i read that its best to keep peachicks on wire for first few months...

[lcw1995]

i have a very good friend who is getting a 2 yr old peahen and has 3 peacocks.. shes going to put a white in with her peahen and put a indian blue pied in with the peahen..(not sure what color the peahen is) and once she gets eggs.. shes going to give me 5-6 eggs and i was planning on putting them under my broody chicken hens and letting the hen raise them.. but since i read they have to be on wire for the first few months i dont know now..

is it ok for me to let the hen raise them? i mean what happens to the peachicks in the wild that arent on wire that follow their mothers around everywhere. they couldnt all die because theres adults that had to have been babies at one time that lived to adulthood.

thanks. cole.

 

[ranit]

I have to agree with most that it is best to keep peachicks on wire for awhile. Peachicks are very susceptible to both worms and coccidiosis. Not an issue with wild peafowl as they are not confined to a small area of ground. You could always let the broody hatch them and then take them away to brood. Chickens also often carry other diseases that they have built up an immunity to, but that peafowl may catch. You might do ok letting the broody hen raise them, but it is often a gamble.

 

[lcw1995]

well they wouldnt be confined to one area..
they would go in the coop at night but be allowed to free range with the hen during the day.....?
would this be ok?

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

no, you missed the point there.
The coop is loaded with bacteria, cocci, and all kinds of other stuff, that the chickens are immune to, but will kill peachicks, and adults for that matter in a heart beat. Doesnt matter how long they are in it, all the time, or 10 minutes, one peck at the dirt, and they caught what ever is in the soil.
I never, and most others dont either, allow peachicks to be on the ground before 3-4 months old.
ALWAYS feed them medicated starter til 6 months or so, and they are best totally not housed around chickens, though a lot of people do with no problems as adults, not chicks though. Just too big of a risk for me to try.

as for the how do wild birds do it deal, well they are never hardly in the same spot twice, so the biocontamination of the soil is none existent. In the backyard setting, all the birds are pooping and eating off the same soil every day all the time. Doesnt take long to contaminate it, regardless of how well any of use clean.
Also with most illnesses in poultry, once one bird get's it, they poop, now it's in the soil, with most of these illnesses, the organisms that cause it can live for months, if not years before being picked up by a host bird. This is how some many birds contract stuff in captive settings, but not in the wild.

As for what you will produce, unless the hens are white or pied, all of them are going to be indian blues, they will be split for the other colors or patterns. with the whites or pieds, you could get some of them too, just depends on what the hens are, if pied, you will get some of all those, blues, pied, and white

 

[lcw1995]

hey man thanks. that helped alot!

 

[deerman]

If you can't broody them, you could let the hen. brood them on wire also.....could be a little risk if your broody hen has something she could past to the peachicks.


I know some people do let freerange peahen hatch and raised their chicks, but most lose alot of them, if not all.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

Quote:
no problem

 

[lcw1995]

thx deerman and BBB again.