06/06/2023
**Pea Chick Care**
Do not put any other birds with them, maybe 1 bantam chick to teach them to eat and drink but never put them in with several other chicks. Keep them warm and dry, around 95 degrees the first two to three weeks then drop the temp slow, don't let them get below 90 for the first few weeks. Always make sure they can get away from the heat if they need to. Use paper towels for bedding the first couple of weeks, then you can use pine shavings, not until then or they may eat them and die. Peafowl & turkey chicks don't like to stand on wire so use a solid floor until they get bigger and it is easier to keep warm too. Keep them in a shorter brooder with their heat close to them, they will jump up and hit their heads and kill themselves when scared if their brooder is to tall. No drafts, make sure it has sides and some top, heat rises so you want to be able to trap heat to keep them warm, no less then 90 degrees. Stress and cold is the biggest killer of chicks under 3 weeks old. Keep them calm and quite, they should not be fluffed up or making noise, if they are there is a reason. I keep my chicks inside the house for the first few weeks so I can keep their temp steady. It only takes one night of them getting chilled to kill them.
~ Feed ~
Feed game bird starter only (never chick starter) they need around 30% protein for the first few months. When they are a week or two old, add oyster shells to their feed so their legs stay strong. When they get bigger you can feed them a 20% layer pellet and mix in cat food to keep the protein up. You need to keep the protein in the high 20's until they are full grown
Treats:
Black oil sunflower seeds, scratch grains, fruits, veggies, tomato worms, bugs
Peafowl and turkeys get sinus infections, in peafowl it is called bubble eye, in turkeys it is called sinus sinus and other names, the best meds for them is BAYTRIL, it is a cattle injectable drug you get only from the vets. On full size birds use 1cc (figure the amount you will need on the size of birds you have from that) once a day for 2 to 3 days or 1 day past clear, give by mouth not as a shot.These birds can get this often when they are under a year old, that is why it is so important for them to stay out of the cold winds and stay dry when it is cold. Chicks are not sold until they are at least 3 days old, they will be healthy and ready to go. There is no chick guarantee on them, to many things can happen. It is important to go by the instructions, they are easy to raise but if feed the wrong food, get chilled, put with to many birds or picked on they can die.
