Peafowl won't eat store crickets?

[MinxFox]

A few years ago in the summer we bought some live crickets from the peafowl and let them out into their pen. They didn't really go very wild about them and most of the crickets got away without much trouble. At night the peafowl pen was full of crickets churping and it lasted for a few days.

Well, it being winter time, we figured the peafowl would like to have some nice tasty bugs when there are less bugs out right now... Soo we got 100 live crickets and I threw them out to the peafowl, and they didn't run to get them or act they way peafowl act when there is good food and they have to have it and snatch it up. Most of them pecked at the crickets and ate at least one, but many times they would peck at one and after one peck they won't eat it and they would walk away. These were big, fat crickets! I know my peas love bugs....Sometimes I take a coffee can and walk out in the grass and scare up grasshoppers, catch them, put them in the can, then hand feed them to the peafowl. They will run up to me and snatch grasshoppers from my hand and they will chase another peafowl that has a grasshopper in its mouth, yet when we buy them crickets, they don't care! Just to have a test, after I let out the crickets, I found a large bug on the side of a tarp and held it out to one of the peachicks. It snatched the bug and all the peafowl ran to see what the chick had. So obviously it wasn't that on that day no one felt like eating bugs.

I was thinking there might be something about crickets that are raised in a store compared to wild ones...Maybe they don't taste good because of what they are fed? I just thought it was a very interesting thing that I have noticed on two seperate occasions...

Anyone else have this experiance?

 

[zazouse]

They just ain't hungry for them today, try again tomorrow, You know how fickled peas can be.

Mine will not eat the scrambled eggs if i over cook them, won't eat banannas unles they are cut into bite size, won't eat the meal worms i raised for them anymore.

 

[casportpony]

Mine love store bought crickets, but not if they're too big.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I have found, from many years of raising poultry, that they know what bugs have parasites and anything detrimental to them.
There are certain times of the year like fall, when I can flip over some plywood or concrete blocks and the chickens refuse to eat them. Now these are free rangers and though they can get bugs at any time I have no problem in spring or summer getting them to eat crickets, worms or grubs but in the fall when the bugs are fairly well gone they won't eat them. I think they know this is not a "good" bug to eat. I think the fall is when the bugs start dying back and losing their nutrients for the chickens to think of as a positive food.
They will gobble up my meal worms that I raise and I always feed the meal worms apples before I feed them out, too. The chickens, chicks and other fowl go nuts over them all year around.
My suggestion is if you get store bought bugs, keep them for about a week and offer a good diet of fresh fruit to cleanse the bugs system of man made chemicals.

 

[casportpony]

I have found, from many years of raising poultry, that they know what bugs have parasites and anything detrimental to them.
There are certain times of the year like fall, when I can flip over some plywood or concrete blocks and the chickens refuse to eat them. Now these are free rangers and though they can get bugs at any time I have no problem in spring or summer getting them to eat crickets, worms or grubs but in the fall when the bugs are fairly well gone they won't eat them. I think they know this is not a "good" bug to eat. I think the fall is when the bugs start dying back and losing their nutrients for the chickens to think of as a positive food.
They will gobble up my meal worms that I raise and I always feed the meal worms apples before I feed them out, too. The chickens, chicks and other fowl go nuts over them all year around.
My suggestion is if you get store bought bugs, keep them for about a week and offer a good diet of fresh fruit to cleanse the bugs system of man made chemicals.

That is also what my vet suggested.

 

[MinxFox]

Thanks for the advise!