“newbie” questions from Massachusetts

[maxfischer]

Hello,

I built a house on an old farm and have 11 acres of mowed field, so my wife tells me I can have one “weird” animal, after thinking about it for a long time I came up with peafowl. I joined this site so I can gain some knowledge of raising and caring for my peafowl. I have been keeping a large saltwater reef tank for years, but had to break it down when I finished building my house. I belong to a site for my "reef addiction"called Boston Reefers, and have gained much in the hobby I look forward to my new adventure.
I know very well from my reef tank that patience is the most important part of the hobby; we have a saying “nothing good happens fast in a reef tank”.


This hobby will have 2 phases; the first will be this year with the construction of a Peafowl coop. The second phase will next year when I build a large outdoor aviary, attached to the coop. My wife thinks im crazy, but im sure you guys are use to this.

Im sure I will be asking lots of “newbie” questions about the hobby in the months to come, so I apologies in advance for any stupid questions I may have, some of the questions I have are;

How may Peacocks can I keep in the same coop? (I know this depends on the size)
How do peafowl fair in the cold winters of Massachusetts?
How loud will the peafowl be?
Will the run away when I let them roam on the fields?



Thank you in advance
-Cory

 

[Ms.FuzzyButts]

I know nothing about peafowl. But just wanted to welcome you and tell you to be patient for an answer. There are more folks on here in the daytime than there is now. Good luck with your new hobby.

 

[Phage]

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

There is only one downside to peafowl that I know of...... they are addictive. You start out with a one or two then before you know it they are everywhere.

Pea's make couple different calls

Heeee haaaw

and

Aaaaah Aaaaah

Both are like an alarm type call

The male will make an Oooooohwooooo during mating season when he gets lucky

They can be kind of loud but I like it, they actually make good "watch birds" for the rest of the flocks since they are very alert and don't miss much going on around them.

We are in eastern NC here so winters aren't much of a problem. They can get frostbite on their feet. There are other members that are in the north and can help you on their housing for them.

The only time we pen ours is during breeding season the keep the males and females close together for mating (they tend to lazy, as the peacock will fan and females will come to him) By keeping them close together you get much better fertility and the eggs are easy to find. When you first get them if you get adults you will need to confine them until they call your place home. I have heard of people getting adults and putting them right out to never see them again.

There is alot of good info to had on the APA website and also Leggs peafowl has a good site for info.

Steve

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Sorry to kill your thread Cory, I have that effect in this section

Steve

 

[deerman]

Steve think that was the UPA site

http://www.peafowl.org/

 

[deerman]

The indiablue(all colors) do fine in the winters, but the greens will need heat.
I have had more than 20 male all pen together, very large flight pen.
Young birds are easier to break to a new home, older birds you will need to keep pen for months ,before releasing them ,but don't release all of them at once.

 

[maxfischer]

Thanks guys for the help, now I am in the design stage of the coop and run. I have a concrete pad I was going to set my propane tank on but ended up using an underground tank instead. The pad is 12’ x 5’; I planed on pouring some sauna tubes and making the coop a tad bigger. I am going to model this after the house I just built; I have a farmer’s porch that wraps around the front and sides of the house. I plan on making a porch for the Peafowl to have a place to be out of the weather but still be outside. I am hoping to build the coop and have some peachicks this year, but if I end up going into next year so be it, I’m still waiting on my money tree to bloom.

The coop should be about 12 x 6 on the inside and at the peak of the roof about 9’ on the inside. I have leftover siding and shingles from the house that I plan on using. The run will start out small this year at about 12’ x 10’ with plans of a larger 20’ x 20’ addition next year, if all goes well.

My biggest question is how may Peafowl can I keep in a 12’ x 6’ coop? The last thing I want to do is get 100% hooked on this hobby and not have built a big enough coop in the beginning. In my Saltwater Reef hobby I have seen it 100’s of times, some person new to the hobby spends money on junk equipment only to have to replace it down the road. Not looking to throw money away, If I over build and end up not staying in the hobby I can always turn it into a garden shed down the road.

 

[deerman]

Good section on peafowl pens. from Brads site.

http://www.leggspeafowl.com/pens.htm

 

[Choctaw Valley Farm]

Quote:
If I am reading this right, you will have a 12x6 house with a 12x10 run right??? that maybe enough for a pair of peafowl, now when you get your 20x20 done it should be good for a trio or maybe a quad. But I seem to always be wrong on here so I would visit these websites and check out there Peafowl housing.

www.texaspeafowl.com and www.leggspeafowl.com