What to feed a baby peacock

How to Care for Peacock Chicks

By Judith Willson

i sarah mavro/iStock/Getty Images

Raising peafowl chicks is not dissimilar to raising chickens. If you have the peahen, she’ll take care of her brood; all you really need to do is provide suitable food and keep the housing clean. If you decide to raise the chicks yourself, you have more work to do, but the birds will bond more strongly with you.

Housing

Basic housing consists of a sheltered house attached to a large pen. While the birds remain small, a chicken coop and run would do but they’ll need more-spacious accommodation as they grow. Eventually, you can allow them to free-range, provided your neighbors don’t object. Mature peafowl are large and aggressive enough that most wild carnivores won’t consider them as snacks. Keep the peafowl in a secure enclosure until they are at least 3 or 4 months old. The enclosure has two purposes: to protect them from predators while they are small and to ensure they have a good idea of their home range.

Heating

Keep the chicks in a brooder to start with if they are very young -- less than a month old. Despite the size differences, a broody hen could hatch peafowl eggs and raise the chicks if this option is available. Install a heater in the housing for older chicks. Without their mother, they need another source of warmth; even adults need extra heat in winter.

Diet

Provide a shallow bowl or saucer for food. Peafowl chicks get assistance from their mother to start with, without it they're not great at finding and taking food. Ensure the bowl is shallow and low enough that the chicks don’t have to stretch or hop to access the food. Don’t forget a waterer.

Feed the chicks high-protein game bird starter, preferably one specifically for peafowl, until they are about 3 months old, supplementing with green, leafy vegetables such as cabbage, dark lettuce and spinach. After that, gradually change their diet to an adult one of pellets.

Don’t feed your pets anything too fatty or salty. Peafowl are omnivores; they like all the treats chickens do, including dog food, fruit, healthy table scraps and worms from the garden. The diet should consist primarily of pellets.

Care

Shovel droppings from the housing daily; go for a full clean once a week. Bird waste is rich in nutrients and safe for home composting, so use it in your garden. Spend as much time as you can handling the chicks if you want pet peafowl instead of semi-wild birds.

Considerations

You may need to worm peafowl chicks or deal with other parasites, though these are more of a problem for large flocks with little space. Consult a vet who specializes in game birds and/or poultry for advice.

If you want only peahens or just one peacock and a couple of peahens, bear in mind that small chicks are literally impossible to sex yourself. Peafowl chicks of less than a month old can be sexed only via a genetic test carried out by a vet -- they can’t be sexed by checking the vents like other poultry because the organs are too deep inside. Older ones show differences in plumage.

Warnings

Peacocks are extremely noisy, and not in a melodious way. If your neighbors wouldn’t tolerate a rooster, they certainly won’t appreciate a peacock. Peahens are a little quieter, but they can still be pretty vocal. Before rushing to adopt peafowl chicks, ensure that your neighbors won’t mind and you are not breaking any local regulations.

These birds are large, and they live for a long time -- at least 20 years, sometimes twice that -- making them a long-term commitment. They're unsuitable if you don't have plenty of space. They need either an enormous enclosed and covered area or to be free-range, which again involves checking with your neighbors. Not everybody would be delighted to find a peacock rooting through their prize flowers.

References

United Peafowl Association: Keeping Peafowl -- Do's and Don’ts
Bow’s Peafowl Farm: General Care Tips for Peafowl
Backyard Chickens: Peafowl 101 -- Basic Care, Genetics and Answers

Photo Credits

Writer Bio

Judith Willson has been writing since 2009, specializing in environmental and scientific topics. She has written content for school websites and worked for a Glasgow newspaper. Willson has a Master of Arts in English from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland.

5 Best Items for Baby Peacocks to Eat

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Peacocks are very beautiful birds. Everyone loves to see the majesty of peacocks. While peacocks have beautiful trains that are fun to watch, the splendor of those trains reflects the hard work of a farmer or homesteader when raising the peacocks as babies.

