UltraKibble

[Peafowlssssssss]

That is one of my concerns about the greens is how they need different feed and how they might be aggressive. Have you tried using wooden palates in your pen? I know with small pheasants people will make a little shelter for the females to hide behind. Josh leans 1 wooden palate against the tin shed wall of each green peafowl pen. This way the peahen can hide behind there so that she won't be picked on too much by the peacock.

I only have one aviary so I am not an expert on the perfect pen size, nor have I had greens or high % spaldings. I would agree with you though that 10x30 ft. is not a whole lot. For India Blues it would probably be alright, but for 3 Emerald Spaldings that doesn't sound so good. I could see them feather picking themselves in a pen of that size, but that is just my guess. 6ft tall is low, and the perches would be lower than that. If they really want them you could tell them they need to expand their pen and see about making a taller shelter. Usually I like having the perches at least 6ft, so having the roof 6ft sounds low to me, but even large peafowl breeders will give their birds low perches. I like taller perches because the birds like them more, the peacock's train won't drag, and they are safer.

I was thinking green peafowl needs more space than india blue peafowls, is that right?

I'm thinking of this because many people here don't have much success breeding green peafowl, and i think there is only one breeder here has great success with them, and his pens are huge, that's why i think the pens size are an important factor here.

 

[zazouse]

Thanks for the heads up about the fighting and the netting info,

Not sure if i will be using netting i am thinking of using the panels covered in hardware cloth made into an arch and attaching it to the panels sides on the ground , i have tons of 2 inch 22 foot long joints of galvanized pipe pipe to make a center support all the way down the middle as well as 400 or more 8 foot boards to work with

And as soon as we tear the old barn down i will have 200 feet 22 foot long pieces of tin

 

[MinxFox]

Yes you are correct.

Since most people don't own green peafowl, haven't had them for long, got rid of them, or haven't had good breeding success with them, there isn't much out there as far as the best conditions for keeping them in. Since we all mainly say 100 sq. ft per India Blue peafowl, I don't know what I would say for greens - All I know is the bigger you can make the pen, the better especially for the greens. Here is an article by Reinhold about the aviary requirements for green peafowl: http://wpa.tecker.info/Aviary for green peafowl.pdf It says a male and a female should have 70m square for their pen.

I do believe they need more room. A breeder in Australia had to make larger pens for her greens because they didn't do well in the same sized pens she had her India Blues in.

Another theory I have, is that they probably need plants in the aviary. Green peafowl are more of a jungle bird compared to India Blues which are more savannah or scrub dwelling birds. Since green peafowl are more like wild birds, I think they benefit very well from the cover that plants or hiding places provide. Another issue is many people don't realize you can put up a palate or some narrow space to provide a safe place for the peahen. Green peacocks can be rougher on the females. Grass is probably a good thing to have in a green peafowl aviary as well. I think green peafowl would probably need good stimulation probably more than what an India Blue requires just to make sure that they do not turn to feather picking to give them something to do. A pile of leaves in their pen would help give them something to scratch through, etc.

I am speaking all just in theory. Another reason I really want greens so that I can figure out what works for them and what doesn't. My Mom still dislikes the idea, which I understand. I was talking positively about how this would be the year I would get greens, but I seriously doubt it.

 

[Peafowlssssssss]

This is an interesting link, thanks for sharing.

 

[zazouse]

Yes you are correct.

Since most people don't own green peafowl, haven't had them for long, got rid of them, or haven't had good breeding success with them, there isn't much out there as far as the best conditions for keeping them in. Since we all mainly say 100 sq. ft per India Blue peafowl, I don't know what I would say for greens - All I know is the bigger you can make the pen, the better especially for the greens. Here is an article by Reinhold about the aviary requirements for green peafowl: http://wpa.tecker.info/Aviary for green peafowl.pdf It says a male and a female should have 70m square for their pen.

I do believe they need more room. A breeder in Australia had to make larger pens for her greens because they didn't do well in the same sized pens she had her India Blues in.

Another theory I have, is that they probably need plants in the aviary. Green peafowl are more of a jungle bird compared to India Blues which are more savannah or scrub dwelling birds. Since green peafowl are more like wild birds, I think they benefit very well from the cover that plants or hiding places provide. Another issue is many people don't realize you can put up a palate or some narrow space to provide a safe place for the peahen. Green peacocks can be rougher on the females. Grass is probably a good thing to have in a green peafowl aviary as well. I think green peafowl would probably need good stimulation probably more than what an India Blue requires just to make sure that they do not turn to feather picking to give them something to do. A pile of leaves in their pen would help give them something to scratch through, etc.

I am speaking all just in theory. Another reason I really want greens so that I can figure out what works for them and what doesn't. My Mom still dislikes the idea, which I understand. I was talking positively about how this would be the year I would get greens, but I seriously doubt it.

Pen plan
got to clean the ally way out and raise the building area up first and it has to dry out before i can do this.

 

[Peafowlssssssss]

Quote:
If i had a nice place like this i will be building hundreds of pens LOL

 

[bdfive]

MinxFox, I give my peafowl all they can eat a couple times a week. Tractor Supply can order the 15 lb bags but it's difficult to get them to do it. They have to call C&S, the distributor which is all information they can find on their computer. Here in Texas we don't pay tax on farm/ranch animal feeds. Tractor Supply's computer automatically adds it into the price of the feed when ordered so the store discounts that amount back off for me. If you talk to the manager and order a few bags they may give you a better price to keep your business and have a happy customer. I'm sure any feed store may do the same. Ultra Kibble can be fed as a main feed and it's suggested to give them chicken scratch as well. I don't mix my feeds together because if they like one more then the other they flip the less tasty out on the ground. I have fence feeders with 2 compartments. I put one feed on one side, another feed on the other.

