Advice on Free Range Peafowl

[nomdeplume]

Here are some pictures of our two Indian blues: Astro and Andy. Andy has always remained a little more aloof, but will accept grapes by hand. Astro has been hand raised and trusts us implicitly. This is actually a problem because he thinks all people will just love him, and he has encountered little boys with sticks and an angry man who almost slammed him with a pipe (we arrived just in time) when he found Astro on the hood of his truck He has always sat on our shoulders, on our hands, or even on our heads until he grew too big.
Astro loves to have his crest, his head, and his neck scratched,
Andy in front of the greenhouse and netting that keep them safe at night.

 

[new 2 pfowl]

@nomdeplume , pretty and sweet boys you have there!

Are you thinking about getting them a girlfriend?

 

[nomdeplume]

We live in an area of northern California where there are about 60-70 free-ranging peafowl, so they already have a pretty good selection of peahens, when the time comes. We thought they were both hens when we found them, and actually hoped they were because we're read the blogs about cossetted males developing animosity as they mature, and also our enclosure is currently too small for full-feathered males. At this point, they're pretty free to roam with the others during the day, but because they weren't raised by peahens, they're pretty naive about predators, cars, and other dangers. Andy's primary feathers on his right wing (see the bottom picture) are a little skinny because he panicked over a kitten racing toward him and flew over our fence right into traffic. He was hit by a pick-up truck, rolled about 20 feet, and lost a lot of feathers, his dignity, and a few days recovering, but miraculously had no major injuries.

 

[KsKingBee]

Oh, poor Andy! He got deplumed.

 

[nomdeplume]

Deplumed while pea-bowling, to be exact. Not recommended.

 

[Garden Peas]

EEEEK!!!!!

So glad he survived, I had palpitations just reading it

 

[zazouse]

Pretty boy.

 

[chicknmania]

How many peas own you now?

Mine are tame cause hatched most all of them and my first ones i got at a young age but some of them took a year before they trusted me enough to eat out of my hands, plus i am around them every single day ,every day of the year, i am usually outside unless i am taking a break or the weather is real real bad, i even work in the summer rains i love it

We have four. And I'm out with ours a lot too. I work from home and in summer I take my laptop outside if I have reports to write, so I can be outside with my birds and enjoying the outdoors. But we got all four as young adults, so maybe that's why. Never raised any from chicks.

 

[nomdeplume]

He's doing great - and can even still fly! Andy, though, has gone through about 3 of his 9 lives. It's complicated raising abandoned/injured peachicks to adulthood in a neighborhood on 1/3 acre, but as much as we love them, we figure every day they survive is one they wouldn't have if we hadn't stepped in. Astro had spraddle leg right out of the egg, so we snagged him and put him in a heated box in our bathroom with water and crushed game-bird crumbles. We learned, thanks to someone on this site, how to use blue first aid sticky (not adhesive) tape to hobble his legs so that he'd walk correctly. It worked! One miracle down, and this site certainly saved his life right out the gate! Andy was left behind, and at dusk the raccoons come out here, so it was snag him and let him join Astro or he would be fodder for them. You wouldn't think there would be a lot of wildlife in towns, but we still hear coyotes close by at night and there are lots of raccoons that live in the storm drains. These two were lucky. They happened to be in our yard when they got into trouble. And they're growing up in the west!

 

[Garden Peas]

Is Andy now saavy about pickup trucks, or does he think the kitten did it?