What are the best items to feed baby peacocks so that they can grow into beautiful and healthy adults? Here are some great ideas:

Table of Contents

1. Processed Feed

Processed feeds are number one because they contain all the nutrients that peacocks need to grow. Processed feeds are not just rich in proteins, they also contain fibers, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, etc. in recommended quantities (according to the age of the bird).

What kind of feed should you give to your baby peacocks? You should feed your peachicks with feeds rich in proteins. You can give your peachicks starter turkey or gamebird feed.

According to the age of your peachick, they need 25-30% crude protein in their feed.

Do not feed your baby peacocks with starter chicken feed because chicken feed does not contain sufficient proteins for your peachicks to grow as fast as they should. Typical chicken feeds contain 16-25% crude protein according to the age of the chicken.

2. Mealworms

Mealworms are the larvae of the mealworm beetle. Mealworms are a special source of food for your peacocks because they can also be used as treats to reward your peachicks during training.

You can buy mealworms from feed mills, local stores, and online malls. You can also cultivate your own mealworm colony to save some cash.

If you cultivate your own mealworms, you get to select the kind of food used to raise the mealworms and thus, indirectly regulate what your peachicks eat. Why not save some cash by feeding your peachicks with fresh mealworms made by you?

3. Other Insect Larvae

Aside from mealworms, there are several other insect larvae that you can feed your peachicks with. Examples are:

Black soldier fly larvae
Housefly larvae
Grub worms

Just like mealworms, it is easy to cultivate the larvae listed above or you can get them from local stores around you.

4. Bugs and Little Invertebrates

The thing about little critters is that they make up a whole lot of the peacock’s diet in the wild. This means that if you want your baby peacocks to grow more naturally, you should give them (or allow them to search for) more insects and other little invertebrates.

Examples of invertebrates that peacocks can eat in the free-range are:

Earthworms
Nematodes
Spiders
Snails
Slugs

Asides from invertebrates, other animals (vertebrates) that peachicks can eat are lizards, amphibians, snakes, etc.

If you are brooding your baby peacocks in a brooder box (i.e. they are not with their mother), you should feed them with processed feed and very few insects and other little critters because of the possibility of harmful microbes.

5. Fruits and Vegetables

Most of the feed options listed above enrich your peacocks with a whole lot of proteins. Fruits and vegetables, however, can give your baby peacocks the vitamins, minerals, and a few other nutrients that they need.

You should give your peacocks a lot of vegetables. When bored, peachicks can peck vegetables hung from the roof or ceiling as a green piñata. You can also mix vegetables with other types of feeds given to the birds.

Examples of vegetables that you should give to your peacocks are:

Cabbage
Broccoli
Lettuce
Spinach
Carrot leaves
Arugula
Cauliflower

As for fruits, you can give your peacocks some fruits, but not in large quantities. Fruits contain a lot of sugars and very few proteins so too many fruits can be bad for peacocks. Give fruits to peachicks as treats (i.e. give them occasionally).

Examples of fruits that you can give to peacocks are:

Bananas
Grapes
Apples
Watermelons
Mangoes

Make sure that your peacocks have access to major sources of proteins (such as their processed feed) when you feed them with fruits and vegetables.

Remember that baby peacocks need as many proteins as they can get, or they will not grow beautiful and strong quickly.

Now you know some of the best items to feed your peacocks with. What can you give to your peacocks as treats?

Best Treats for Peachicks

Here are some good choices of treats for peachicks:

1.

Grains, Seeds, and Peas

Grains, seeds, and peas are excellent treats for peachicks. They also make great food ideas for peachicks, but you should give them as treats (occasionally) to increase the value that your peachicks have for them.

Grains are rich in carbohydrates and proteins. During the winter, you should give your peachicks a lot of grains at night because digesting grains can keep your birds warm.

