Show off your Peas!

[birdman55]

16 long on the big one by 10 wide and 6x16 on the other two....and they are not for peas....they are for pheasants....the peas pens will be 10x30 for each pair/trio

 

[MinxFox]

Can you come build me a tin shed with some roosts inside?

Did you build the greenhouse from a kit or did you just get all the materials and make it? How big is it? I would like a tropical greenhouse aviary but I wasn't sure if you need any special fans or something if you kept birds inside a greenhouse. In the spring and summer I would have vents that you can open so it doesn't get so hot inside. I know it sounds funny that I am in Florida and want a tropical greenhouse, but even in my zone I can't grow some of my favorite tropicals, and even then many die back in the winter then re-grow in the spring.

 

[Garden Peas]

when the birds feathers are ruffled is it the whole birds feathers that would be ruffled or just a certain part of the bird...like say the back of the birds that would be ruffled

Did you ever notice sparrows or finches when it's cold outside and they puff up like little ping pong balls to stay warm? They fluff out their feathers to trap more heat. It's like an adjustable blanket.

You often see peas puff out their neck feathers, especially hens, but males will do it too, just like hens will fan their tails sometimes. When peas are cold, they puff up their feathers to get warmer, just like those finches. Mine puff up on the roost when it is very cold at night.

When a pea doesn't feel well, sometimes the signs of illness are pretty subtle, like ruffly and puffed up a little, or maybe a lot, and a posture that isn't normal. Eventually they may stand hunched up and maybe puffed up... it's a sign that they are just not feeling well. There's photos on various threads here in the pea forum showing puffed up peas who were ill.

Feathers can also get out of place from transport, from lack of grooming, from lack of dust baths... a number of things. I think you have to kind of sort out what is coming from how the bird is holding its feathers versus what is coming from some kind of external cause, like getting banged up on the side of a cage during transport.

Look in those photos that I singled out and compare how sleek the white male is to those two buddy birds. See how they look different?

Now I can't tell why, and it may be that those are the zoo birds, and their feathers are a bit messy, or they are younger and feeling the cold more, or whatever... I don't know. I just think there is something a little different going on with them. It doesn't mean they are on death's door. Maybe it was just several coincidental photos. I'll address that more in a different post. But as for ruffling, it can look different, necks get ruffled up a lot as a behavioral thing, and there are both normal and abnormal causes.

Edited to add: There's kind of symmetry that one notices, or an absence of symmetry, and puffing and ruffling, and just a lot of different movements and positions of the feathers on a pea... I don't know if that is just more confusing

 

[Garden Peas]

can anyone please tell me what kinds these are...I can get a great deal on all five I just want to know what they are .. here are the pics

Birdman, is this bird in this photo one of the two "buddy" birds, or is this another bird altogether? Are there five birds in the building plus the male somewhere else? Or only four in the building -- the white male, the IB hen, plus the two buds?

 

[KsKingBee]

Quote:
Good plan!

 

[KsKingBee]

@Garden Peas , There is a 2013 hatch IB may be split white not pictured. A three-year-old White cock, a three-year-old IB hen, and two Black Shouldered birds he wants to know what they are. So yes, the single BS is one of the two 'buddies'.

 

[thndrdancr]

Thanks for the answer, dylansmom. I think that's who answered my question. And thank you garden peas and all else who helped. So if I want any silver pied I am gonna have to beg kskingbee to sell me a few eggs?

Actually I think Question and Answer may be a product of these two, as looking at pictures, their heads are totally white. Hmm.

 

[Garden Peas]

they were very active when mom went into the pens to take pics she took 25 pictures...and they were constantly moving around...not sure what anyone is seeing here....the white bird is a male and its four years old the ib hen is breeding age I believe three and has already sat and breed some and hatched some...the only birds I was wondering about came from a zoo and the guy bought them last year....2014 hatch...and he said they weren't related and they were pied...my question is what kind would they be...I think they are black shoulder pied hens personally I just wanted some more input on them....could they be sick...the guy that owns them just cant do it anymore....hes 80 and he brought them into his barn which is heated...im just concerned now that people say they might be sick...I am new at this so what signs of peafowl should I look for... and there is a male ib peacock 2014 split white that will go with them....do you think it would be a good choice...im in need of the ib peahen and that is basically the reason for me getting them so I can pair my ib male with a ib peahen...so I guess im open for thoughts and suggestions..at this point...im supposed to pick them up next weekend...

