Peacocks: Post 14 - Three month update
Baby hedgehog.
A little bit of an aside.. We have some new creatures in the garden. The cats heard snuffling and rummaging in the leaf pile next to the oil tank - this was back in June - and I found that a fairly large hedgehog had made its home there.
What we didn't realise was that it was pregnant! My daughter discovered one of its babies. We now have some baby hedgehogs in the garden too. This is in addition to the tiny mice that have taken up residence in the "log island" in the peafowl's run. Quite the menagerie this year.
Three months today.
It's 21 October today which is exactly three months since they hatched.
Nothing eventful has happened. All is well. Chicks are getting bigger. Flying well. Managing the pecking order well.
I thought I'd just post a few videos showing how much they've grown already.
Also the patterning on their feathers is becoming more established - I'm pretty confident that I have three males and one female. Hmm... a noisy Spring 2027 to plan for!!
Mr Tumnus tail has eyes.
The following video is a little long but you can quite clearly see the patterning on the chicks' feathers is establishing. Can you spot the female? Also check out Mr Tumnus.. For the first time ever, Mr Tumnus train is beginning to grow. Iridescent green tail feathers and eyes are appearing. He's going to look spectacular soon.
Respiratory infection? Gape-worm?
The little guy (the one that almost died on day 1) is definitely a bit smaller than the others.
He currently has a respiratory infection I think. I've been monitoring him and making sure he gets a nutritious boiled egg all to himself every other day to keep him strong. I think he's on the mend. Certainly he is eating and drinking normally and showing only a little bit of being under the weather - wings a bit drooped and the open-beak breathing.
It's that same behaviour I saw in Dec 2024 of what could be a respiratory infection or at worst could be gape-worm. So I'm monitoring him.
Exactly 3 months old today in the above video. Did you notice the slight open-beak breathing? Peafowl normally breath through their nose. Open mouth breathing, shaking the head, stretching their necks can indicate either a respiratory infection (like avian form of the common cold) or more dangerously something such as gape-worm where a parasite gets stuck in their trachea.
Did you also notice the chick has slightly drooped wings and its plumage is ruffled instead of smooth? These are all clues that it is not a full health. However it was much worse a fortnight ago.
Cause. Leaf-litter?
I think the start of it coincides with when I dumped several wheel-barrel loads of leaf-litter in to their enclosure. I thought they would enjoy picking through it - which they did.
In hindsight however I believe this might have introduced a lot of dust and potentially mould spores too. Uncle Google informs me that the cold weather is rarely a cause of health problems for birds but wind, damp and dust and mould spores can be.
To be on the safe side I removed most of the leaf-litter a week ago and the little guy has definitely improved since. I don't know whether the two are linked. It could just be that he was over the worst of it anyway. It could be that he's had more to eat since I've made a point of that. Or none of the above. Who knows.
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