Examples of grains that you can feed peachicks with are:

Maize
Wheat
Rye
Barley
Sorghum

Seeds are also great for peachicks as they are rich in proteins, vitamins, and minerals. Examples of seeds for peachicks are:

Sunflower seeds
Safflower seeds
Peanuts
Peas
Watermelon seeds

Peacocks love grains, peas, and seeds, so make sure you give them some treats they love.

2. Blueberries, Grapes, and Other Fruits

Many homesteaders agree that their peacocks always go crazy for blueberries. Blueberries are sweet and have sugars, vitamins, minerals, etc. Remember that you should not give too many blueberries to your peachicks.

Other fruits that you can give to your peachicks are:

Watermelon
Blackberries
Raspberries

Make sure that your peachicks get a lot of healthy fruits.

3. Arthropods and Other Invertebrates

Remember that peacocks love invertebrates. Some invertebrates that you can give to your peachicks as treats are:

Crabs
Snails
Shrimp
Earthworms
Mealworms

Peacocks love crustaceans such as shrimp and crabs. Give your peachicks shrimp only occasionally.

4. Raisins

Peachicks love dried grapes or raisins. Raisins are rich in sugars, fiber, vitamins, etc. You should give raisins to your peachicks but don’t give too many because raisins are high in sugars and fibers.

5. Pigeon Mix

Every bird loves pigeon mix. Pigeon mix is made from a bunch of grains and other ingredients. You can easily use pigeon mix to train your peacocks (newly released from the brooder) to return to their coop or pen at night.

Give pigeon mix to peachicks occasionally.

Final Thoughts

Peacocks need protein-rich foods to grow beautiful and strong. Examples of food ideas for peacocks are processed feeds, mealworms, fruits, and vegetables.

Remember to give your peacocks healthy treats.

Resources

https://animals.mom.com/care-peacock-chicks-6395. html
https://wowmypetdidthat.com/treats-for-peacocks/
https://chickenandchicksinfo.com/what-do-baby-peacocks-eat/
https://www.purinamills.com/chicken-feed/education/detail/beyond-backyard-chickens-raising-peacocks-and-game-birds
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/help-what-to-feed-a-baby-peacock.217288/

What do peacocks eat. How to feed peacocks at home

The health of a peacock depends entirely on a balanced and proper diet. In their natural environment, they feed on a wide variety of foods: seeds of plants and fruits of trees, shoots, roots, collect insects and feast on small reptiles, hunt snakes and eat mollusks with pleasure. Feeding peacocks at home differs in many ways from the habitual wild individuals and depends on many factors.

Content

1 Feeding Pavlinov
- 1.1 Marriage period and hatching
2 Feeding of chicks
3 types of feeding of peacock
- 3. 1 Dry Method of feeding
4 Types of feed
- 4.1 Complementary feed
- 4.2 Succulent feed
- 4.3 Root crops
- 4.4 Dairy products
- 4.5 Fish
- 4.6 Eggs
- 4.7 Grain feed

Feeding peacocks

Each breeder must take into account the fact that birds need a balanced and complete feed, otherwise metabolic problems and various diseases are possible.

A properly selected diet should be fully suitable for birds in terms of the composition of vitamins and trace elements and be to the liking of birds.

Feed must be fresh and tasty for poultry

Taste is very important - although birds are omnivores, if they do not like the food, they are more likely to become exhausted and die of hunger. Since peacocks belong to the chicken order, you can feed them the same food as chickens. They perfectly eat cereals, various root crops and vegetables, fruits, like to feast on pieces of bacon and minced meat or fish, crackers, mowed grass.

An adult eats approximately: 9 per day0003

60 grams of crushed corn,
about 120 grams of grain mix,
55 grams herbal or alfalfa flour,
55 grams of peeled and chopped vegetables and fruits,
fresh grass or hay - ad libitum.

Chalk, fish meal, minced meat or fish fry can be added to the main diet. If it is planned to feed the birds only with grain, it is necessary to place a mixture of table salt with chalk, as well as gravel and birch ash in a separate feeder.

