Are predators really a problem???

[C&Rman]

We have predators here such as... Racoons, Skunks and Minks. I have had them take a few of my chickens. But would they really want to try anything with a peacock? We have
Turkey Voltures clear back behind our yard and they look huge. But peacocks are bigger then the voltures, I have a trap I set if I have to bad of a problem with predators but I really don't like to catch them becasue if we do a guy comes out to our house and kills them, that is kinda sad because they usually only come during breeding season, so I know they need food for their babies but I dont know if I kill the mom or the dad.
Thanks any help is much appreciated.

 

[wannabchick]

What the heck is a turkey vulture? Lol

had others on here share with me..that peafowl will fight...but then I have them say..yep they can handle themselves better then chickens against those kind of predators and yet..I also have read peafowl can loose their lives to predators

So good question

Xoooxoxox

 

[CapricornFarm]

If your peafowl are not protected at night, there are many predators that might kill them. Here in TN we have Bob cats, coyotes, mountain lions , foxes, possums, raccoons , weasels, and dogs are about the worst. When birds are roosting for the night, they are asleep so may not defend themselves . Oh yeah, and owls as well as hawks and eagles can be a threat. Peafowl are large, but so are turkeys and I bet some of them get eaten around here. If it has feathers, something is going to try to eat it. I would try to get them to roost in a building and shut it up at night.

 

[SunBaked]

Here we have a bad coyote problem. They killed my last peacock Casanova about 5 months ago. We have to make sure all our bird pens are way secure because they will find a way in. My neighbor saw one jump up and balance on her 5 ft chain link fence and hop right over. Of course we are a good ways out of town. I'm not sure, do you guys have coyotes there?

 

[featherhead]

Peafowl are victims to all kinds of predators, including dogs, fox, and the others mentioned. Especially when the hens nest, they are nothing more than sitting ducks - literally. Please consider a safe pen and shelter for your birds.

 

[ranit]

My sister actually lost one of hers to a raccoon through chain-linked fencing. The peahen bedded down in the corner of the pen and the raccoon (maybe more than one?) reached through the fencing and killed it, then proceeded to eat on it through the fence.

 

[C&Rman]

~wannabchick and Turkey Volture is just a wierd looking brid. Haha it kind of looks like a black turkey then when you get close to them they naked necks and bright red face. Quite ugly
~Hot2 Good way to put it, if it has feathers they'll try. There main roosting area is 8 feet tall so hopefully nothing can reach them.
~Sunbaked we have 1 coyote around here we have only seen it once and it has never been in our yard it is so scared.
~featherhead we do have a nice pen and a nice shelter but I just didnt think that predators were a problem to big birds.
~ranit I am sorry that they ate it through the fence that sounds disturbing.

 

[MinxFox]

Turkey vultures are pretty much buzzards. They like to eat dead things, especially dead things on the side of the road. We saw a turkey vulture egg pipping when we were exploring an old house...The mom scared my dad because when she flew off she went right over his head when he looked around the corner.

So far we haven't had predator problems...Lose dogs do like to chase free-range peafowl but some peafowl will stand up for themselves and chase the dog off (normally I think this happens with a gang of peafowl, they can outnumber the dog and chase it off). An example of peafowl defending themselves is we let our miniature poodle into the peafowl pen (Snowball is good and more afraid of the peafowl then they are of her) and Snowball would stick close to my mom like always but then she decided to sniff around the pen. Up comes Pip, the smallest peahen following our dog into a small pen connected to their big pen, Pip cornered Snowball and jumped at her and kicked her for no reason! Snowball yelped and now she doesn't even want to go near the pen at all! Some peafowl are very brave and tough acting!

Then a local peafowl breeder named Glen has his small backyard fenced in and the peafowl are ALWAYS inside the fence (they can fly out if the want, the fence isn't that high). They stay in his small backyard because if they leave, the Coyotes might eat them. He told us on our recent visit that he let out some of his white peafowl to free-range and they made the mistake of going outside of the fence all but one of the 3 or 4 was not eaten by Coyotes, his backyard is surrounded by woods though. I would say predators for turkeys would be the same as for peafowl. You can keep a dog or something that won't hurt the peafowl but will chase off predators if you are really concerned or something.

Minks might take your peafowl eggs...

 

[KZ]

I have my peas in a pen that has a shed with attached run topped with flight netting so they can't fly out. Last fall they started resisting getting locked into the shed and night and I figured they were so large and the pen was safe enough that they would be fine not to be locked up. I let them stay out and just left the shed open so they could go in if they wanted to, or roost on the perches outside.

Well, a Great Horned Owl come through a small side opening in the overhead netting and tore the head off of one of my peahens. I found out they eat the brains because the bird is too big to take back to their nest, but the brain is full of protein. Then the owl was stuck in the pen with all the other peas until I came out in the morning to let the chickens out. I am lucky it only got one, but it was a terrible lesson. The peas are locked up in the shed every night, now.

 

[ColbyNTX]

If you freerange any birds you will eventually loose one to something. You don't have to worry about the turkey voltures unless your bird is already dead. We also have black headed voltures and they are a bit aggressive. I have never heard of one killing a bird but they will eat on newborn calfs and such before they can get up. The hogs will do that also!