Do I want peafowl?

I think I want a few peacocks/peahens. But I have never had them and am not sure exactly what to expect from them. I have had ducks in the past (they flew the coop once they discovered they could... more than a year old), I have had Guineas (which have mysteriously disappeared) and I've had lots of chickens/roosters and still do. I have 2 roosters and about a dozen hens of various varieties. Also in the farmyard are 2 potbelly pigs who are very friendly, 3 dwarf goats, 1 kiko goat, and a couple of baby kids (and neighbor has cows). We have free running dogs and cats who are all very good with the critters... (except for my pigs and dogs trying to outrun me to gather eggs in the mornings!)

I am on 22 acres. I have always loved peacocks and have visited farms which have them. Some people try to discourage me, telling me they are loud, messy and obnoxious. Any more so than pigs or guinea hens or goat bucks in puberty??

Would love to receive some outside thoughts in helping me to decide if peafowl is something I would like to try here on my little hobby farm.
Thanks!

Wilda in Southwest Tennessee

When I first thought about having peafowl we went to the neighbors and asked if they were fine with the idea. Some did try to discourage me. We decided that because we have so many neighbors we would keep the peafowl at my grandma's which is only two miles down the road and she has only one neighbor who loved our idea and she has more room. You will definitely find people who will discourage you saying they are so loud and other things...I haven't really found anything really bad about peafowl. They are really cool and I like the noise they make. They don't call much but I don't have a bunch. I think if you were a large peafowl breeder, which you probably are not going to do, but I think in that situation you would have a lot of noise in the breeding season. When one peacock calls they all like to join in sometimes it seems.

I would say go for it. Read some of the topics here and articles on peafowl breeder websites and you should be set! That is what I did. I spent some time reading up on peafowl and joined a peafowl forum before I got peafowl to ask general questions I still had. Before I got peafowl a few years ago I had never owned any kind of bird so it is kind of strange I guess that for my first bird I would go out and get a large bird when I had never really dealt with birds except for rescuing some baby birds then putting them back in their nest. For a first bird, peafowl have been so great that although every now and then I think maybe chickens would be cool or some other bird to add to my collection but then I just disagree. I am so in love with peafowl I don't want anything else!

With some young peafowl and the right amount of time in a pen you could then let them out to free-range.

I'm not any kind of expert, but i've always loved and wanted peacocks too, i had plans to build a nice shed and flight pen, do it up right...then my ex son-in-law, who had never so much as planted a petunia or kept a parakeet, decided he wanted an organic farm...somewhere in the middle of raising NINETY chicks, with no barn or pens, just small portable coops, he found a peacock at a livestock show, and stuck him in with his other mistreated fowl...long story short, i ended up with the peacock, he spent the fall&winter with 7 chickens. in an 8x10 shed with a half story.

He's a total love, very gentle and regal...not tame, but not flighty either. When this warm weather hit, i couldn't stand keeping them in anymore, so took my chances and let him out. He went on "walkabout" for a few days, i spotted him now and then in the strip of woods around my property, but then it rained, and he came back, been in the yard since. He's discovered his reflection in my patio door, and is in love with it, so he's often right up on the porch,tappin on the door, making what i assume are love noises, sounds like a very soft 'caw'...peacocks have BIG poop BTW.

Today the door was open, he walked right in, looking for the bird in the window...he's been in and out a few times, fortunately my dogs are very obedient, cuz they'll kill intruders as a rule! Now he's sunning himself about 7 feet away from me...i'm in love...;~)

So far, not loud, tho i wouldn't mind that, last year some yuppies built a mcmansion right up my backside, so the noisier the better...definitely not obnoxious, and no messier than the chickens, who also poop on my porches. Your hobby farm sounds like my idea of paradise, Wilda...and it sounds like it needs peacocks!

Lynn

Just a side note. Peafowl and flower beds don'e get along real well. They LOVE to eat the flowers. Although a chicken wire fence around the bed may keep them out as long as there are plenty of other places and things to keep them interested. Still, they may fly in just for the heck of it.