Mating season and brooding

Birds start preparing for the mating season in March. It is during this period that it is important to pay special attention to the proper nutrition of birds. Indeed, the health of the brood will depend on what to feed the peacocks at this time. Breeding birds at the beginning of March are given an additional nutritional supplement consisting of:

10 grams of meat meal,
about 120 grams boiled and chopped potatoes,
65 grams of succulent food.
about 200 grams of dry protein feed.

Minced meat or fish can fill the need for feed of animal origin. It is placed in a separate feeder and offered to the birds a couple of times a week.

Regardless of the time of the year, the birds should be fed at fixed times.

In the morning, soft food is placed in the bird feeder. Grain and feed are given in the afternoon. If the bird is actively eating grain, you can add a little more grain in the evening.

Feeding chicks

Newborn chicks are fed with hard-boiled and finely chopped chicken eggs mixed with chopped greens. Already from the first day, small mealworms can be introduced into the diet, and from the second week, compound feed for pheasants or chickens can be poured into a separate bowl. You can drink babies with both water and yogurt. From the fifth or sixth day, millet porridge cooked in milk or water is gradually introduced into the diet.

Pea and chicks look for insects

Young birds are also fed fresh milk and cottage cheese, fresh herbs, washed and chopped vegetables and fruits. Fresh greens should be in the feeder all the time, like water. The peacock chick is happy to eat insects, minced meat, and root crops.

Some breeders feed ant eggs, nettle greens and green onions, clover and spinach to their chicks. All new food is added gradually, making sure that the chicks have eaten all the food.

From the second month of life, young animals are completely transferred to an adult diet.

Types of feeding peacocks

The largest nurseries have developed and approved several ways of feeding birds: combined, dry, wet.

Dry method of feeding

Using this method of feeding, the breeder feeds only dry food. Up to 95% of the peacock's diet consists of feed and various grains. In a separate feeder, you must always keep mineral supplements from chalk and coal, as well as vitamins, to replenish the vitamin balance in the body.

Wet method of feeding

Feeding with wet food means giving grain and compound feed soaked or steamed in hot water or milk, various succulent foods, vegetables and root crops, minced meat and fish. The disadvantage of the method is the rapid souring of feed in the summer. Therefore, the feed is placed in the feeder immediately after preparation, and after the bird has eaten, the remains are removed and the feeder is washed.

Combined feeding method

Combined feeding birds eat both dry and wet food. Grain mixtures or compound feed can lie in the feeder all the time, but the mixers are laid twice a day. The combined method is preferable because of its diversity and greater balance.

In winter, the diet should be increased by 1.5 times

Types of feed

Only grains and compound feed for peacocks are not enough for a healthy and fulfilling life. Most of the daily diet should be complementary, succulent and protein foods.

Complementary foods

Peacocks' favorite delicacy and main supplementary food are earthworms. In some large farms, they are specially grown in manure or silo pits. Each bird can be fed up to 10 grams of earthworms per day. No less important are flour worms.

The mealworm is the larva of a small and harmful black beetle called the mealworm. Mealworms are also bred to be fed in a worm farm. A worm-breeder is an ordinary wooden box lined with plywood or tin sheets from the inside. The worm-breeder is filled with old and unsuitable for cooking flour, bran, crackers, various vegetables are added and only then the beetles are launched. The first larvae appear after seven to eight weeks.

Some breeders give peacocks and maggots as protein food. During the summer months, silkworm larvae, apple moth pupae, May beetles and bee larvae play an important role in feeding, especially in feeding young birds.

Succulent food

Succulent food is an irreplaceable source of vitamins and minerals important for the health of a peacock. Juicy feeds include:

alfalfa,
clover,
quinoa and needles,
dandelions and colza,
young shoots of nettle,
peas,
roots,
vegetables,
fruits,
dairy products,
fish oil.

