Peafowl 101: Basic care, genetics, and answers.

[KsKingBee]

There is so much he likes to do around here like gardening and creating wood stuff but he is at work so much most of the time he does not have time for any of it, he has been working alot on the new place but other than that he doesn't do much cause there just isn't time, i take care of all the farm stuff from clearing to building things i need so i do not work him hard here at all never have, he does do alot of nothing at work many times grips about it too seems like he would want to retire sooner.

If he has been doing it for a long time and enjoys it then it becomes a two edged sword. Retirement can be like a divorce.

 

[HerbGir1972]

Definitely coming back to this for more info.

 

[casportpony]

Definitely coming back to this for more info.

Lots of cool people and good info in this forum!

-Kathy

 

[Peafowlssssssss]

I have two quick questions:

1- Can a peahen be split white without having any white feathers on her body?

I have a hen which i'm almost sure she is the one who produced white chicks from my bronze pen last year, and she also produced bronze black shoulder split white peahen(she has white flight feathers), but yesterday after i caught her i didn't see any white feathers on her body(her mom)!

Could her daughter just be carrying w/e gene? Because her father is carrying one w/e gene.


2- How can i tell if this bronze black shoulder peahen is carrying white eye or not? Or any other black shoulder hens.

 

[DylansMom]

I have two quick questions:

1- Can a peahen be split white without having any white feathers on her body?

I have a hen which i'm almost sure she is the one who produced white chicks from my bronze pen last year, and she also produced bronze black shoulder split white peahen(she has white flight feathers), but yesterday after i caught her i didn't see any white feathers on her body(her mom)!

Could her daughter just be carrying w/e gene? Because her father is carrying one w/e gene.


2- How can i tell if this bronze black shoulder peahen is carrying white eye or not? Or any other black shoulder hens.

So the hen you think may be split to white is a Bronze BS? If so, it will be very difficult. I had a regular BS hen and for many years she was paired with a BS male and all chicks as far as I could tell were plain BS, however most were sold before maturity. Then I moved her in with Fred and expected just spaldings split BS, but instead I got a bunch with white here and there. Based on the offspring I now believe she was split to Pied and WE, I did eventually find 1 flight feather with a white tip on her. Spotting random white feathers on a hen that is mostly creamy white is almost impossible. Pair her with a male you are sure carries no white, pied or WE splits, if she still throws chicks w/ white feathers you know she is hiding something. This hen is one of her offspring and the main clue that she carried WE.

 

[Peafowlssssssss]

So the hen you think may be split to white is a Bronze BS? If so, it will be very difficult. I had a regular BS hen and for many years she was paired with a BS male and all chicks as far as I could tell were plain BS, however most were sold before maturity. Then I moved her in with Fred and expected just spaldings split BS, but instead I got a bunch with white here and there. Based on the offspring I now believe she was split to Pied and WE, I did eventually find 1 flight feather with a white tip on her. Spotting random white feathers on a hen that is mostly creamy white is almost impossible. Pair her with a male you are sure carries no white, pied or WE splits, if she still throws chicks w/ white feathers you know she is hiding something. This hen is one of her offspring and the main clue that she carried WE.

She is spalding bronze peahen split for black shoulder, here she is:

I searched for white feathers on her body but can't find any, and this is her daughter, the only black shoulder chick she hatched last year:


I noticed her daughter had a white flight feather since she was young, i thought she is split white but now i'm not sure, i really need her to be split white!


I'm pairing her mother with my new bronze pied peacock, because i thought she is split white, and i don't think i could pair her with different male this year.

Your BS hen didn't hatch any white chicks, right?

 

[DylansMom]

She is spalding bronze peahen split for black shoulder, here she is:

I searched for white feathers on her body but can't find any, and this is her daughter, the only black shoulder chick she hatched last year:


I noticed her daughter had a white flight feather since she was young, i thought she is split white but now i'm not sure, i really need her to be split white!


I'm pairing her mother with my new bronze pied peacock, because i thought she is split white, and i don't think i could pair her with different male this year.

Your BS hen didn't hatch any white chicks, right?

No my hen never hatched any white chicks, she never hatched any with white Primaries either. They all had the white throat latch, most had white Alular feathers, and then there were random white feathers here and there, my hen(pictured above) had the strongest sprinkling of white down the back. Here is another of her chicks. You can see the latch, and all those white Alulars, he had 1 white feather on his back. Snowshoe also sent me a pic of one he hatched from eggs we traded that shows similar white.




If you pair her with a Pied, and she is split white, you should get white chicks and if so, that will tell you she carries white as a copy is needed from each parent to get a white bird. I had a hen I thought was a dark pied(double pied genes-no white), but first year of breeding she produced white chicks so I knew she had to be a Pied as she carried a copy of white.

 

[Peafowlssssssss]

No my hen never hatched any white chicks, she never hatched any with white Primaries either. They all had the white throat latch, most had white Alular feathers, and then there were random white feathers here and there, my hen(pictured above) had the strongest sprinkling of white down the back. Here is another of her chicks. You can see the latch, and all those white Alulars, he had 1 white feather on his back. Snowshoe also sent me a pic of one he hatched from eggs we traded that shows similar white.




If you pair her with a Pied, and she is split white, you should get white chicks and if so, that will tell you she carries white as a copy is needed from each parent to get a white bird. I had a hen I thought was a dark pied(double pied genes-no white), but first year of breeding she produced white chicks so I knew she had to be a Pied as she carried a copy of white.

If your hen doesn't hatch any chicks with white Primaries then hopefully mine is split white(it will not hurt if she is w/e too

). The problem is i will never know which chicks will be from her, i have also two pied hens in her pen, so they all could produce white chicks.

 

[nickel chick]

It is great to finally info on my new 2year old male peacock I have been looking and find very litttle and very vague It is good to see someone finally be clear about worming since I am sure this bird has never been wormed and proper feeding and well the list goes on. One ? what are my chances to get him to trust me enough not to freak out when I enter his pen and to tame him down alittle. I am afraid to let him roam free and am thinking of having a harness made so he can at least walk out in the yardand not to just pace back and forth in the pen. I breaks my heart to see him caged all the time .I want him to have some joy in his life just like the chickens they seem so excited when they leave the run. they chase each other so playfully I want that for him at least a little and we have plenty of small garden snakes. thanks again

 

[Kedreeva]

If you got him as a two year old, there isn't much you're going to do to "tame him" like you're thinking. You might get him not to freak out when you enter the pen if you let him make the decisions about moving away from you. On my more flighty birds, if I walk toward them a couple steps and pause, it gives them space and time to not feel like I'm there to get them, and they walk away instead of flush up. It helps to bring treats and sit down with the treats, to let them come to you on their terms, but it's no guarantee.

I would absolutely advise against any kind of harness that tethers them to a location. Anything that would tether their leg could possibly dislocate or even break their leg if they flush up to fly- they are VERY powerful jumpers. The same goes for anything that would go around their chest, wings, or neck. Harnessing them to a location has a very high potential to injure or even kill the bird.

If you just got him, give him some time to adapt to the pen. If your pen is big enough, you might consider buying a peahen for him to hang out with- if there is more than one of them they feel less pressure to go find more of their kind to flock up with, which may help ease his 'running back and forth' behavior. If your pen is too small, he may be feeling trapped and thus is seeking a way out. Free-ranging is something that you can generally do within 3-6 months of a bird being penned, but having only 1 bird increases the chances that they will leave (again, in search of others) and free-ranging at any time is always a risk. There's no guarantee that any pea (even ones you hand raise from babies) will stick around once they have no pen walls.