What are the key points of blue peafowl breeding technology?

The blue peafowl, also known as the Indian peafowl, is distributed in India and Sri Lanka. The blue peafowl also has two mutant forms--the white peafowl and the black peafowl. The commercially bred bird refers to the blue peafowl. Its breeding technology is introduced as follows:

I. Site and pens

Peafowl are timid and easily startled, requiring a quiet environment, with a clean and dry site. Any noise or sudden high-frequency sounds will cause the flock to panic and run about wildly, uttering frightened calls; if startled during the laying period, the laying rate and fertilization rate will immediately decline. The site for raising peafowl should be chosen in a place with dry terrain and a quiet environment. The pen structure should mainly take into account good lighting, a dry pen and ample space for activity. On average, each breeding bird should have about 8 sq m of activity area, of which 1/3 is shaded from sun and rain, and 2/3 is open-air as a exercise yard, with fish netting covering at a height of 2.5 m above ground. The pen should be surrounded by iron netting or dense bamboo strips as fencing, and iron netting is best used below 1 m near the ground. The frame of the pen can be made of angle iron, water pipes, etc. In the exercise yard, a horizontal perch (iron or bamboo) should be installed at a height of about 1.3 m above ground for the peafowl to roost on. To keep the pen dry and provide conditions for dust bathing, a 3-5 cm layer of coarse sand should be spread in the exercise yard. Fruit trees can also be planted outside the exercise yard for shade.

II. Feeding management

Peafowl have a large body, vigorous metabolism, and full, colorful and gorgeous plumage. The tail coverts of the male reach 1.1 m in length, and the main wing feathers reach 35 cm in length and 6 cm in width.

Peafowl are omnivorous and eat coarse feed, widely consuming legume seeds, poultry eggs, insects, etc. During the laying period, layer feed for chickens can be the main feed, supplemented with wheat, corn, sorghum, peas, mung beans, bamboo beans, etc., and a small amount of animal-based feed such as yellow mealworms and duck eggs (cooked) should be added. At the same time, the pen should be kept dry and clean at all times, with sufficient drinking water and health grit. In addition, a small amount of chopped green feed, such as chives and napier grass, should be given every day.

Adult males weigh about 4.5-5.5 kg, and females 4-4.5 kg. The average daily feed intake is about 250 g, the crude protein of the daily ration is about 18%-20%, and the energy per kg of feed is 11.51-12.36 megajoules.

Peafowl are gentle in temperament, but beware that individual males may be ferocious and often hostile to strangers or keepers. Special attention should be paid to such peafowl injuring people with their claws and beaks.

To make the breeding birds grow strong, deworming should be carried out once before winter each year, and at the beginning of the next year, selection of chicks, grouping, and injection of Newcastle disease strain I vaccine should be done well.

III. Mating and reproduction

Under normal conditions, breeding peafowl raised to 22-24 months of age can lay eggs. The laying period is from March to August, generally beginning around the solar term "Awakening of Insects" each year, and each female can lay 28-35 eggs. To ensure the fertilization rate, the male-to-female ratio should be kept at 1:2-3, that is, only one male and 2-3 females should be kept in each pen. Two males cannot be kept in the same pen at the same time; otherwise, during the mating period, the males will fight each other over mating, affecting fertilization. The best service life of peafowl is 5-6 years; if longer, the fertilization rate of breeding eggs decreases year by year.

Peafowl mainly mate at 8-9 am and 4-5 pm each day. Before mating, the males compete in displaying their tail feathers, and the females make cackling courtship signals. At this time, the environment should be kept quiet and onlookers prohibited. Egg laying mainly occurs from 5-9 pm each day, mostly in the sandy soil in the shaded corner of the pen, where the bird scratches a small nest with its claws to lay eggs. Old car tires can also be used artificially, with some straw placed in the middle as a nest, to train the peafowl to lay eggs. To reduce contamination of breeding eggs, eggs should be collected multiple times before 22:00.

IV. Incubation

Artificially raised peafowl have poor broodiness and hatching ability. When the number raised is small and the number of eggs is not large, broody hens can be used for incubation. Since peafowl eggs are relatively large (each weighing 100-110 g), each large hen can incubate 3-4 eggs. During incubation, manual help should be given to turn the eggs twice a day. The chicks hatch after 27 days of incubation, and the hen can be used at the same time to brood the chicks.

When peafowl are raised in large numbers and there are many eggs, an incubator is used for hatching. Breeding eggs should be disinfected and set for incubation within 5 days after laying. The incubator temperature should be kept at 37.5°C, and the relative humidity at 65%-70%. The general incubation time is 27 days.

