How to Train Peafowl to Stay Home At Night
Like chickens, peafowl like to sleep in the same place each night. Unfortunately, if you don’t train them to sleep in their coop at night, they may never come home to roost! Why is it important for them to stay home? Several reasons. They are much more vulnerable to predator attacks at night, just like other poultry. Plus if you allow them to wander off, they may find another farm or piece of land they like better and never return! They also have a higher risk of getting lost, being hit by cars or hurt in unfamiliar areas.
You should start training them when they are yearlings. If you are buying yearlings, make sure their coop is built before bringing them home so you can get them off to a good start of sleeping in the coop. One thing you will have to do when training them to stay home, is clip their wings. Peafowl are incredibly good flyers and will try and escape from their living quarters. If they don’t have a roof over their run area or you don’t close their coop door, they will most likely not stay home at night. If their wings are clipped, they will obviously learn quickly that they can’t fly and thus can’t escape. They will then be forced to stay home and will get into the routine of sleeping in the coop. Hopefully, depending on their temperament, they will soon learn that the coop is where they should sleep at night. Once their wing feathers grow back, they will (hopefully), be in the routine of staying home and you won’t have to continue to keep their wings clipped. Note that sometimes you can train them to stay home without even having to clip their wings. If they are born and raised in the coop and used to sleeping there, you won’t have to worry about training them otherwise.
(What you want)
(What you don't want)
It’s much harder to train adult peafowl to stay home at night. But it can be done. Follow the same steps as you would for yearlings. You might have to clip their wings more often though. Once your birds are trained to stay home, it’s important that you allow their wing feathers to grow back since it’s unnatural and unsafe for them to be without flight. In certain cases, you may even have to confine your birds to a large crate or box inside the coop at night until they get the memo that they need to sleep at home. Although it may seem harsh, you need to do whatever possible to keep them at home to insure their safety.
My grandparents had peafowl on their farm all the time. They never were trained to stay in the coop at night. Their favorite place to sleep was the roof of the house. Every morning around 5:00 am, you would wake up to their shrill callings. Some nights they would sleep on the porch and their droppings would be everywhere the next morning. Occasionally they would go into the coop to sleep. Believe me when I tell you how happy it made me when I would go to shut up the birds and ALL of them were safely tucked away inside the coop. But since the peafowl didn’t go in every night, my grandparents lost about 2 each year to predators. Sadly they were down to their last peacock, Blue, when he was killed by a fox one night.
Training peafowl to stay home is imperative for a healthy, safe flock. I hope this article has given you some insight and helpful advice on getting them to stay home. Good luck!
Like chickens, peafowl like to sleep in the same place each night. Unfortunately, if you don’t train them to sleep in their coop at night, they may never come home to roost! Why is it important for them to stay home? Several reasons. They are much more vulnerable to predator attacks at night, just like other poultry. Plus if you allow them to wander off, they may find another farm or piece of land they like better and never return! They also have a higher risk of getting lost, being hit by cars or hurt in unfamiliar areas.
You should start training them when they are yearlings. If you are buying yearlings, make sure their coop is built before bringing them home so you can get them off to a good start of sleeping in the coop. One thing you will have to do when training them to stay home, is clip their wings. Peafowl are incredibly good flyers and will try and escape from their living quarters. If they don’t have a roof over their run area or you don’t close their coop door, they will most likely not stay home at night. If their wings are clipped, they will obviously learn quickly that they can’t fly and thus can’t escape. They will then be forced to stay home and will get into the routine of sleeping in the coop. Hopefully, depending on their temperament, they will soon learn that the coop is where they should sleep at night. Once their wing feathers grow back, they will (hopefully), be in the routine of staying home and you won’t have to continue to keep their wings clipped. Note that sometimes you can train them to stay home without even having to clip their wings. If they are born and raised in the coop and used to sleeping there, you won’t have to worry about training them otherwise.
(What you want)
(What you don't want)
It’s much harder to train adult peafowl to stay home at night. But it can be done. Follow the same steps as you would for yearlings. You might have to clip their wings more often though. Once your birds are trained to stay home, it’s important that you allow their wing feathers to grow back since it’s unnatural and unsafe for them to be without flight. In certain cases, you may even have to confine your birds to a large crate or box inside the coop at night until they get the memo that they need to sleep at home. Although it may seem harsh, you need to do whatever possible to keep them at home to insure their safety.
My grandparents had peafowl on their farm all the time. They never were trained to stay in the coop at night. Their favorite place to sleep was the roof of the house. Every morning around 5:00 am, you would wake up to their shrill callings. Some nights they would sleep on the porch and their droppings would be everywhere the next morning. Occasionally they would go into the coop to sleep. Believe me when I tell you how happy it made me when I would go to shut up the birds and ALL of them were safely tucked away inside the coop. But since the peafowl didn’t go in every night, my grandparents lost about 2 each year to predators. Sadly they were down to their last peacock, Blue, when he was killed by a fox one night.
Training peafowl to stay home is imperative for a healthy, safe flock. I hope this article has given you some insight and helpful advice on getting them to stay home. Good luck!
