Pictures of your peacocks pens?

[C&Rman]

Hello. I am wanting to expand my pen so I can add 3-4 more peahens. But I need ideas can you guys post your pens for me? Thanks that would really help.

 

[DylansMom]

I am loving the grass in the pen! But how do u clean and disinfect grass in the pens? And how do u keep predators out without enclosing the bottom?

In 20 years I've never lost a penned Pea to a predator, knock on wood! We have wire buried along the bottom, just scraps from the construction, buried horizontally We make them go inside at dusk to roost in the barn. Let them back out in the morning. We do not clean or disinfect our grass, by the time we let the birds out on the grass they are usually around 8-12 weeks, we continue the medicated feed and use a preventative dose of corid in the water, this way they build up their immunity to Cocci, we do twice a year and PRN wormings, and they are good to go. We have gotten so much rain this year that the poo has just gotten washed into the soil as fast a they poop it out, the outside runs are 20x30' inside pens are 12x12'.



Inside pens with perches.

 

[featherhead]

Some of these were taken in early spring before the trees budded, so it's easier to see the aviaries.

 

[featherhead]

We only have 9 very spoiled birds - 3 males, 6 females. I collect their eggs daily and give them away. (Huge mental block against eating pea eggs, for some unknown reason. I'll put them in brownies and cakes but not in the frying pan.) Our oldest male is around 20. Big Bird appeared as a stray years ago, and he's the magnificent creature who initiated this love affair with peafowl. The first barn and aviary was built for him, and the rest is just part of the madness of loving peas.

SuperPeacockMan, I love the locust posts and envy your water spigot.

If anyone has an old satellite dish sitting around, here's a great flight pen idea from Carol Cook in AL. Because we have trees shading the pea barns, falling limbs will ruin the net tops. We have to use the welded wire on the top pf the pens.

 

[millebantam]

This is a breeder pen that I recently built.

 

[SuperPeacockman]

This is my adult pen, it is split into three sections. It is made out of locust post that my Dad cut down because they were overgrown, it was free and they are beautiful. The little red thing in the bottom left is a spigot so watering them is convenient.

And this is my yearling pen.

 

[featherhead]

We have 4 aviaries; each is 32'x48'. One is for the chickens, three are peas. With each addition, we learn new tricks to make everything more convenient and functional. After the first aviary, we learned to solid-stain the lumber before construction. This keeps the carpenter bees out of the lumber. Then we learned to use all 2x6 instead of 2x4. The heavier wood doesn't warp. Poultry net tops don't work for us, as all kinds of critters like to chew thru the netting, including squirrels. Now we only use 2x4 welded wire tops.

The sides of the aviaries run 2 feet outside each "wall", and are covered with landscape fabric and rocks that weigh over 10# each. Raccoons can't move more than 10#, and if something wants to dig inside, their instinct takes them to that corner edge. They can't move the rocks and can't dig under because of the 2x4 wire. Plus, it looks really nice. The aviaries have been completely predator-proof for about 10 years. (Well, we did have a baby skunk in one of the barns a few years ago. He was about the size of a squirrel. I asked him to leave and he did.)

And for the ladies, the barn interiors are also painted. Each is eggnog yellow with contrasting trim and there are several hooks and shelves for storing stuff. It must be a girl thing...

I bought a manual push mower to cut the grass in the aviaries. About half the grass in each pen is allowed to grow wild to keep the ground cooler during summer. The birds appreciate the cooler shaded ground and when it gets really hot, I tack a tarp to the ceiling of the most "open" aviary. This easily cuts 15 degrees off the ground temperature in the afternoons. Every year, we learn new stuff and enjoy the birds even more.

 

[Birdrain92]

Hello, I am looking for ideas to build a outdoor pen and I'm just in love with your design! Is the floor enclosed as well? Could you give me any tips? How big is your enclosure?

I have boards that go a few inches into the dirt. The inside of the pen I seeded with grass like a lawn. The grass has roots deep enough to keep the dirt down. I have a small pit of dirt for them to take dust bathes in. I water the grass when the dirt gets dry and I try to push the grass long enough so it will encourage the roots to grow deep enough to hold the dirt down and so that when they chicken scratch or eat the grass the roots can stay in the dirt hopefully. I have never mowed or cut the grass so my grass lodged over and dropped seeds and now new grass is coming up and the old grass is decomposing. If you water it enough the grass won't get fried from too much nutrients nor will their be much poop on the grass since it will be absorbed quickly when you flood the grass.

 

[Doctor T]

Would love to ideas also! No peafowl yet, but planning my pen/aviary now.

 

[C&Rman]

Oh that pretty! I love how it is a hoop. Keep the pics coming