Looking for good home for peahen in Santa Cruz, CA

[Heatherpoodle]

Someone dumped a bunch of peafowl near my house, and the one that appears to be the "mom" (tamer and fatter than the others) has adopted us, while the others have gone wild. She is quite tame, comes for food when you call "duk duk duk" and follows you when you move around the property. She spent all her time on our front step, watching us through the glass of the door while we sat at the kitchen table! We finally managed to get her into a chicken tractor when she had eaten nearly all of my dahlias.

She seems at home in the tractor, but we can't keep her there -- not very predator-proof and we want it for our chickens. We have no other facilities for her. I think she'd like to be with a family who can let her graze in a more well-watered location. I've seen her scare off a bobcat, and she was sleeping high up in the trees before we penned her. She's pretty smart and friendly.

Thanks!

 

[Doctor T]

Where are you?

 

[zazouse]

It says Santa Cruz, CA

 

[Doctor T]

It says Santa Cruz, CA

LOL
Oh, boy! Not enough sleep!

 

[Heatherpoodle]

Hahaha! I was wondering about that...!

 

[NateinFL]

You should put an ad on Craigslist but don't offer them for free or else they will probably end up as food for somebody.

You should keep her.

Did you really see her scare off a bobcat?

 

[NateinFL]

This is what you find after a bobcat has visited your property. It's okay, me and him got even...full grown male killed and dragged into the woods. This is Morrison surveying the damage and he was sleeping RIGHT next to Rainbow (old lady named him I got him for free). I heard honks in the morning and this is what I found. The trap you see in the background is from a possum I trapped after work that night. I took care of the possum and I forgot to shut the gate and coop door. Bobcat walked past dead possum and cat food on the ground to visit my birds. Now I let them sleep on the coop or in the trees, this won't ever happen again here.

 

[new 2 pfowl]

Oh no, Nate, that's terrible about Rainbow.

Actually, I have seen peas chasing a bobcat.
The times when bobcats have appeared here, the peas all honked and then headed straight for the feline predator!
In some cases the bobcat took off, and in a few he just stood there.
I'm not sure you could say the bobcat was "scared off" ...he just seemed very...confused.
Luckily, I haven't seen them for a while.

 

[NateinFL]

Well this bobcat won't be back...I made sure of that. It was totally my fault for leaving the gate open and coop open. I found Rainbow in the woods under some bushes and put him in a bag and gave him the proper burial. I felt terrible b/c it could have been prevented. Bobcats are bold and brave and I just don't see one running away from a peacock...unless its a peahen with her chicks...then they act twice their size and will take on anything that comes in their path. Poor Rainbow was a sitting duck on his perch that night.

I sometimes wonder how the bobcat picked Rainbow for prey. He was the oldest and always slept in the middle but he wasn't as strong as Morrison and Creme were. I think the bobcat sensed fear in them as he stalked them. Still don't know how I never heard a single honk through the night.

 

[Heatherpoodle]

She definitely scared him off. He was walking through and investigating, and she grew really big and then sort of jumped up in the air and lunged at him and he jumped back. Then he turned and went away, off up the side of our house. He wasn't a very big one. She'd been doing the same thing to our cats all month, so she probably just thought this one was another house cat.

By the way, we found a home for Lalli, she's gone to live with a very lonely male called Elvis. Before she left she laid an egg! We hadn't seen her do that before. It was like a goodbye present.