Peafowl eggshells are thick. This is the result of natural selection in peafowl, which makes the egg temperature less likely to dissipate and the egg less likely to break during natural incubation, helping it reproduce in the wild. When artificially raising them with an incubator, it is necessary to ensure even heating of the eggs during artificial incubation. In the early stage of incubation, the eggs should be turned once an hour, which helps the eggs be heated evenly and the embryos develop normally, and is also an important practice to prevent embryos from sticking to the eggshell. Embryonated eggs incubated to 25 days are transferred to the hatcher, with the temperature maintained at 37°C and the humidity at 75%.

For chicks that have pipped but are unable to break out of the shell after 27 days of incubation, artificial "assistance" should be given: carefully peel open the pipping line of the eggshell to help the chick hatch. After hatching, the chicks should remain in the machine until their down is slightly dry before being moved out.

Incubation requires people to be on duty in shifts, and various records should be kept well. Temperature and humidity should be adjusted appropriately according to changes in temperature and weather.

V. Brooding

After hatching, the chicks are placed in a brooder box. Within 1-3 days, the temperature should be kept at 30°C-31°C, and at one week of age the temperature should be kept above 28°C. For first feeding, 0.4% potassium permanganate water is preferred, followed by chick crumble and yellow mealworms. Chicks are very fond of eating yellow mealworms. After 1 week of age, they are placed in tiered cages for brooding (three tiers). The brooding cage is 100 cm x 70 cm x 40 cm. At 1-2 weeks of age, 10 chicks are raised per compartment; at 3-4 weeks of age, 6-8 per compartment; at 5-8 weeks of age, 5 per compartment; after 8 weeks of age, they are transferred to growing-bird pens, with 10-12 per pen.

During brooding, a disinfected burlap piece should be placed on the bottom of the cage and changed frequently to keep it clean and dry. Feed troughs and water troughs should supply feed and water all day. Compound vitamin B solution should be appropriately added to the drinking water. Yellow mealworms should be supplied regularly every day. After 8 weeks of age, green feed should be gradually supplied. At 5 weeks of age, drinking-water immunization with chicken strain IV vaccine should be carried out once.

VI. Raising of young peafowl

After chicks grow to 8 weeks of age, they are placed in growing-bird houses for rearing. Each pen has an area of about 30 sq m and holds 10-12 young peafowl. The floor of the pen should be spread with 3-5 cm of coarse sand to keep the pen dry and provide dust bathing. Initially feed grower feed for chickens, then gradually add grain and legumes, supplement a little cooked duck egg or yellow mealworm daily, provide chopped green feed once a day, and place health grit in the pen.

After young peafowl are raised until after autumn, at about 6 months of age, if used for meat, appropriate fattening can be carried out. After slaughter, the carcass is attractive, light yellow in color, with thick muscle layers and tender muscle fibers; the dressing percentage is 75%, and each bird consumes about 15 kg of feed on average, with a feed-to-meat ratio of about 1:4. When raised to about one and a half years, young peafowl gradually mature. At this time, selection and mating work should be carried out, selecting individuals with normal growth and development, good health, strong legs, and moderate pubic bone spacing as replacement birds, while also considering the arrangement of the crest feathers and the color of the neck and chest feathers. One group consists of males and females at a ratio of 1:2-3, kept in a fixed pen until laying. At this time, energy feed should be appropriately controlled to avoid fat deposition affecting reproduction.

VII. Disease prevention and control of peafowl

Peafowl belong to wild poultry and have developed relatively strong disease resistance through long-term natural selection. In the process of feeding and management over the past few years, maintaining a quiet environment, reducing contact with the outside world, keeping pens dry, clean and hygienic, and regularly disinfecting pens are the basic work for disease prevention. In addition, we have also found the following several diseases.

1. Pasteurellosis

This is an acute septicemic infectious disease of peafowl, mostly seen in chicks, occasionally in adult birds. It has a sudden onset and high mortality, and is more common in late spring and early summer. Adding oxytetracycline to the feed can be used for prevention, and streptomycin at 20,000-30,000 units/kg can be used for treatment.

2. Internal parasites

Because peafowl like to eat insects, they are susceptible to nematode disease and coccidiosis. We found Capillaria and coccidia in tests. Levamisole hydrochloride tablets, 3-4 tablets per adult bird, have a good effect. Deworming should be done at least three times a year. For coccidia, coccidiostats can be used for prevention and control.

3. Use fowl pest vaccine for preventive inoculation to prevent infection with peafowl pest.

4. Stress factors

Peafowl are not highly domesticated and are timid, and are susceptible to stress factors, resulting in accidental death.

5. Others

In addition, there are body lice, blackhead disease, vitamin deficiency, foreign body injury, etc. These all require us to carry out careful feeding and management, promptly discover problems, and promptly take effective measures for prevention and control.

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