HELP If you keep Peacocks..I NEED HELP! Mine hasn't eaten in 7 days!

[kiaya611]

The peacock that I rescued a week ago tomorrow hasn't eaten anything that I have fed him except some cat food as a treat and some bread as a treat.
I know this is a chicken forum, but you all posted more help for me when I need suggestions about moving my peacock when I got him that any of the Peacock forums did, that I am coming to you again for help. I do have chickens...just in case you were wondering (42) and 11 in a hatcher and 12 in an incubator.

Anyway....my peacock....

I have fed him soaked cracked corn and wheat. Then I tried gamebird feed crumbles (28% protein) and mixed in Scratch AND cat food and as far as I can tell, he hasn't touched it. I can't tell if he has even drank any of his water either. I have a plastic bucket of water for him that I have changed twice now. His food and water are under cover so they aren't getting rained on or anything. They haven't been pooped in. When I first got him, he paced around the pen (16X16), but then he started laying down (I just thought he was getting comfortable here). He has been spending most of his time up on his perch

He looks good, bright, etc. but I don't understand why he hasn't eaten or perhaps even drank anything. 7 days is a very long time. He doesn't seem to be weak or I wouldn't think he could jump up on his 4' perch. He is attentive when I am around. He doesn't move away much. He allows me to get within about a foot from him if I am slow and not threatening.

Can someone please tell me if they think there is something wrong?...or if I should try something. This is my first peacock and I don't want to be stupid and overlook something. I haven't really been able to see his poop to see if I could tell anything from that. When he ate the cat food and bread, he wasn't shy about that. But I didn't give him very much of either since they were treats.

Please help.

Steven

 

[birdlover]

Steven,
I'm sorry I can't help you. I know zero about peacocks but I did google peacock care and someone said their peacock loves clover and dandilion leaves. Apparently it's good to let them forage for bugs and stuff among the grass and weeds too. Soo, you could try the dandilion and other greens and have you tried meal worms. Most poultry gulps those things down. Something else you might try is soaking the bread in egg yolk for extra nutrition. Something else I read was dry cat food has more protein than dry dog food and that they give that as a treat. If that's all he'll eat then I'd go with that until you get further help. He MUST eating and drinking or surely he'd be dead by now! Keep trying different things; maybe his previous owner just fed him bread and dog food?? Keeping my fingers crossed for your bird!!!
Ellen

 

[BirdBrain]

Steven,
I'm sure you have seen this site http://www.boxess.com/wppg.htm
It says:
Peacocks need 30 - 32 percent protein-dried cat food does them quite well! They love white foods: bread, cheese, rice, and even styrofoam pellets (very bad for the digestion). They also enjoy greens and fruits. When they eat your flowers, they are really looking for insects. They do eat alot of bugs!

I don't know if this helps any, but we are all pulling for you. Let us know how it goes. !!

 

[bobbieguyette]

When I bought and adopted our 5 they were used to peanuts and grapes and sunflower seeds give them a shot and see anyway to talk to the previous owners and see what they were feeding them?

 

[hencackle]

These people might give you advice too: http://cupplesfarm.com/
Stephanie

 

[cgjsmith]

sigh I would love to rescue a peacock LOL. Shoot I wouldl love to rescue any bird

C

 

[thndrdancr]

I sure hope Charlie is ok, I have been following your story and you made such a NICE pen at the last minute. I am as worried about him as if he were MINE!

He cant talk to the previous owners, folks, Charlie was running wild and is a rescue.

 

[kiaya611]

I want to thank you all for all of your good wishes and help. I wanted to give you an update.

I brought out a container of cat food and broken-up pieces of bread for Charlie last evening. Unfortunately, he stepped on it and dumped it on the ground, but at least I knew how much I gave him, so I came back later and saw that he had eaten most of it...probably about a cup worth of the cat food and all of the bread. I am going to ge him some peanuts and some raisins for treats today. I will also put more crumble gamebird food in his feeding pan, enough for me to level it off so that if he touches it, I will be able to tell.

I have looked into worming him, but I hadn't wanted to disturb him too much since he is so new. I have checked into the two normal wormers that are used with peafowl...Ivomec and Panocur (a cattle wormer). The Ivomec gets rid of basically everything except Capillary worms which can be fatal. The Panocur gets rid of those. It, however is requires a prescription. I found it online for $109.00 for 1000ml bottle which would probably lat me forever, but I tell you this to tell you that my vet (who was willing to sell me some) at $5.00 for 2ccs. That would make a 1000ml bottle $2,500.00 (if I did my math right). Sounds like a pretty steep mark-up to me. I would hate to have cattle and have to use lots of the stuff. The dose for birds (like most of this stuff is based on weight) so I would be dealing in 1/10s of a cc, but it still galls me that the vet gets that much for such a small amount of something that would cost me relatively little (RETAIL).

In any case. I might be being overly cautious...or paranoid, but I just can't have him die. He is so beautiful and with all that he has been through, he still lets me get within 2' of him without concern. I believe that in time, he will be taking food from my hand.

I have contacted a friend of mine and her grandmother owns a farm where she has peafowl roam. Each year or 2 they cull the flock and this is one of those years. I am supposed to get a peahen from them to keep Charlie company. They were going to round up the birds last weekend, but it rained...so I am hoping that this weekend they will round them up so I can get a 2 or 3 year old peahen for Charlie.

I will let you know how things are going.

I again want to thank you all for everything. If you don't know it already, this is a truly WONDERFUL group of people! For me to be asking about a bird that isn't even listed in the group and getting so many responses and conversely NOT getting any responses from forums dealing specifically with peafowl is remarkable. You need to give yourselves a big round of applause or maybe a big hug

I can tell that you all truly care about birds and probably animals in general...not just one kind and don't consider yourselves above answering (what might be) very basic and paranoid questions. You all care. I appreciate that very much...and it makes a big difference.

Thank you just doesn't say enough.

 

[birdlover]

Oh Steven! You are so sweet and kind! Charlie is lucky you found him. It sounds like you are making great progress. I don't blame you for being "paranoid", although I would call it cautious!

I'd be the same way if I adopted a bird I knew nothing about!! Keep us updated and definitely let us know when Charlese comes to live with Charlie!

Ellen

 

[kiaya611]

Thank you Ellen,

I was out with Charlie today and I had gone to the store and got raisins. I was eating them and figured he would like them. I threw some out for him and after a minute, he saw them and gobbled them up. I thrwe some more and he ate those. I threw a few more closer to me to see how close he would come and he ended up 1' away from me. That is pretty exciting for me!

I had looked in the store for grapes and didn't find any. I bought peanuts though. The only thing is the ones that I bought are still in their shell.I bought the roasted, but not salted kind. Do I need to open them and give him just the nut itself, or will he know to get the nut out of the shell? I wouldn't think it would be good for him to eat a bunch of nut hulls. My macaws used to love peanuts, but they could hold them and crack them open and get the nut out.

I also was really happy today...I saw Charlie pecking/eating out of his feed pan! I was watching from my house which is about 100' from his pen and I saw him pecking at the pan. When I went over there to spend time with hima nd give him the raisins, I looked and saw that there were definite areas that had been disturbed. I know this because I flattened out the top of the feed really smooth to see if there was any disturbance in it so I would know if he had been eating or not. I got a double affirmation since I actually saw him pecking in the feed AND I saw that it had been disturbed.

One other thing that I have been hesitant to bring up ( for fear of "jinxing" myseff). Looks like I will be getting Charlie a girlfriend soon.

My nephew's ex-girfriend's grandmother (how's that for a link to me?) has peafowl roaming her property and every year or two she has them gathered up and culls the flock. I asked if I could get one of the 2 or 3 year old peahens and they said yes. We were supposed to do it last Sunday, but it rained and they called it off. I am hoping that by this weekend I can get a peahen for Charlie...cross your fingers

That's the newest news. So far we are making progress.