new to peas... questions

[Birdrain92]

Impossible to sex them this early.Need to be 3 months old to say for sure. Any opinions now are purely guesses on these chicks

You can sex almost any bird at any age just depends on how you sex them if it is color based the bird has to be dry and fluffy or feathered. If you look close enough at the primary wing feathers on mature IB peafowls and then the primary wing feathers on IB peachicks you should realise there is similarity depending on its sex. With birds you just have to have a trained eye always looking for differences between the two sexes and find similarity with the same sex offspring. Once you sex a few chicks of the same variety you get the feeling if the chick is male or female.

 

[casportpony]

Number 2 definitely looks "off" to me, too. FWIW, one of the best investments I made was a digital kitchen scale and some here can tell you how anal I am about weighing and using that info as a tool to help keep my peas healthy. A healthy peachick this age should be making daily weight gains and should not stay the same or lose *any*.

Poop is another thing I pay very close attention to... The majority of it should be well formed with a white cap and should never have blood or yellow in it. Yes, heat, stress and food can cause it to be runny, but runny, combined with "that look" *always* means trouble at my place. Far too often it seems that people post here about their chicks and after five days of people saying it could be this or it could be that, it dies (I think this happened to at least four people in the last 10 months).

In addition to being anal about weighing, I'm also that way about supportive care, specifically, tube feeding.Tube feeding chicks is harder than tubing adults, but it can be done and I'm willing to help anyone that wants to learn. Just PM me and I'll reply with my phone number and talk you through it.

If you think there is a problem, time is key... In my limited experience, the younger they are, the faster they die. Of course the first thing that comes to my mind is blackhead, but that's because I've been dealing with it for almost two years now. The second is secondary bacterial infections like E. Coli, but again, that's because it's what I've been dealing with. Coccidiosis comes in third, but it can kill just as fast as the other two, and the symptoms are *very* similar.

I don't want to freak you out and I can't tell you what to do, but I can say what I would do...

• Listen to my gut feeling.
• If possible, go to a vet. Vet will have stuff for tubing and will have metronidazole as a liquid suspension. Dose for poultry is 30mg/kg, so the vet will probably have it in 50mg/ml. If not, you can have it compounded for you and sent overnight from http://www.roadrunnerpharmacy.com/, but you will need a prescription. My last bottle from them was a 250ml bottle for $45 and lasted over a year.
• Weigh all chicks at same time every day until I establish weight gain pattern.
• Get metronidazole (see above), fenbendazole, Corid and a good broad spectrum antibiotic like Clavamox (prescription needed) or Baytril.
• Get supplies for tubing - Catheter, syringe, baby bird food and pedialyte or lactated ringers solution.

I really hope I'm over reacting, but in the past I have bitten my lip and waited to say anything and by then it was too late.

Hope this helps,
Kathy

 

[Birdrain92]

msmolly you are definetly get the hang of sexing those peachicks all of your guesses were right the way I sex peachicks at least. Zasouse if you have white peachicks that just hatched out like within the past couple of weeks can you get photos of the backs because I want to test out my white peafowl sexing hypothesis and I saw that you said that you had white peachicks and then after I take my guess of what sex they are can you please post back what sex they are once you find out so I can see if my hypothesis is correct?

 

[pedda munnangi]

There is a thread on this forum-- the whole 12 pages " sexing peachicks- indiablues " just type on the advanced search. Zaz was the first respondent to say that we need two months to be sure. ( on 8-9-12)

 

[zazouse]

That was before I raised up some I got from others and now that I have hatched my own and know exactly how old they are, like I said we will see, I was right with the babies I purchased and wasn't real sure when they hatched.

 

[zazouse]

msmolly you are definetly get the hang of sexing those peachicks all of your guesses were right the way I sex peachicks at least. Zasouse if you have white peachicks that just hatched out like within the past couple of weeks can you get photos of the backs because I want to test out my white peafowl sexing hypothesis and I saw that you said that you had white peachicks and then after I take my guess of what sex they are can you please post back what sex they are once you find out so I can see if my hypothesis is correct?

Yea I have 2 that are really brighter yellow when they hatched out 6/11 I will band them and take some photos for you, I have 7 wee white ones

 

[casportpony]

Last year I was able to correctly sex my chicks using the barring method when they were four weeks old, but maybe I just got lucky? We'll see how I do this year.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Regarding post #42, just want to clarify that I wasn't suggesting treatment, was just suggesting having everything on-hand in case it was needed.

-Kathy

 

[new 2 pfowl]

#2 IB: Boy. Sorry, not sure if he's sick, poor guy!
of the IBs back Lt # 2: Boy, Rt #1: Boy
Pied #4: Boy
Pied #3: Girl (Yum!!! Mealworms!!!)
IB #2: Boy
not sure but think middle IB is #2 and Rt #1: Both boys
Pied #4: Can't quite see this guy and IB #1: Boy

As far as I can see, only one girl (the pied).
They're awfully cute!!!!

 

[pedda munnangi]

See how wrong people guesses were- to sex Indiablues even at 8 weeks old on page 6 " sexing peachicks Indiablues " on this foum. All the 3 chicks were males people thought. looking at the picture ( all 3 side by side). but it was not soThose 3 birds were very clearly pictured all along even with wings spread apart from very earl;y on.-a few times as they grew. Finally, they said -- yes- we need 3 months to be absolutely sure.. I am not questioning somebodies expertise. congrants on your ability and skill to sex them very early.