Need help in Tennessee -please

[SusanP4]

I have three peafowl left out of five that I hatched here at home.
Two have died and one is dying.

They were born at the end of April so they are about 4 months old. We have had an adult male peacock for three years and have never had any health problems with him.

We wanted him to have some company, hence we got these peacock eggs and hatched and are trying to raise them. They are all housed together.

The only symptoms that I have seen is that they become less energetic and have loose brown stools. I feed them medicated game bird scratch with occasional rice, noodles, etc from the house. Lat seek I gave them dried mealworms for the first time;

The first one died about a month ago, the second on about 10 days ago and the third starting showing symptoms last night.
I have been putting Tetracycline in their water for the past 6 days. I don't know what to do. Any ideas on saving the last two?? I am new to this and feel just awful that these birds have been suffering.

I have researched for the last month on the internet and there is so much information that I am not sure which is correct and which is not. Please help me if you can!

Thank you

 

[new 2 pfowl]

Your birds clearly need help right away, and although the people on this forum have lots of experience with their own birds, as far as I know, none of them are vets (although Yoda has given you some excellent advice).

http://aeavs.com/
http://www.avianweb.com/recommendedvets.htm
http://www.aav.org/search/results.php?filter=state&q=tn&Submit=Search

 

[SusanP4]

I am now down to one peafowl. Started with five and have one left.
The one that died today, died with it's mouth in the waterer. When I found it there was a worm crawling out of it's mouth and about ten in the waterer. I think that the water for whatever reason, drew them out.
I have been worming them with the Wazine. Obviously it isn't working.
I never saw any worms in any of their droppings before they died...and believe me, I was looking very closely. Why didn't I see any worms???
I have ordered the Safeguard because no one around here sells it.
I also gave the last bird (the one that is still alive) some Flagyl that I got from the vet in case it had blackhead.
This is so frustrating.

 

[AugeredIn]

Sorry about that. I know the frustration of having something devastate your birds without a definitive diagnosis. You raise enough and sooner or later you learn at least one lesson the hard way. None of my birds see the ground for the first 2-3 months and some longer just to prevent early death issues. Peafowl are so much more prone to early death from many causes for the first six months than many other types of fowl.

Some worms are not necessarily obvious. Wazine is not effective against many types of worms as you are finding out. A combination (not at the same time) of Safeguard (Fenbendazole) and Ivermectin is generally accepted in the peafowl community as required to treat all types of worms. There are many threads on the issue on this site.

As a point of personal interest, I would like to know what feed exactly you were providing and what the active medication is.

You also mentioned your frustration at the amount of information available online and determining what is accurate. Did you have any specific questions?

 

[frenchblackcopper]

SusanP4-AugeredIN,,this too is why my peas NEVER see dirt until the first killing frost and sometims as in the case of my breeders this year,they didn't see dirt until this spring when they was paired up for breeding.For about their first 22 months these birds wasn't exposed to dirt. I had constructed a 6'x16' pen about 3'off the ground with two seperate pens for ornamental pheasants,,which worked great their first winter,,then I made the outside pen enclosure,closed in the front of a 12x16' metal building,,that was entirely on concrete including the outside pen.They walked around kinda strange the first time they was on grass this April,,had a german nazi goosestep walk for a few days.This area is now a permanent place for my valued Charcoals,,any varmit would need a jackhammer to get to them.

 

[Yoda]

Sorry about your loss. Your feed store doesn't sell safeguard for goats? I wish you came back here and said something I would've told you to get it on Ebay then. My store sells the bottle for $20 and I saw it on Ebay for $21 with free shipping. What I want you to do is be sure to worm your peacock as well. Lets get rid of the problem so it is gone. When the safeguard arrives mix it 3cc/ml to a gallon of water. Pick up a needless syringe at walmart or check with a pharmacy. Change the water everyday for 3-5 days making sure they have no other water available to drink. Wait 14 days and repeat. Wait 14 more days and then squirt 1cc/ml of Ivemectn (available on ebay) pour on for cattle at the base of the neck, just lift the feathers and squirt directly on the skin. This will work for 30 days and not only will it kill other types of internal parasites it will also kill external ones too. That is the worming treatment I wrote down that Deerman told me to do. He told me to do it twice a year once before breeding season and once after. Please don't get frustrated, sometimes it is hard to tell what the little ones have when they get sick. It is always best to take pictures. Take them of the bird, the poop and anything else you think will help us help them and you. Most of the peachick illnesses I have seen are either coccidia or worms. It is always best to help deter at least one of them which is why I am a big medicated (chicken) chick starter fan. By feeding this crumble to your birds you are helping them beat coccidia. Now when your little ones get ill you will say let me worm them and see if that helps. I have been where you are today. The first thing I did when I paid for my first box of peachicks was go to the feed store and ask them what is the best feed to give them, I did this before they arrived. They sold me medicated turkey starter. Well my birds got sick and started dying one at a time. I called everyone I thought could help even the feed store without any luck. I finally found this place and asked. I got a PM from someone named Deerman telling me to use medicated chick starter for the reasons above. I got the info needed but I too had a hard time finding Corid. I ordered it on Ebay but by the time it arrived there was only one chick left. It survived, she is still here with me laying eggs. I did go onto birdbid.com and bought more peas LOL The first thing I did was treat for coccidia then worms. They grew up fine cause I had the info I needed. I learned the hard way about the two illnesses and I know the cures now as well. My birds have not had either since that one and only time.

