me feed it and keep it happy and close while we search (he loves cat food which is not something I'd have thought of). In the last 3 days he's started gaping and neither eats nor drinks, and is no longer roosting safe in a tree at night. (no he's not panting and it's very cool here as it's still just the end of winter). He still has just enough energy to stop us catching him for vet attention. Any ideas on how to catch him without scaring him too much? Once we have him we have a well enclosed bird aviary we can keep him in till he is treated and recovers.

He's obviously a free-range bird that is accustomed to coming close to a house, and he's stayed healthy and uneaten by the very numerous foxes around here. He's only young as here in the Southern hemisphere we are just about to enter the breeding season and he only has a short train. I am guessing about 2-3 years old.

Any tips on how to catch him with minimal stress would be very appreciated!

 

[Birdlife99]

Will he come for cat food? Maybe try to lure him to the aviary?

 

[bdfive]

If he's ill and staying on the ground nights regardless of the stress he needs to be caught. Getting him to go into some sort of enclosure for food is one way but that can take days. Can you and others can walk behind him guiding him toward some sort of pen or building. Move slow and be calm stopping in your tracts if he looks like he's going to fly. Have a net with long handle just in case you get an opportunity to use it BUT don't display it to him anymore then you have to. They seem to know what it's for. If he gets nervous with you having it then put it down as to not frighten him into flight. Good luck and keep us informed.

 

[vizbizz]

thanks so much for the quick replies! Food as a lure wasn't going to work as he hasn't been eating at all. The aviary has a narrow door, so herding him would have been tricky without a few more hands to help. I ended up calling the SPCA out to help catch him as he was getting obviously weaker. I was fortunate to get one who has kept peafowl in the past, so she got him quickly and easily. He's definitely underweight.

Since he's been low on fluids for the last 2 or 3 days we are giving him an electrolyte solution via syringe (he's swallowing that fairly eagerly even though he's not drinking otherwise), as well as wormer and antibiotics (which he's not trying to swallow at all unless we wash it down with some water). Sounds like a respiratory thing is going on he sounds pretty wheezy now we can hold him, so hopefully the antibiotics will help. He also has bird lice, but it's now evening so off to the local farm co-op tomorrow for something to treat that too. I'm guessing he's been lost for a while poor lad.

At least the aviary is out of the wind and sheltered, and fox-proof so he has a better chance of recovery. It also gets the early morning sun to warm him after the cold night. It has a nice high roost too so when he feels up to it we'll know he's feeling at least a bit better.

 

[Birdlife99]

I hope he is improving soon

 

[bdfive]

Urgent: See below. You have to dose the peacock correctly when putting liquid/water/feed into it's throat.



Peafowl
Many peafowl medications are most effective when given orally down the throat. An oral dose of medication assures that the peafowl are getting the proper dose and that no bird has missed getting the medication. When peafowl are showing signs of illness, there is no better way to get them on the road to recovery than to give them the medication directly down their throat. While oral dosing has many advantages, it must be done properly to assure that the bird gets the full benefit of the medication and is not injured during the process. The purpose of this article is to describe and illustrate the proper method of giving an oral dose of medication to peafowl. The steps described in this article are best done with two people.
The first step in this process is to catch the peafowl and to properly restrain them so that they don't injure themselves or you. I use a large fishing net with a long retractable handle to catch the bird. The net material is not the normal coarsely woven nylon mesh. I use a tightly woven nylon mesh made especially for catching birds. Entire nets or just the mesh material can be purchased from most poultry or pheasant supply companies. Once the bird is caught, pin the bird to the ground with the net and grasp both legs firmly with a gloved hand. It is best to grasp both legs at the knee joint and to hold both legs in one hand. Remove the bird from the net and cradle it against your body so that it can't flap its wings.

The second step is to open the bird's mouth. Your assistant should grasp the bird's top beak firmly in one hand and pry open the lower beak with the other hand. Once the mouth is open, the fingers on the upper beak can be placed between the 2 beaks to keep the mouth open.

Now that the mouth is open, the bird's wind pipe (trachea) needs to be located. This is the tube located at the base of the tongue that opens and closes as the bird breathes. Medication should not be allowed to enter the trachea as it will cause the bird to cough and even drown if too much liquid gets in to the lungs.

To prevent any medication from entering the trachea, a long narrow syringe without the needle should be used to insure that the medication is dosed down the throat past the trachea opening. I use 3cc syringes to dose most medications. An insulin syringe works well for small doses and on young peafowl. Once the proper syringe has been selected and the proper dose of medication has been drawn in to the syringe, you are ready to medicate your bird. Open the mouth wide and insert the syringe in to the mouth past the opening of the trachea and inject the medicine. For larger doses, inject the medicine slowly so that none splashes back and ends up on you or down the trachea. Once the syringe is empty, remove it from the bird's mouth and allow the bird to close its mouth. The bird can now be released.

I hope that you have found this article informative and helpful. Oral dosing of medications is a very effective method and when done properly, completely safe for the birds and for you and your assistant. Please visit our web site: www.hopkinslivestock.com to find more peafowl related articles and photos. We raise many more birds and animals on our farm and information on each can be found on the web site as well. Thank you and best of luck with your peafowl.


Craig & Lisa Hopkins
Hopkins' Alternative Livestock
Website: www.hopkinslivestock.com
1479 North Washington Road Greens Fork, IN 47345-9771
(765) 886-5560

 

[zazouse]

Those are a great set of photos for examples, well done

 

[Tony K T]

Craig,
Very well illustrated and to the point.Nobody should have any problems following your directions.Another method of medicating your birds is to inject the meds into mealworms.No bird can resist a mealworm,you just need to make sure they eat it and not peck it and release the meds.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[new 2 pfowl]

Most of you already know this, I am sure, but Craig Hopkins has much other very valuable information on his excellent website.

 

[bdfive]

Thanks.....I keep those photo's close at hand to share with others. I have 2 friends that's killed their peafowl putting medication, water, etc; down the wrong opening in the throat.