can you tame peafowl?

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bravevline

bravevline

Songster
6 Years
Apr 30, 2013
373
4
101
most of the birds let me pet them and are pretty gentle. however, these peacocks are some of the most high-strung and nervous birds ive ever seen. the hate for you to go near them, and if i have to move them to a new place (by carrying them) they scream, wild flap, and kick. is there a way i can tame them at least a bit?
 
I'm answering to bring this thread back to the top, where it will get noticed. Yes, you can tame your peas, mine aren't so hopefully someone whose are will help you.
 
I think most all saw it. It all depends what you consider "tame". Most birds just dont like to be held. Even the so called tamest ones. The only way I could see the OP to get any tamer ones where she can pick up or coddle than he or she has now is to raise it from a baby. Mine are tame enough for me. but they aint gonna be happy at all if I pick em up.
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Now if bravevine means all her other birds EXCEPT her peafowl let her pet them and she wants to make her peafowl tame like her other birds then I say spend as much time in the pen with them as you possibly can. Especially be in there with them when you feed them so they associate you with food (a good thing and not a danger) Then eventually you get them even "tamer" by giving them treats by hand and even more later yet when they really feel comfy try slowly touching them when they are getting their favorite treat.Then after some time you gain their trust. Also just for the record mine were a little tamer than they are now. They can revert!!! This is only because I have not spent as much time with them as I used to. Plus the fact right now I dont want a new bird I just got added too freaked out and get hurt. In other words they dont run up to me right now when I have a banana.(Mines fav)They just kinda mill around . But they will again as soon as I spend more time in with them and go back to feeding them by hand. I just want my new girl to settle in. Time and patience is all bravevine. Good luck!
 
It is my experience that if you have not had the bird since it was a peachick or you did not get it from someone who raised it up as a peachick spending lots of time with it so that it will be very tame, you are not going to have a peafowl that will let you pet it. Now some might have it happen but not here except for once. I got a yearling peacock a few years ago and now that he is 5, he is a lot tamer as in walking up to me, following me, pecking my fingers, taking treats from my hand. There has been only one time that he let me pet him. He was on a perch and my boyfriend just started petting the peacock. I was so amazed and I walked over and he let me pet him to. Since that day he has never let us do that again. I will slowly reach out to him to touch his neck, and once I do he jumps and walks off.

Peafowl are more about "You can look, but don't touch." At least most of them are that way. Now if you hand raise them and they imprint to you or you just spend a ton of time with them when they are little peachicks, they will get very tame. I hatched out a peachick that I named Peep and he follows me around and pecks at my fingers until I pet his head. Peafowl really like to be pet under the chin. Even Peep doesn't like his train touched or his legs touched. I don't really handle Peep much. Sometimes when I let him out and have to get him back in the aviary I get him on my arm and carry him back to the aviary. Peafowl have big nails so you have to watch out for that when holding them. Even Peep struggles with me sometimes when he wants to stay out.

My boyfriend getting a kiss from Peep.


Me holding Peep when he was younger. I would let him out for about an hour a day when he was a peachick and walk around with him letting him eat grass and take dust baths.


Peep getting pet.


Peep as a little peachick.


More petting...




Here are photos of some of my other peafowl taking bread from my hand.




Peep sticking his neck out of the fence to be pet.




You do have to be careful though. Some people have hand raised a peacock and then when the peacock grows up, he has no fear of people and attacks his keepers. So far Peep is going to be three this summer and he is not showing any aggression. He still likes to display for me.
 
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If you must move peacocks-peahens to diffrent pens,ect,it is much easier and less stressful to do so at nite.I have 3 outside pens that doesn't have much "cover" for the birds to get under,and we're supposed to get almost 3"s of rain here in the next few days.Tomorrow nite I plan to move the Cameo's,BSSP,and peach birds inside,at least for a few days.They all will be moved inside to the same pens they were housed in last winter,so they will be familiar with the area when the morning lite comes inside the building.I put each bird individually on the perches,that are all no less than 5' off the ground.By the time the last bird is moved inside,many of the first moved ones are no longer standing up.
About taming birds,ect,,my BSSP pen of 3 all came here last May from another breeder who spends hours daily with her birds.One of those hens in particular goes out of her way to be noticed,even now that she is here at our place. She will fly from one end of her 30' long pen to land on my arm for some bread,whole kernal corn,or a banana to eat.She is about 6 years old,and this was her second breeding season here.
We have over the past 4 years or so thru hatching our own peachicks out,befriended some chicks almost to the point of imprinting. These 3-4 birds now are still very tame even tho they are now in larger breeding groups,and only see us a few minutes each day.We do not make pets out of our birds,but they do stay very calm around us when feeding-watering,compared to if a stranger is here by the pens,which puts them all on alert status.We don't allow strangers to enter our breeding pens just because if one decides to fly from fear,more will do the same.
Trying to tame your birds may be beneficial in your way of thinking,but if they do not fear humans,they maybe more laid back around potential predators.
 