All green fodder is fed to birds in crushed form. In the summer, the grass is given to the birds in plenty. During the winter months, feeders are filled with bean or cereal hay. It is preferable to give alfalfa in the form of flour.

Root crops

Potatoes are the most valuable among root crops. Rich in vitamins and starch, it is included in all mixes and in some cases (in winter, for weakened birds, young animals) can be fed separately. The peacock also eats cabbage with pleasure. Give it both as a whole and in crushed form, separately or as part of a mash. Carrots are especially recommended for chicks, but they are also fed to adults. Carrots are an irreplaceable source of keratin. Large breeders note that their peacocks also ate beets, turnips, and turnips with pleasure.

Root crops must be crushed

Dairy products

Dairy products must also be included in the diet of a domestic peacock:

curdled milk,
cottage cheese (non-sour and medium fat),
whey.

Fish

Boiled fish or live fry, as well as minced fish are good food. This food is rich in important mineral salts, vitamins and proteins. Most often, minced fish or fish is fed along with mixers. Female peacocks that receive fish before the mating season produce more eggs.

Eggs

Chicken eggs are the first and main food of newborn peacocks. However, adults can also be given boiled chicken eggs, as well as eggshells or egg powder.

Grain foods

All grain foods are rich in important carbohydrates, proteins, fats and minerals. The main condition is that the grain must be dry and clean. Peacocks are fed not only with oats and wheat. Corn also plays an important role in the diet. It gives the birds energy, contains many acids, vitamins, carotene. Young growth fed a substantial amount of corn will grow faster and have brighter plumage.

Barley is slightly inferior in composition and usefulness to corn and oats, but it contains fiber necessary for proper metabolism. Millet has been substituted by some breeders for more expensive oats. Nutritionally, these two cultures are very similar. Red millet is very rich in carotene and is often fed to peacocks bred for slaughter. Simply improves both the taste and color of poultry meat. Peacocks willingly eat rice. However, it is worth remembering that rice is a very high-calorie food. Its percentage in the total mass of the stern should not be more than ten.

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what peacocks eat and what can be done at home

Contents

Importance of food selection for peacocks
Daily diet of birds
How to properly feed peacocks before breeding
Feeding birds during breeding season
Feeding chicks
Feeding Features
Feeding bowls for peacocks.

The peacock's tail and its majestic posture are always pleasing to the eye. But in order for the bird to develop properly at home, special attention should be paid to nutrition.

To raise a healthy and beautiful peacock, you need to feed him properly

Feed selection value for peacocks

At home, for breeding peacocks, it is necessary to select the correct and competent feeding ration. The diet of peacocks corresponds to the usual diet of a bird in the wild. It is important in the process of breeding birds to add the necessary vitamins for proper development. Change the feeding of peacocks gradually along with familiar food. If you immediately put in new food, the bird may not touch it. As a result, this will lead to the death of the peacock.

The new diet can also cause digestive problems, especially in young birds. Therefore, choosing the right diet, especially at home, is of great importance.

When breeding peacocks, two important principles must be considered:

Age of peacocks.
Seasonality.

Properly selected food should meet the following needs:

Satisfying the demand of birds with nutrients and metabolic energy with the help of vitamins and microelements.
Compliance with natural characteristics and taste needs. Then the peacocks eat appetizingly, without digestive problems.
The amount of food is given according to the needs of the peacocks, since undernourishment or overeating negatively affects the motor and secretory activity of the intestines.
The peacock diet consists of low-cost components, since the main funds for the development of these birds are invested in feed.

The diet of the peacock depends on the season

Peacock is famous for its majestic posture and beautiful tail. In nature, this is a unique phenomenon. In order for the peacock to have a desire to stand in a proud pose and open its tail, it is necessary to fortify the body. When a male peacock walks in a proud posture in front of a female, he raises and unfolds the feathers of the upper tail and forms a magnificent fan. Even during molting, the peacock tries to keep himself in a beautiful pose, but with a calmer temperament. In summer, peacocks are very active, in winter they are calmer.

