unsure what to feed my male peacock who free ranges with chicken hens

[shan04]

I've had my male peacock for 3 years now he's always been very healthy and free ranges with my cochin chicken hens, ive always fed all of them a food called ALL FLOCK it's formulated to be nutritionally good for any featured bird. And he's done great on it, my thing is not only is it expensive i just think i need to switch my hens over to layer pellets.
What I'm wanting to know is if he'd be ok eating that and if i maybe made him his own little mixture of cat food and cracked corn unfortunately i don't have a way to keep my hens from eating it other than placing that bowl of food up higher. Any suggestions or ever had a peacock eating layer pellets as part of a diet?

 

[Trefoil]

As a small part of his diet it wouldn't be too bad, but the increased Ca and other nutrients designed for egg layers are NOT good for any male bird and could eventually lead to liver or kidney problems. I believe you would be better off continuing to feed the all flock with freely available oyster shell. You could creep feed the layer ( i.e. put the layer in a enclosure that the pea can't get in). If the layer contains what the chickens need, eventually they will ignore the all flock in favor of the layer feed/ or you could put the all flock higher so its difficult for the chickens to access.

 

[MeepBeep]

As said above I would keep using the all flock and offer oyster shells on the side for the layers, the layer food is not good for the non-layers... There is also no reason to switch to layer feed as long as you offer the side of oyster shells... IMO for the benefit of all birds health stick with all flock so you don't calcium overdose the non-layers unless you separate the birds...

For the pea, they really should have a higher protein feed in general, the fact they free range a bit helps but you still might want to consider a separate feeder for the peas you can supplement the all flock with some cat food (about 1 part dry cat food to 3 parts all flock will get you about 22% protein) or use a higher protein feed like game bird or turkey feed for them, as said if you put it in a higher location chances are the peas will get it but the chickens will mostly ignore it... You can also add in brewers yeast to bump the protein levels a little higher and give a vitamin boost... Watch you protein levels the pea poop can really get stinky as you increase the protein, so you don't want to over do it...

 

[MeepBeep]

The brewers yeast from ( at least my) the elevator is pretty low in protein.  I believe its because it isn't separated out from the culture before being dried to feed. I feed it because of the nutrients it provides, just don't depend on it to increase protein %'s.

Yes, there is a huge difference from the separated near pure nutritional yeast product and what is essentially a complete and unseparated yeast and dried fermented feed mixture... You need to know what you are buying if you are looking for a protein boost... Nutritional yeast will only have a few ingredients, primarily the yeast and a few vitamins listed while the unseperated yeast product will list the yeast but also have a laundry list of grains and other items...

I use the Diamond V XP yeast product (basically dried fermented feed) for the same purpose you do, that is for the vitamins and other nutrients, but as you said it only has a 12% protein level so that does no good at raising the protein levels quite the opposite in fact, but it provides a bunch of other goodies for the birds...

http://www.diamondv.com/languages/en/original-xp/

But, if you get a pure nutritional yeast or brewers yeast the protein level should be about 50% and will thus raise the protein levels of feed...

http://www.redstaryeast.com/science-yeast/types-yeast/nutritional-yeast

I use brewers yeast/nutritional yeast for my pea chicks but it's really not economical for adult birds so I switch to cat food as a feed protein booster for them... I would probably just use a high protein game bird or turkey feed but none of the local feed stores carry it, so it's either plan ahead and special order my feed (not going to happen in my chaotic life) or just pick up some All Flock and a bag of cat food and mix my own...

For my pea chicks I use KAL brand nutritional yeast flakes (easy for me to get locally or online) as a protein booster as they don't eat that much and I like the huge B complex boost it provides... Can't afford to give it to my adult birds though...

 

[MinxFox]

Maybe you could get a big stump around 3 1/2 feet tall and put the food for the peacock on top of the stump. I have 2 stumps in the peafowl pen and my peacocks will fly up there and eat food that I place up there. It might take him a bit to realize that you are putting food up there. I would put a very good treat up there to get him to start flying up there.

 

[Trefoil]

. You can also add in brewers yeast to bump the protein levels a little higher and give a vitamin boost... Watch you protein levels the pea poop can really get stinky as you increase the protein, so you don't want to over do it...

The brewers yeast from ( at least my) the elevator is pretty low in protein. I believe its because it isn't separated out from the culture before being dried to feed. I feed it because of the nutrients it provides, just don't depend on it to increase protein %'s.

 

[shan04]

Thanguysgreat ideas, i just wanted to make sure if he ate the egg layer food which I'm sure he will he'd still be ok if he creep feeds on it. My other concern is he just turned 3 and his tail feathers are only about 3ft long and his tail isn't very full. Is that normal at this age? Idk if it's cause he's a coming 3 year old and its fall so he's losing them or he's missing something more nutritionally. He free ranges my property.

 

[MeepBeep]

My other concern is he just turned 3 and his tail feathers are only about 3ft long and his tail isn't very full. Is that normal at this age? Idk if it's cause he's a coming 3 year old and its fall so he's losing them or he's missing something more nutritionally.

Yes, it's normal at his age to have a smaller train (tail feathers) and he is finishing his molt for the year... His train will get bigger and better as the years go by...

Over the winter make sure to provide sufficient protein levels and a balanced diet with all the vitamins and nutrients so that as he grows his new train for next spring he has everything he needs to maximize the growth...

 

[Trefoil]

What % protein is your all flock? Where I am, we have kent (blue seal) and their all flock comes in, I believe 22 & 28%, which works really well for the different ages.

 

[MeepBeep]

What % protein is your all flock?  Where I am, we have kent (blue seal) and their all flock comes in, I believe 22 & 28%, which works really well for the different ages.

I'm guessing that this is directed at the original poster, but the Nutrena my local feed store carries is only 18%...

http://www.nutrenaworld.com/products/poultry/country-feeds-poultry/country-feeds-all-flock/index.jsp