Peep rocks! Who couldnt love that one? He is as tame as they come . He let me pet him right off not knowing me at all. You can see by those pics why your boyfriend is addicted to you and your birds. The others are tame as I could ever want one to be as well. Most here know when I got my first peafowl.Two green peacocks that were well... bat poop crazy! I couldnt get nowhere near them for a while in the begginning. This was because nobody had been around them ever except to give em food and water and walk away, Very unlike the sweet girl "goldilocks" that I got from Minxfox. Those two boys dont give me no mind now of course but like FBC said about his birds. If others come up they can get real ansy and may go nuts. Also believe it or not , my black lab can walk all around the pens and they could care less, But now if my neighbors chocolate or any other dog for that matter comes up they go absolutely nuts and even fly into the top netting. Needless to say we keep him away the best we can so they dont get hurt, plus as mentioned earlier I want the birds to have fear of what might be a predator. So I feel they recognize different folks and animals for sure. Every bird of course is different. Off topic a little but I just got my first tragopan. I can already pet it and he eats out of my hand right off the bat . I have always heard these are one of the tamest birds right out of the shute and no training required. Its definitely true from what I see with this one. Too tame can be a double edge sword though because a bird with no fear is usually the first one gone. Now of all things I have to watch my feet so when I go in cause he gets up under me. See what I mean about too tame? I hope I dont accidently step on the bugger. lol! Also speaking of taming. My new green pea hen is slowly getting used to me. Ive rambled long enough. Im going to spend some time with the flock.
woot.gif
 
I am really happy with all of my birds. They are a great group and I feel like once you get one or two of them to be tame the others notice that they are not afraid of you and they soon become tame too. Peep follows me a lot and sometimes gets too close. I have to remember to look behind me when I back up in the pen because sometimes he is standing right there and I have stepped on his foot at least twice before. It is fun having him follow me around like a dog. If he could he would go with me everywhere. When I leave the pen he paces it wanting to be let out to follow me.
 
Aww i can see Peeps doing this, Patch is the same way and he loves to follow my DH and help him, especially the garden where he tries to steal the seeds and bulbs as he plants them. he will run him off and patch will hide behind something and watch him.. as soon as he turns his back to start planting again Patch runs right back over there.. funny stuff right there.

I have never steped on Patch but i have darn ner run him over with just about everything that has a moter around here, oh and i can forget weed eating forever i guess.




 
MinxFox said:
It is my experience that if you have not had the bird since it was a peachick or you did not get it from someone who raised it up as a peachick spending lots of time with it so that it will be very tame, you are not going to have a peafowl that will let you pet it. Now some might have it happen but not here except for once. I got a yearling peacock a few years ago and now that he is 5, he is a lot tamer as in walking up to me, following me, pecking my fingers, taking treats from my hand. There has been only one time that he let me pet him. He was on a perch and my boyfriend just started petting the peacock. I was so amazed and I walked over and he let me pet him to. Since that day he has never let us do that again. I will slowly reach out to him to touch his neck, and once I do he jumps and walks off.

Peafowl are more about "You can look, but don't touch." At least most of them are that way. Now if you hand raise them and they imprint to you or you just spend a ton of time with them when they are little peachicks, they will get very tame. I hatched out a peachick that I named Peep and he follows me around and pecks at my fingers until I pet his head. Peafowl really like to be pet under the chin. Even Peep doesn't like his train touched or his legs touched. I don't really handle Peep much. Sometimes when I let him out and have to get him back in the aviary I get him on my arm and carry him back to the aviary. Peafowl have big nails so you have to watch out for that when holding them. Even Peep struggles with me sometimes when he wants to stay out.

My boyfriend getting a kiss from Peep.


Me holding Peep when he was younger. I would let him out for about an hour a day when he was a peachick and walk around with him letting him eat grass and take dust baths.


Peep getting pet.


Peep as a little peachick.


More petting...




Here are photos of some of my other peafowl taking bread from my hand.




Peep sticking his neck out of the fence to be pet.




You do have to be careful though. Some people have hand raised a peacock and then when the peacock grows up, he has no fear of people and attacks his keepers. So far Peep is going to be three this summer and he is not showing any aggression. He still likes to display for me.
Click to expand...
My My he has grown up so fast. sure is prety
love.gif
 

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