Hatching peafowl with a broody chicken

[AmyP716]

Ok so I have two peafowl eggs under my broody silkie. They are about to hatch. They have externally pipped this morning but have not hatched yet. It will be 28 days on Friday. When they finally hatch is it ok to let the silkie raise them? They are in my chicken coop I use for Broody's. I am getting some medicated game starter tomorrow. Can the silkie mom eat it too? And I read on here that the pea chicks can't go out in the dirt till there older cause it can kill them? What age is it safe to let them out? Sorry I have tons of questions I don't really know anything about peafowl.

 

[GitaBooks]

There is a lot of controversy over the safety of raising game-birds around chickens, mainly because of Blackhead and other diseases. I, however, think it should be safe disease-wise to do so. The silkie should be given her own food in a dish set higher up and the chicks should have a little wire pen where they can eat out of their mother's reach. They will get the hang of this eventually. Too much protein is dangerous for chickens.
The peafowl should be provided with a heat-light as they grow, as they mature much slower than a chicken and will be unable to be covered by the silkie. However, they will learn a great deal about life through being raised with a momma hen.

I don't keep peafowl, sorry I can't help more. Best of luck!

 

[KsKingBee]

I have 15 broody chicken hens employed at the moment. Here is this weeks production from three of them.



I was going to reward one of the hens and let her raise one of the white chicks. She did not protect it from the other hens in the broody pen and the chicks head got pecked open to the skull. To me a peachick is just too expensive of an investment to trust to a five dollar hen who is not capable to raise the peachick full term.

 

[GitaBooks]

KsKingBee does make a good point (though I still think my silkie hen is awesome no matter how cheap she is

). However, broody hens put so much heart and effort into it, its nice to reward them with some day-old chicks, even just two or three of them.

 

[thndrdancr]

It just depends but I definitely separate them from other birds. My yearling peas and guineas are what kill the chicks here. I have some silkies that will defend to the death and some not so much but are good mothers in most other aspects.

I let my hens raise them as I can't brood them in my house since its tiny and we have allergies. So I put them out during the day and bring them in at night or if they have shelter leave them with mom if the weather is ok, etc.

You do have to be twice as vigilant in watching for signs of cocci, blackhead, and worms and should have meds on hand to treat. If you wait til they show signs they are ill, it many times is too late to get meds, as it always happens night or weekend when you can't get it and early treatment is critical.

 

[AmyP716]

Omg I got a chick. Woke up to this little one today and one more on the way.

 

[AmyP716]

Thanks guys for all the information. Hopefully I will be able to do everything right for these babies. Never had peafowl before I'm kind of nervous.

 

[GitaBooks]

Omg I got a chick. Woke up to this little one today and one more on the way.

So cute!!

 

[AmyP716]

Thanks. I was surprised that he is all yellow I'm not sure what color his parents are. He is super cute now that he's fluffed up. Still waiting for the other to hatch.

 

[AmyP716]

So I have some questions,how often should I be weighing my peachick' s? I've weighed them three times so far and they are gaining. They will be a week old on Wednesday. I'm so worried they might get sick because my silkie is raising them,but I really would like her to raise them for me. Also I live in Michigan and I am already thinking about winter lol, can they survive outside in the winter here? I want to make sure I have everything ready for them when it gets cold out. Our past few winters have been really cold,but my chickens did good with no heat light.