? about your Pea Keeping adventure and How old is your oldest? Oldest ever had?

[Joe.G]

Just wondering how long you guy's have had your Pea's?
How old is your Oldest?
How Old is the Oldest you have ever had?
Longest you have ever had a Pea For?
What made you get them?
Are they Pet's? Or do you trade them for different colors if you get tired of the ones you have?
What made you get into them?

 

[AugeredIn]

Had them off and on for many years. Got into them seriously three years ago. Oldest that I know absolutely for sure is 11 years old. I have two that age. I also have a pair that is reported to be about 16 years old. She lays the first egg every year. Got them because they are gorgeous and a challenge. While we do do hatch and sell birds for money, most of our breeders are pets, have names and will never leave our farm, good lord willing. We have been using the chick money to add new colors. I have not traded any peachicks or Juveniles for other peafowl but I have traded for chickens. Also traded some for farm stuff. We have a soft spot for peas sold at local poultry auction and will often buy them to "fix" them up and find them better homes. A couple of these have found permanent free range home with us but most are traded, sold or given away. I also have a soft spot for kids fascinated with peas.

PS our first peachick of the year hatched Saturday and it was like Christmas around here. The other 80 plus chicks that hatched had no chance for any attention.

 

[new 2 pfowl]

Well, of course I have to jump in here to show off our Super Senior Pea, Mr. Chuffy...23+ years old.

 

[Joe.G]

New 2 Fowl, How long have you had him? How many other homes has he had?

 

[new 2 pfowl]

Mr. Chuffy has been free ranging right here since he hatched - my neighbor remembers when it happened (I haven't been in this location for 23 years).
He's very sweet but rather nervous and a bit skittish.
Which has probably kept him safe from our various predators (bobcat, coyote,etc.) for so long.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Well, of course I have to jump in here to show off our Super Senior Pea, Mr. Chuffy...23+ years old.

23+ ???????????? WOW!!! Amazing! Beautiful bird.

 

[sandspoultry]

Our oldest "Mr P" is an India Blue we have had for 7 years and we got him at auction and he was fully mature then so real age unknown. He was our first and very tame, he knows we keep a bag of cat food in the mud room and if he see's you in there he will come up the steps and look in until you give him some which he will eat out of your hand. I always liked the looks of peafowl and we have the space to keep them now so that is why we got into them. Our breeders we will always keep, we have 2 generations of IB's now the oldest and 2 hens and a 4 year old and 2 hens. 2 white cocks and 3 hens we have had for 4 years plus we are keeping a few hens from last years hatch. 1 spaulding cock and 2 hens that will be 4 years old this year, last year we hatched another cock and 3 hens from them. It was their first year of really laying so we didn't get alot from them. We hope to add pied in the future.

 

[MinxFox]

Just wondering how long you guy's have had your Pea's?
I have had peafowl since 2009. I got my first pair from a local zoo that closed down.
How old is your Oldest?
Alto is the oldest. He is only four years old. In 2011 my then oldest peacock was killed by raccoons. Today that bird that was killed would be around 6.
How Old is the Oldest you have ever had?
In 2011 my then oldest peacock (he was four) was killed by raccoons. So far I have not had a bird past four years old so my peafowl group is pretty young.
Longest you have ever had a Pea For?
My original pair was free-ranged, and the peacock ran away and so did the peahen. We were not able to catch the peacock but we caught the peahen in someone's backyard and I still have her so I still have one of my original birds. Her name is Ice and she is a black shoulder peahen.
What made you get them?
I wanted peafowl because ever since I was a little girl I always loved the peafowl at the zoo. When I finally found out on the internet that you can own peafowl I was very excited and spent years researching them and begging my parents for some. We visited a few peafowl breeders and when the local zoo closed down we found out they were selling the peafowl so we found the person selling them and bought a pair and from there it has been an obsession that keeps growing.
Are they Pet's? Or do you trade them for different colors if you get tired of the ones you have?
My peafowl are definitely pets. Only two of my peafowl do not have names, mainly because one I plan to sell and the other I just can't think of a good name for. The ones I am most attached to are the ones I have had longer. I love my peacocks especially. The peahens are sweet, but I love how curious my peacocks are.
What made you get into them?
I am going to use this question to answer how I got into the varieties that I have currently...
When I first got into researching peafowl I wanted India Blue black shoulders. I liked them because of the color difference in the males and females.
Unfortunately when I got my first pair there were not any black shoulder peacocks, only a black shoulder peahen (Ice), so my first peacock was an India blue.
Later when Fire, my first peacock, ran away and we caught Ice after she ran off and penned her. Then I wanted more peafowl so I got a yearling India blue peahen and a yearling India blue peacock because I liked India Blues. Nothing beats the wild types...
After having peafowl for a while and making a larger pen, I decided I really loved pieds. Sooo one day we traveled to two different peafowl breeders. One breeder had a nice India blue pied peahen and the other had a nice India blue pied peacock. So that is how I got my pied pair. Unfortunately only after a year or a little more raccoons broke into the pen killing my India blue peahen and my beautiful India blue pied peacock (he was a dream bird, one that I had really wanted, and just like that he was gone). The killings happened to separate nights, but seeing my favorite peacock all chewed up in the pen was horrible. Around that time I started wondering if peafowl were for me and if I should give up.
Eventually hatching out my first peachick made me feel better about the recent deaths and that same year I was given three white peachicks by a friend of my Dad.

So I have complete un-even pairings when it comes to the peafowl. 1 blackshoulder, 1 India Blue, 1 pied...That has created lots of split peafowl. Also I don't have separate pens for varieties so everyone is mixing so I definitely am not done with improving my set up and the amount of each variety I have.

I am really happy with the varieties I have though. There is only one more peafowl I want to add eventually and that is pure green peafowl, hopefully some Indo-Chinese greens, but I can wait for those. I still need to get more pens up.

 

[bribre]

Well, of course I have to jump in here to show off our Super Senior Pea, Mr. Chuffy...23+ years old.

I've just got to say WOW that peacock is older then me!!! Lol

 

[Joe.G]

I wonder how long I'll have mine, I don't get bored or give up with animals so I guess these Peafowl will be around for a while.