Peacocks are the prettiest large birds that you can raise, and they are fairly easy to care for so long as you raise them correctly.
Well, you may notice at times that your birds are sick, so you start wondering why. It is common to find your peacocks sneezing without reason.
Why are your peacocks sneezing? Here are seven reasons why your peacocks may be sneezing.
Table of Contents
1. Food and Water
How can food and water cause your peacocks to sneeze?
Well, even though peacocks need food and water to grow, they can sneeze when they get some pieces of food or drops of water in their nostrils.
If these particles pass through the holes in your peacocks’ beaks, they can cause sneezing in the birds.
If your peacocks are not sick and the environmental conditions are just right, but your peacocks are sneezing, you should check the food that you feed them.
Remember that peacock pellets are sized according to the age of the bird. Feed your peacocks pellets that are large enough for them (according to their age).
2. Environmental Factors
How clean is your yard? What is the season?
If there are specks of dust or pollen in the air, your peacocks might sneeze.
If pollen or dust is the cause, not all peacocks will sneeze, and you will notice that your peacocks might sneeze more often in a particular spot (i.e., not everywhere).
If you notice that your peacocks often sneeze when they go outside of their coop or your home, you may want to stop them from going out until you know the exact reason why they are sneezing.
Note that if they are sneezing because of environmental factors in the coop (e.g., they sneeze only when they are inside), you should take them out and clean the coop.
3. The Coop or Pen Conditions
What can cause your peacocks to sneeze inside their coop or pen?
Some factors such as bedding, overcrowding, lack of ventilation, humidity, and temperature can cause your birds to sneeze.
What type of bedding is in the coop? If you are using sand (which is not so advisable), your birds can often sneeze in the coop.
A high stocking density (i.e., how many birds are in the coop) can also cause sneezing, as diseases can quickly spread from one bird to the next. Note that over-stocking your peacocks in a limited space is very risky.
Also, make sure that your peacock coop is well-ventilated, as they can sneeze because of the high humidity of the coop.
4. Temperature or Seasonal Changes
The current season can affect the respiratory health of your peacocks.
Peacocks can inhale pollen grains in spring, get water droplets in their nostrils in the fall, or even sneeze because of the cold winter air.
The best way to tell if your peacocks are sneezing because of the season is to check if they started sneezing just after the season started.
Your peacocks sneezing in winter is an indication that you are not taking proper care of them because peacocks should be healthy and not sneeze when appropriately cared for in winter.
Ensure that the coop is well-insulated yet well-ventilated. Also, give your peacocks quality feed in the winter.
5. Behavior
Listen to the sound of the sneeze carefully. It could be that your peacocks are not sneezing but are making other sneeze-like sounds.
Birds copy a lot of behavior from other birds and try to mimic others as accurately as possible.
If you notice that your peacocks are not actually sneezing but are making other sounds, you may need to investigate the source of the sound separately from your sneeze investigation.
If you do not know why your peacocks are sneezing or making weird noises, you should call your vet for a proper diagnosis and suggestions.
6. Stress
Sneezing in peacocks can be an indication that the birds are stressed or not very healthy.
If you notice that your peacocks look very lazy, are lying on the floor, and are sneezing, you should check their environment to ensure that they are not stressed.
What is the current temperature? Do people chase your peacocks regularly?
Remember that sneezing is respiratory, so anything that can affect your birds’ respiratory systems can cause sneezing in your birds. If your birds engage in a lot of activities at once, they can inhale a lot of air (and whatever comes with it).
Do not stress your peacocks, and allow them to rest.
7. Infection or Disease
There are various respiratory diseases or viral infections that can affect your peacocks and cause them to sneeze.
For example, Newcastle disease or fowlpox is a common disease that causes sneezing in peacocks. There are other diseases, but they can be preventable.
You should vaccinate your birds when the vet recommends that you do so. Also, give them antibiotics when they need them.
If one peacock is infected with any respiratory disease, it would be wise to remove it from the coop and keep it far away so that other birds do not get the disease.
Now you know various reasons why your peacocks can be sneezing. Continue reading to learn how to prevent sneezing in peacocks.
How to Prevent Your Peacocks from Sneezing or Getting Sick
Here are some tips for you.
1. Call the Vet
When you notice that your peacocks are sneezing and you do not know why, you should inform the vet.
It could be common in other peacocks, so your peacock vet should have better information for you as well as preferred treatments or solutions.
Also, you want to make sure that you tell the vet everything you know about the situation so that they can perform a more accurate diagnosis on your peacocks.
Just make sure that you do whatever the vet asks you to do. If they prescribe drugs, make sure that you buy the drugs and give them to your peacocks.
2. Isolate Sneezing Peacocks and Other Birds
If you find a peacock sneezing, the first thing that you want to do is to isolate it from other peacocks.
Sneezing and coughing are the fastest and easiest ways for respiratory infections to spread, so you can save your healthy peacocks by isolating the sneezing ones.
You can keep your sneezing peacock in a separate cage or in a different section of your yard.
Please also note that respiratory diseases in other birds such as chickens and ducks can also affect peacocks. If you are raising peacocks with other farm birds, you should not allow any sneezing birds to go close to your peacocks.
3. Feed Your Peacocks with Age-Appropriate Pellets
Even though matured peacocks can eat small-sized pellets, you want to give them pellets that are made just for them.
The problem with feeding large peacocks small particle foods is that they can inhale some particles into their nostrils, which can lead to sneezing.
Aside from sneezing, the main reason why you should feed your peacocks age-appropriate pellets is the protein content of the feed.
The pellets for baby peacocks have a higher percentage of protein, and this is why baby peacock feed is more expensive. So feeding your adult peacocks baby peacock feed is a waste of money.
4. Control the Pen or Coop Temperature in Winter
Do not leave your peacock coop just the way it is in the winter season.
You should make sure that there is appropriate bedding for insulation, and you can also install heat lamps if you feel that it is too cold for your peacocks.
Make sure that the coop temperature is just right for your peacocks so that they do not have to feel cold when they are inside.
When insulating the coop because of the cold, you must be careful that you do not reduce the ventilation of the coop. Without proper ventilation, humidity (i.e., moisture) will build up, and diseases can spread easily.
Ensure that some doors or windows are open or there are air vents in the coop.
5. Always Keep the Coop and Its Environment Clean
Cleanliness is very important when you are raising any animal.
Peacocks need cleanliness even more than other birds. As tropical birds living in a temperate climate, your peacocks can get sick quickly from anything that can stress them.
Remember that diseases can spread quickly in places that are full of dirt, so you want to make sure that you clean the coop regularly.
Remove poop, decaying leaves, and other decomposing substances from the coop environment.
Your peacocks should sneeze less often when you keep their coop clean.
Make sure that you apply these prevention measures and follow the directions of the vet.
Final Thoughts
Peacocks are beautiful, especially when you take good care of them. To help your birds to stay healthy, make sure that you follow the tips in this article. Also, you should not hesitate to call the vet if you are still not sure about the cause of your peacock’s sneezing.