I agree better to be safe then deal with a problem that I don't need...all my ten peafowl are in good condition...the problem is I cant see him im not close to him so mom was the one that went over there and see them and she doesn't know anything about birds...and I have no way over that far...man this so puts me in a dilemma....I really love birds...and for great prices....just so happens that Im new at the bird thing so I can only imagine the problems that birds can have...I did raise two white from two days old and they are in great health with no problems....so...I guess I have to think about what im going to do..thanks for the input...he moved them indoors not to long ago when the weather got colder so they haven't been in there that long...and the ib male is separate from them right now as well the only birds in the pics are the white male, ib hen, and two I think bs pied hens....

I really don't think those two black shouldered cocks are hens.

I'm not very good at identifying sexes, but I think @KsKingBee and @MinxFox have to be right here... Look how dark the buddy birds are. BS males start out as yellow chicks and get darker with time until they have adult coloring. The hens stay pretty light, but do get rust colored flight feathers where an IB male would have them. There is some variation in color in BS hens, but these birds look to be darkening. But is there another light colored bird running around in that building?

well so we think those two birds are bs males then?...I feel bad for them as well because I no they probably arnt getting the care that they could....I have been building coops like crazy.... [photos & text omitted here]

Look at the fluffed out neck feathers on the white bird in the center... that is common behavior.


Look at the neck of the white bird on the right, compared to the white bird on the left...



well some more pictures of the same birds....so do you guys think they are bs...and do you think they are males then...shouldn't they look more like ib male if they were a male.... Black shoulder chicks start out yellow. The hens stay light colored, the males gradually darken to adult color.


three birds on the top... If there are three birds on top (and it does look like maybe there are, including the IB hen), and there is a white male on the floor on the right, then who is the bird on the floor on the left? There have to be at least five birds in the building... 3+1+1


Two birds in this photo, looks to me like one of the buddy birds on the left, very dark bird on the right, very out of focus.



I count four birds in this photo. Buddy bird on the left (the other buddy is missing), IB hen in back, white male on the right. And the mystery bird (see the photo above with 5 birds is... in the box! I almost missed it. Note the mystery bird's color is more tan here and in the photo above than any of the other birds... And no, I don't think it's a really big pigeon, though I thought about it

Maybe it's a lost chicken? Or a really young pea?



Compare the photo above to the photo below... the mystery bird is definitely colored differently from the two buddy birds, and is much smaller. Is it a chicken? Or a baby pea? Not great photo quality....

So if you have a way to isolate these birds from your existing stock, you can work with them and see if they are okay. If the price is such that you would pay it for the birds you want, then it's still a good deal, as long as you don't lose them all, or spread sickness. They don't look as bad in these last photos as in the first batch... Lots of things are treatable. And there's lots of folks here who could help you. Bringing home new birds is always a risk, and even the tweety birds that sneak in and steal food can spread sickness. There's just never any guarantees.

 

[Trefoil]

I really don't think those two black shouldered cocks are hens.

From the first pictures you posted of them, I would agree that they are cocks, but after that you posted pictures of them that showed their throats and those pics look like hens. They may not be IB BS though, they may be another color BS. If you have the room to baby them over the winter and its a good deal, I would go for it. They've been in a heated barn though and its colder than cold here so I would watch them very closely. Keep in mind this is coming from a person that has always been very lucky with the birds I've brought in.

 

[DylansMom]

I'll take a stab at it.
The white is a cock, maybe two years old maybe older?
The IB is a hen, age can be tricky, IDK.
Two of the darker birds are Black Shoulder cocks, 2014 hatch
The other Black shoulder is probably a cock too, maybe not, better pic needed.

Agree completely.