 

[SusanP4]

The two TSC stores within 30 miles of me were all out of the safeguard over the last 10 days. I ordered some online Sunday and it is not here yet.
I have been feeding them medicated Purina Gamebird starter feed.
I checked on my remaining peachick and she is still alive. I don't know for how long though, she is very weak.
Yesterday afternoon, I mixed up some Wazine with water and gave her a few ccs of it. This morning her droppings were full of worms.
I gave her a couple of ccs more this morning. I have her in a cage, up off the ground, in my garage.
My specific questions are...
How do I know my peafowl have worms if I haven't seen any on their droppings?
What are the symptoms of worms?
Yoda said that if I suspect my peafowl are sick to go ahead and worm them. Sounds like a great idea.

frenchblackcopper, as soon as I put the chicks (they were about 3 months old) on the ground, they started getting sick. I felt sorry for them being cooped up in a smaller area, so I released them.
I have a smaller area, about 5' x3', sectioned off in the peafowl house that I had been keeping them in for about 3 weeks. Before that, they were in my garage in a 5' x 2' box. The area I have sectioned off in the house has a floor made of plywood, covered with sand and straw. I cleaned their floor area about once a week. Is it okay to leave them in that sectioned off area until they are older, about 5-6 months old?
Thank you so much for all of your help guys, I really appreciate it.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

SusanP4,,This is my first year having birds reach breeding age.I've only had peafowl 2 years but amassed a good number of them.Egg laying season here is all but over so probably after we get the expected heavy rains from hurricane Issac expected to get here Saturday and last all thru Labor Day weekend I plan to worm.It has been so very dry in the soil here all summer earthworms was all but non existant as many other ground born species of worms.I plan on doing what Yoda recommends using Safeguard then follow up using Evirmectrin 3-4 months later using 1cc under each wing of the birds. Evirmectrin is made by the same company as Ivermectrin,(Maerck?)Ivermectrin has been around 20 years,we used to inject our breeding swine with it to kill external sucking parasites.I'm pretty sure the same active ingredient in Ivermectrin is also used in Frontline for dogs.This gets into the animals bloodstream and kills whatever ingests blood-body fluids.In swine we always used two-three diffrent wormers,Piprazine comes to mind used in the water.Safeguard does not kill every type of internal worms but followed up 3-4 months later with Evirmectrin for horses gives a much broader spectrum and diffrent "mode" to kill,safeguard is for internal parasites,Evirmectrin is for external parasites and does kill some internal ones Safeguard doesn't. I've been told Ivermectrin is very hard on peafowl and I won't chance losing a breeding aged bird by using it.
Some people keep peachicks in brooders for several months,many more weeks than I do.I have 4 seperate pens all above the ground,,each one inside my garage which has a concrete floor in it.I use wood shavings for bedding.I start with a good 2"-3" worth and as it gets soiled I add more shavings possibly adding another 2" worth.You can do this several times and not remove all the shavings and start over.I've found straw holds too much moisture.It may appear dry on the top but underneath can be soaking wet,a great place to grow bacteria and germs even tho whats on the top 1/2" my look like clean brite-new straw. Younger peas don't require a lot of space and if you can keep them in relatively clean surroundings that is also dry with no exposure to dirt they will be okay.A 5X3 area should hold 1-3 peas easy for a long time as long as housekeeping is kept up.From my observations peas are not like pheasats or quail which will start picking at each other if overcrowded,,but I've always had plenty of seperate pen space so overcrowding has never happened here.Keep them clean,off dirt and dry with no cold drafts and they should be fine.

 

[AugeredIn]

I learned my lesson. Trust me you don't build one of these until you know that you need it!

 

[SusanP4]

NICE!! I guess that I will be building one as well.