SOME THOUGHTS ON KELP MEAL TO ENHANCE FERTILITY, EMBRYO GROWTH AND HATCHABILITY

In early 2004 some noteworthy experiences observing dogs fed natural kelp and sea cucumber supplements increased my curiosity about these feed supplements and led me to explore the content and nutritional value of these materials. In so doing I discovered that were actually several of these products already on the market directed at both the egg and turkey producing industries. The existing literature was aimed at the commercial poultry industry, but it convinced me that there are, as of yet undocumented possibilities for greatly enhanced health and reproductive success in breeding flocks of peafowl being fed these supplements
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Although I do not personally know of anyone raising peafowl for the exotic meat trade or for their eggs as a food product, I do know many peafowl breeders are dedicated to giving their stock the best possible nutritional support during all phases of their lives, most especially during the breeding season. One event during the 2004 breeding season stimulated my interest in learning about the potential benefits of kelp-based supplements: this was the unintentional "experiment" that occurred on my farm when I began to mix kelp meal into the feed of only those pens containing purebred java cocks.

It actually took me several months to put "two and two together" as far as the java breeding pens were concerned. What I did notice right from the first candling that season was that almost every egg from those two pens was fertile and viable when candled at 7 days. Those same eggs continued to develop successfully without a loss during the following three weeks in the incubator and each one pipped and successfully hatched at 27 days. By the time we were halfway through the hatching season I found myself fully expecting every egg which had been fertile from those pens to hatch and, in fact, that was the case.

While I have not read any research suggesting that java crosses with both spalding and cristatus hens exhibit any degree of hybrid vigor, my experience with other livestock made this seem like a logical reason for the impressive fertility and hatchability. The more I thougth about it, I realized there were hens in the other pens which were 3/4 or 7/8 java, but they were not showing any signs of hybrid vigor. That led me to discount the hybrid vigor theory.

As for my remaining five breeding groups, 2004 was a relatively disappointing year. The eggs from those five pens had a markedly lower fertility rate at first candling and a hatch rate that was significantly lower than the pens that had been eating kelp meal. Nonetheless, this seemed to be on a par with how things had been going for the two previous breeding seasons. This, despite the fact that the other cocks were just as active breeders, if not more active than the two java cocks and the non-java pens contained older, more mature hens. Had it not been for the success of the java offspring in the hatcher I probably would not have noticed any noteworthy differences. Initially I blamed the almost continuous rain early in the season for the lackluster performance in the incubator. Far too many embryos were fully developed, yet failed to hatch at the end of the incubation period. All of the eggs were handled in the same manner and all were incubated in the same units.
It was not until much later in the summer that it suddenly dawned on me that the two pens which had been fed kelp meal as an additive to the rations otherwise shared by all of my breeding pens were the same pens with the strong hatch rate. Now I have two seasons of feeding two pens this way to base my beliefs on, but for the 2006 season I added kelp meal to the feed all of my breeders. I also have been adding it to the turkey starter I feed the youngsters all season.  I have toyed with the idea of running a more formal experiment and monitoring a control group which does not receive the supplement, but have decided that all of my birds are too valuable to me to warrant such a practice. In the 2006 season the fertility and hatch was excellent all around and the hatch rate was not higher in the pens with java cocks. I now believe the "hybrid vigor" theory was wrong. A stronger, more closely aligned fertility and hatching performance from the non-java pens seems to me to be proof of kelp meal's value in the breeder diet until actual experiments with multiple control groups can be run.

All of my breeders are conditioned throughout the winter for breeding vigor. They are wormed regularly, fed a variety of greens and vegetables, vitamins are added to their water and they receive protein supplements in addition to a basic diet of high quality game breeder ration. I also noticed that the depth of coloring in all the birds changed while being fed kelp meal. The javas all took on a gold sheen to their green plummage and the yellow in their faces really got vivid. I also noticed my dogs would lick every grain of it off any surface they could find, so I started adding it to their feed as well. The change in their coats was just short of unbelievable. I am very interested in hearing from other breeders who have any experience with feeding kelp meal as a feed supplement. Your views on the worth of this additive and your observations of the changes in your flock’s productivity would be greatly appreciated.

I order my meal from:

North American Kelp in Maine at <http://www.noamkelp.com/products.html>

Others
For more information on peafowl go to www.peafowl.org, the site of the United Peafowl Association. There you will find information on the varieties currently available as well as a directory of national and international breeders, many with wonderful and informative websites filled with photographs and articles on everything from pen construction to peafowl diets.

njohnson@ithaca.edu

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