I think the UltraKibble for chicks is just crunched up more but not sure. Yes, I do use it but with 28% Gamebird Chick Starter.

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So glad you revived this old topic and shared your experiences with this feed!

Do you feed them the UltraKibble every day and how much do you give them? Tractor Supply only has little bags, I think the one Zaz describes as being 2.25 Ib a bag is the one they have here as well. I buy that sometimes. I feed the UltraKibble to them like I feed cat food. I feed my 7 peas out of 1 plastic coffee can. I mix the UltraKibble in with sunflower seeds and give it to them. Is the UltraKibble supposed to be more like a main feed and less of a treat like cat food?

Have you tried the UltraKibble for chicks?

What I love about UltraKibble is that it is probably the ONLY feed that actually has a picture of a peacock on the bag, along with other pheasants that I never see on other bags of feed.

 

[bdfive]

So glad you revived this old topic and shared your experiences with this feed! Do you feed them the UltraKibble every day and how much do you give them? Tractor Supply only has little bags, I think the one Zaz describes as being 2.25 Ib a bag is the one they have here as well. I buy that sometimes. I feed the UltraKibble to them like I feed cat food. I feed my 7 peas out of 1 plastic coffee can. I mix the UltraKibble in with sunflower seeds and give it to them. Is the UltraKibble supposed to be more like a main feed and less of a treat like cat food? Have you tried the UltraKibble for chicks? What I love about UltraKibble is that it is probably the ONLY feed that actually has a picture of a peacock on the bag, along with other pheasants that I never see on other bags of feed. Kelly Wheelbarger mentioned once feeding his greens UltraKibble. He would probably be able to tell you how it worked on the green peafowl. Here is his facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Read-Mountain-Peafowl/299476123405814 I am not sure if Josh has tried UltraKibble but it is worth asking him. I hope the peachicks aren't too wild for you, but unfortunately chances are they will be. When I got those Spalding white peachicks from a family friend, they were still very small: Even this small they did not take to imprinting. They were very wild acting. I have raised peachicks that I would say were not imprinted to me, but these were worse than those. The good news though is once they were around a year old and in the big aviary with the other peas, they started to tame down more. Then they would all eat out of my hand and now they are very comfortable around me. They walk up to me and they don't get scared when I walk by them. So hopefully, if they are wild acting, it won't last for long. I also think being in the peachick pen, since it is smaller, made them feel like they couldn't get away from me. Once they were in the aviary they must have felt like they had plenty of room to run from me if they had to so they felt more comfortable and thus tamed down.

________________________ I posted the question on Facebook to Kelly Wheelbarger about UltraKibble but don't know how to use Facebook so have no idea if I did it right. I bought 2 White chicks that had been from wild stock and they have never warmed up to me. I personally don't like the chicks imprinting on me. Makes me feed more responsible for them and I have a hard time selling them especially when they've become adults. Many of my peafowl eat from my hand and are ultra tame, others aren't crazy wild but prefer I not get to close to them.

 

[bdfive]

...

I was thinking green peafowl needs more space than india blue peafowls, is that right?

I'm thinking of this because many people here don't have much success breeding green peafowl, and i think there is only one breeder here has great success with them, and his pens are huge, that's why i think the pens size are an important factor here.

__________________

I had great success breeding 100% Green but believe to be healthy they do need much more room and each male needs to be by himself. They don't fight a little with one giving way to the more dominate, they fight and do bodily harm. Worst aspect of having them is finding good homes for the chicks. Most people want to free range and Greens can't be trusted to stay home. Most people have aviaries/pens too small for India Blue species so totally inadequate for Green species. Also I believe they need to eat better then the India Blue species. Many aren't calm and I prefer to have my peafowl friendly with family and friends. I still have my 2 five year old males, 75% Green I raised from chicks. With breeding season coming 1 has already trapped the other in a corner and pecked a bloody patch on it's head. Had I not seen it happening and stopped it he could have been hurt badly. They are now in seperate pens.

 

[bdfive]

That is one of my concerns about the greens is how they need different feed and how they might be aggressive. Have you tried using wooden palates in your pen? I know with small pheasants people will make a little shelter for the females to hide behind. Josh leans 1 wooden palate against the tin shed wall of each green peafowl pen. This way the peahen can hide behind there so that she won't be picked on too much by the peacock.

I only have one aviary so I am not an expert on the perfect pen size, nor have I had greens or high % spaldings. I would agree with you though that 10x30 ft. is not a whole lot. For India Blues it would probably be alright, but for 3 Emerald Spaldings that doesn't sound so good. I could see them feather picking themselves in a pen of that size, but that is just my guess. 6ft tall is low, and the perches would be lower than that. If they really want them you could tell them they need to expand their pen and see about making a taller shelter. Usually I like having the perches at least 6ft, so having the roof 6ft sounds low to me, but even large peafowl breeders will give their birds low perches. I like taller perches because the birds like them more, the peacock's train won't drag, and they are safer.

_______________________

MinxFox, my males don't bother the hens when they are on eggs. I have corner shelves they hatch eggs on. I do need to put barriers between the pens so the male don't fight through the wire. Once in a while I'll have a peacock limping ..... has hurt a foot. It's so hot here in Texas the birds need air flow. I tried shade cloth to keep them from seeing each other on one pen last year and it worked but doubled it. Hoping I can use a single so air can flow through better. I need to get started on that.

I agree with you on the perches. As much as I'd love to sell these 3 Emerald Spalding I'm going to pass. I'll be haunted knowing they are in too small of a pen. They are pets...........how could I do that to them. )-: