What do you feed your peachicks?

[Trefoil]

I have been giving mine medicated game bird starter 28%. They seem to be doing okay, but it seems like that's awfully high protein. So I wondered what everyone else is feeding.

 

[Kedreeva]

They don't sell medicated game bird starter near me, so I end up using medicated chick starter and giving them treats that have a little more protein to them, like crickets and greek yogurt and kitten chow. But technically medicated game bird starter is appropriate, since peafowl are technically game birds, in the same family alongside turkey and pheasants. If you want to lower the protein, you can down to about 22% by mixing in medicated chick starter (although plenty of people use just medicated chick starter and get by) but for their feather growth I wouldn't personally go lower.

 

[Amanda Patrick]

I give mine gamebird starter/grower so i can feed it longer without having to switch. Usually with animals and switching of feeds, the animals go under stress so I use the starter/grower so there is not a chance. For newly hatched or on cold days, hard boiled egg yolks that are crushed is a treat they enjoy. there are many things that they will eat to get higher protein as well. but below is something i found and sometimes do as a special treat!




Here's a recipe for Susan's


~~Peachick Delight!!~~


They'll come a' runnin' for it!


This dish is for young peachicks, and is loved by the older ones too. Serve it warm on a cold morning.


Take a large frying pan and Pam it or lightly coat it with cooking oil, very little, so it won't be greasy.


Scramble 3-6 eggs (about 1/2 -1 egg per pea baby) and cook until just about dry, when the shine is off the eggs; remove from heat and mash with a fork or potato masher until fine for little babies, bigger chunks for bigger babies.


Add and stir turkey and game feed crumbles for older chicks 3-4 weeks, and chick starter for younger ones, about 1/4 to 1/2 the amount of eggs. You can stretch it by adding more feed, but they really look for those yellow and white bits of eggs. Be sure to let it cool to just warm.


I feed it in a dish or lid (love those cottage cheese lids for feeding little ones) for caged peachicks, or if the chicks are roaming free, I throw it to them on the ground or on a board if the ground is damp. They LOVE it!


If there is any left over, I store it in a container in the refrigerator for later, when the poor, "starving" lost souls turn up at the doorstep begging for more.


Don't leave it out at room temperature too long- the turkey food turns black and looks yucky (tho' they probably would still eat it!).


For RED Peachick DEElight, grind up some dried cat food in the blender or food processor and add to the mix too, maybe a little less turkey and game food, or leave the turkey food out altogether for an eye-catching, festive dish.


This same recipe can be made with hard boiled eggs, peeling and mashing them.





*One little word of caution/warning:


If you feed Deelight to your chicks on your walkway or stairs to your house, expect them to thank you by leaving smelly messy little "presents...."





NEW!! SUPER Peachick Delight:


Your Sunday Breakfast for the Birds!


First, cut up a slice of whole wheat or grain or seed bread- even plain old white bread, (tho' this doesn' have the nutrients of whole grain) into little cubes. Sometimes, I whiz bread to be cubed in the food processor.
Then, Pam your pan, scramble the eggs for a little bit, then while the eggs are still wet, add your bread crumbs and scramble some more, until the eggs are cooked and the bread is getting toasty. If it seems too dry, add a teaspoon or two of water and mix. Then it becomes sort of French toasty. Birds love this too, and it is a good way to extend the eggs and make more Delight for your pets. Serve warm on a cold day- they'll be comin' at you for this!

 

[Teva]

My peahen just showed up this morning with four hatched peachicks....she had her nest in the underbrush near my creek. The still had their egg-cracking hooks on their beaks, so I am figuring that they hatched early this morning or through the night. This is my first ever hatch of anything.

I took them and put them in my brooder (I'm concerned about all of the crows/ravens/hawks flying about lately). My brooder is a 4x4 coop, which also has a few ameracauna's that I picked up for quarantining.

I put a big rubber dish with rocks in it full of water, dipped their beaks in it once or twice, is that enough?

I put a chick feeding tray with chick starter (game starter not due in for another 2 weeks) and I added three cooked egg yolks mixed with 1/2 cup of greek yogurt.....stuck the spoon up to their beaks and then put some of it in with the chick starter, and the rest is in a dish next to it.

Is this good enough? Should I feed them 3 fresh egg yolks and yogurt, every day, or is that too much protein? I don't know how much I'm supposed to supplement daily until the game starter comes in?

Thanks for your help!

Teva

P.S. What do you make of the brood? My peacock is an IB barred shoulder, and I thought the peahen was as well....but don't yellow peachicks turn into black shoulders?

 

[Trefoil]

AWW they are lovely. The only thing I would worry about is leaving the egg yolk/yogurt out for any length of time. It will go bad fast in this heat. Wasn't your pen large enough to put the hen in with them?

 

[Yoda]

I only give medicated chick starter nothing else. As the get older I start mixing in cracked corn, then when older I start adding the mixed veggies.

 

[AugeredIn]

One out of four yellow? it would seem both adults are split to BS!

 

[Kedreeva]

One out of four yellow? it would seem both adults are split to BS!

exactly my thoughts

Also, you don't *need* to give them anything other than the medicated chick starter, they'll live just fine on it. I used to split one hard boiled yolk mixed with half a spoonful of plain green yogurt, a couple spoonfuls of medicated starter and a spoonful of cooked, unsalted oatmeal between two of them and a duck that was eating *only* that mixture (long story there) daily. You'd probably be fine to crumble a yolk and let them have it once a day.

As for the water/food- I don't know if mine were just exceptionally attached or what, but they only seemed to eat (and then ravenously) if I was there pecking at the food with my finger. In the times I have seen chicks with moms, the chicks always seem to be scrambling to peck at anything mom touches. When I had the privilege to be hand-feeding treats to a hen with some chicks gathered around me, she would take a piece of clover and bend down and make this soft little whirring noise until the chicks grabbed it from her. Keep an eye out for dehydration signs and dip them again if they don't appear to be drinking on their own, but showing them once might be enough.

 

[Amanda Patrick]

with dehydration, TSC sells save a chick that is electrolytes for poultry, I mix one packet and some sugar in a gallon of water daily when it is hot or when they are stressed. I dip their beaks until i know they got a taste of it. I also give it to my swan cygnets when they were really weak and it popped them back.

 

[Teva]

OH, you guys are awesome. Thank you! The pen isn't covered, and the coop is too small for her. I moved them out of the coop and into a cardboard box onto my back deck, that way I can manage the heat lamp better and not have them in with my new EEs that came in for quarantine. They are drinking and eating on their own (YAY!). They don't seem to pay any attention to my finger wiggling around in the starter. So I just dumped some more egg yolk in there and they love it. I pulled the little dish with yogurt out a while ago. They are adorable.

Mama Kate can hear them chirping so she hangs out near the porch and talks to them. I'm already getting offers for $25.00 each!

So, genetics sure are cool. Safe to say that the yellow chick is a BS and the rest are barred?

And, just to verify, I won't be able to sex them for another 4 weeks?

thanks for your help everyone!