Peafowl pros and cons??

[arlee453]

My husband has met someone at one of the facilities he goes to for work who raises Peafowl. This guy has invited my hubby to come over to see his flock and has offered to give him a pair of peafowl. Apparently this guy was/is big into breeding peafowl and used to have over 300 birds. He's sized down a bit, but still has over 100 and worked on breeding a new color, etc for years.

Anyway, my hubby has always liked peafowl and is actually considering taking this guy up on his offer. I'm just happy he's getting interested in SOMETHING poultry-related!

Now, I need some advice from you experienced folks, please...

We live in a residential area - granted we have 5 acres, but we do have neighbors. I can put the peafowl up on the back side of the property and keep them fenced, but we are considerate of our neighbor's sanity and happiness. So...

1) Just how LOUD are they? This guy told hubby they only make noise in the breeding season?? True/false??

2) What are their space requirements - can they free range, or should we make a pen for them? Can they be housed with chickens? Can they fly well - ie, do they need a top over the run?

3) Do they have any special needs? Ie, medical care, what type of food, etc?

4) Any other pros/cons to owning peacocks? Obviously they are beautiful birds, but what are the other pros, and cons??

Thanks in advance!!

Susan

 

[hatchcrazzzy]

they are loud when mating.you will have to pen them as they fly really good.they eat game bird feed and laying pellets when mating they need to be wormed ever 6 months.my birds are not very friendly.they are not mean either .just stand offes.they really dont take a hole lot of care but need to be kept warm and dry.

 

[arlee453]

thanks for the reply chickencrazzy!

Giving this a bump to see if any other peafowl people have anything to add...

 

[tink]

Hey.... When I was a kid we had neighbors who had peacocks. They are loud but I dont remember them being loud all the time. You can free range them...they might end up in your trees.They do fly and have ahd people say they will be on your house...but I would think you could clip their wings to solve that problem. I want to have some too. But I think I would like to have some babies....So if you do get some and you hatch some babies.....I would be interested in taking some.... Let me know what you decide.

Tink

 

[EmsoffLambs]

Hope I'm not going to make any enemies, but I personally can't stand the birds. We rented a house where five birds resided. They were pretty loud and it wasn't breeding season. Dumb too. They'd land right in front of our dogs that wanted to eat them. They could fly very well, often roosting on top of a very tall barn. I guess I just prefer critters that have some use other than looking fancy, whether it be food or pet.

 

[spectrumranch]

Hi Susan

Here are some answers to your questions-

1. True. The males can be loud during breeding season, but the rest of the year they are pretty quiet. The peahens will make more noise than the males during the nonbreeding time.

2. Space requirements are the same as any other animals- the more the better. A minimum of a 10 x 10 pen for a pair. They do well free range AFTER you acclimate them. They can be kept with other birds, as long as they are not over crowded. Peafowl can fly very well, even adult males with long tails.

3.Generally no special needs unless you have Java Green Peafowl. The Javas are tropical and can not handle freezing temps. The Blue Indias & their color mutations are very winter hardy. We feed ours a custom mix, but most breeders feed them the same as turkeys. Many people with the as pets, just feed them the same as their chickens.

4. Raising peafowl can be fun and profitable.

If you have neighbors really close- you can keep the noise down----- We have over 100 breeder peafowl and live in town! But all our breeders are in pens that have coops to get inside- do not place any roost in the outside pen, this way the peafowl will go into the coop at night to roost. By being inside the noise they make is muffled. You can also play a radio to desensitize them to other noises, because when the males are roosting at night (during breeding season) when they hear other noises- cars, people talking, etc they will call.

Most people do not realize- there are many different peafowl colors & patterns. Peafowl colors are Blue, Green, White, Jade, Midnight, Peach, Opal, Bronze, and more. Patterns come in Bar Winged (Blue India), Solid winged (Black Shouldered), Pied, Silver Pied, WhiteEyed & Spaulding.

You can combine different patterns on one color bird. For example- Black Shouldered Silver Pied White Eyed Bronze. There are around 180 recognized breeds of peafowl.

How this helps some,

Randy www.spectrumranch.net

 

[birdnutz]

Love them,not too loud for me.Neighbors actually loved hearing them.But mine took to kicking everone,had to get rid of them. To dangerous around my grandchildren.

 

[EmptyNest]

I used to have peafowl and absolutely loved them. Mine were free range and even though they had 12 acres to roam on they insisted on eating my flowers and pooping on the porch. They could and did roost on the house and in very tall trees. During mating season they were VERY noisy but I loved them anyway. Finally decided to sell them and go w/something alittle more containable, thus my new adventure w/chickens.

 

[peachick]

Hi Randy! Nice to see you here!

Susan. The United Peafowl Association is a welth of knowledge..... go to www.peafowl.org.
Also, I have developed a forum for the UPA. (inspired by the backyardchicken forum) Come visit us there. We have some of the top peafowl breeders in the country there. http://theupa.freeforums.org/

 

[Kev]

The general responses are spot on. The males pretty much make the scream/shrieking yells during mating season(and that is pretty loud) and are mostly quiet rest of the year. The females make a honking sound, they do this throughout the year, it's basically their alarm call.

I have only one acre, with neighbors on all sides.. Fortunately they don't comment plus there are at least two other houses in the neighborhood who also have peafowl.. I do have to keep all or most of my peafowl confined, otherwise some will be inclined to jump the fence to have a little walk around(always come back home but, I want to be responsible and keep all of my critters confined to my yard)

They fly VERY well. Even the males with a full sized tail can fly no problem, 30 feet straight up from ground to a tree or top of roof etc. They also are very powerful jumpers, a clipped peafowl still can jump to top of a 6 foot fence with no problem. So with new peafowl you do need to have them in a covered coop/run at first. Another con is they are suspectible to some diseases chickens can carry, just like turkeys are.. but many of them are preventable by a regular deworming schedule.

Pro- I have to disagree with one person above, they have more personality than chickens and can be much tamer(with work) or not that much different as in "will get up close, but no petting" as most chickens are like. The peacocks do NOT like their tails being touched, and can get paranoid if they think someone is going to step or grab it(so watch kids who think it would be grand fun to yank a tail feather..... they do NOT come out easily<except at or close to molting time> and is apparently extremely painful to the peacock)

The major pro is being able to come up to or sit by a displaying peacock in full splendor. Nothing beats that and that often makes one forget any troubles they might have done rest of the year..... Nothing like seeing how the tail, texture, colors, shine changes then changes back and adjusts different and so on and on top of it how he 'quivers' the whole fan, flutters his wings, the comical "peekaboo" the peacock does with the peahen sometimes.. That is just something you have to appreciate in person.