The peacock's tail is relatively small -50 centimeters, but fascinates with its beauty.

Daily diet of birds

The daily food intake per individual for the autumn-winter period is as follows:

Chopped corn - 50 gr;
Oats-40 g;
Alfalfa plain and as flour -40 g;
Flour mixes -90 g;
Root vegetables - 50 g;
Fruits, vegetables-50 g.

Small amounts of common salt can be added to feed formulations. We should not forget about the mineral components that maintain calcium in the blood. Therefore, it is imperative to place containers with minerals where peacocks are placed. At home, it can be chalk, gravel, wood ash.

Lucerne is an inexpensive and healthy component of the peacock's diet

How to properly feed peacocks before breeding

In order to competently prepare the body of peacocks for reproduction, it is required to slightly change the usual feeding. For this, it is necessary to increase the intake of protein and vitamins. Breeding usually takes place in the spring. The diet for one individual in the spring is as follows:

Herbal flour - 50 gr.;
Boiled potatoes - 100 gr.;
Juicy greens - 70 gr.;
Protein food (dairy products) - 200 gr.

At this time, it is very good to feed the birds with table waste and mineral impurities. It is important to know that peacocks should be fed abundantly before the breeding process. Most of all, peacocks love earthworms. Therefore, for a good preparation of the body of birds, it is useful to dig up worms.

Potatoes should only be given boiled

Feeding birds in breeding season

This period is very important for peacocks, so the increase in protein feed should be increased. When breeding these birds, during such a period, the diet is enriched with animal feed: cottage cheese, eggs, milk. Otherwise, the food remains the same.

Feeding chicks

Immediately after birth, you need to start feeding the chicks.

The food of peacock chicks in the first seven days consists of boiled eggs in crushed form.

A week later, the chicks are sprinkled with crushed greens, minced fish or meat. Also, in the second week it is recommended to give products of dairy or sour-milk origin.

One month later, the chicks are fed mixed feed and wet mixes. Peacocks are quite susceptible to the properties of food, so the food must be of high quality. You need to feed peacock chicks at home like pheasants or chickens, but adding fresh herbs and small mealworms.

Under all peacock breeding practices, chicks and adults should not be fed dirty or moldy food.

Peacock chicks are very sensitive to freshness and quality of food

Features of feeding

Peacocks need to be fed at certain times. In order for peacock breeding to give a good result, it is imperative to monitor the quality of the feed and avoid spoiled food and foreign additives.

It is strictly forbidden to feed the birds with dirty grains with mold, It is important to sift grains before feeding, then rinse and dry in the sun or in the oven. When feeding with a mash, control their freshness. They can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three days. Do not give cold food.

Peacocks need to be fed twice a day. In the morning, soft feeding is preferable, in the afternoon - grain mixers. If the food containers are empty at the end of the day, a grain mixture is added to ensure that there is enough until the morning. It is important to fill the feeders with food not to the top so that the peacocks do not throw food.

In hot weather, drinking water quickly deteriorates, putrefactive bacteria appear in it, so it is necessary to change the water up to three times a day.

Peacocks need to be taught to feed at a strictly defined time

Feeding bowls for peacocks.

Peacocks are very sensitive birds, therefore proper nutrition plays an important role in their maintenance. More than half of the farmer's expenses go to the purchase of feed. When choosing the type of feeders and their location, it is necessary to take into account all the nuances for the least loss of feed. This can be due to contamination of feed, spillage by birds, moisture or food getting wet.

At home, feeding containers are made from dry wood without knots. The thickness of the boards should be within 5-10 mm. To prevent injury, sharp protrusions must be rounded off. The height of the feeder should be such that the birds get food without difficulty and cannot climb into it with their paws.

A trough feeder is very suitable, where the walls at the end are higher than the sides. A turntable is installed on the end wall, which prevents peacocks from climbing into the feeder and contaminating food.