Brand NewPeafowl owner adopter

[birdman55]

we have ten acres and it borders state land

 

[birdman55]

and its in the middle of the forest we have no close major roads

 

[MeepBeep]

As for neighbors I have to agree, if you have them close or are not not GREAT terms with them free range Guineas and Peafowl are probably going to be trouble...

And depending on your zoning even contained ones might be a problem as they could violate you zoning's 'nuisance noise' laws... So that is something to consider if you have any busy body neighbors that might complain at all...

Where I live I'm zoned 'agricultural' and thus any noise that is a result of agricultural use of the property, is exempt from noise laws even at night... So even though I have a gated and fenced retirement community just across the street, I'm shielded legally from their complaints (not that they have complained about my birds yet) but they have complained about some other legal activities like burning that I can do and they can't...

 

[birdman55]

I live in a no zone area...in the middle of the forest...so we can have just about everything

 

[sasglm]

Update on our new(ish) Pea. We kept in in that pen for most of the winter, added a light to the covered area and turned on a few nights.
He started to grow his 3-4ft train about Dec 1, and once it got too long he would not get into that covered area at night but would just perch on the 2x4.
I would head out to take him his favorite food, the kitty food with 40% protein, every day about 15min before sunset. I would put some on the ground and some up on the far end of the 2x4.
He learned that under the roof was better when it would rain or snow.

Now that the weather has turned we have started to let him out of the cage, at first he was a little timid and even though the door was open he wouldn't come out. This week the temps have reached into the 70's and he has not come back to the cage a few nights to get his food. Though he does return early in the morning and walks straight to his cage. I have not seen him get up in any trees yet to perch at night and once I saw him laying next to a large pine log that was on the ground about 100' from his cage.

He does seem to spend most of the day near(within about 50') to his cage and near a barn of ours.

We'd prefer that he would be locked up in his cage with the critters we know are around here these days, coyotes, raccoon, hawks and owls but we've resigned ourselves that if he chooses not to come 'Home' then it his choice.

Is there anything we should or shouldn't be doing for him.

thanks
gary

 

[sasglm]

Well sad news for this peacock, on Friday night he didn't come back to his cage or near our place. On Saturday is was a light rain and he didn't come back, I walked a little in the woods where I though he might be but I didn't find him. In the afternoon the rain stopped and my wife went out and looked for him, well she found what was left of him, feathers is all we could find.
It appeared he roosted next to a fallen pine tree, and the Coyotes found him. It looked like they attacked him right where he was roosted, he didn't get up or run or fly. Looked like just a little struggle since the pine straw was messed up a little, then the feathers were coming out, we followed the feather trail for about 50' and found some scat from the Coyote(s).

We're sorry about this bird, we really enjoyed him while he was around, but I think there just wasn't something right with him. Why he wouldn't fly up on a tree or a roof or something or go more than 200' from his cage, where his food was waiting for him.

On Sunday we found a seller nearby that was selling his 1yr peafowls, and his peacocks were very friendly and would come out from the cage and almost eat from our hands. So now we have a new 1yo peacock in the cage for a bit so he can feel good for here.

gary

 

[DylansMom]

Well sad news for this peacock, on Friday night he didn't come back to his cage or near our place. On Saturday is was a light rain and he didn't come back, I walked a little in the woods where I though he might be but I didn't find him. In the afternoon the rain stopped and my wife went out and looked for him, well she found what was left of him, feathers is all we could find.
It appeared he roosted next to a fallen pine tree, and the Coyotes found him. It looked like they attacked him right where he was roosted, he didn't get up or run or fly. Looked like just a little struggle since the pine straw was messed up a little, then the feathers were coming out, we followed the feather trail for about 50' and found some scat from the Coyote(s).

We're sorry about this bird, we really enjoyed him while he was around, but I think there just wasn't something right with him. Why he wouldn't fly up on a tree or a roof or something or go more than 200' from his cage, where his food was waiting for him.

On Sunday we found a seller nearby that was selling his 1yr peafowls, and his peacocks were very friendly and would come out from the cage and almost eat from our hands. So now we have a new 1yo peacock in the cage for a bit so he can feel good for here.

gary

Sorry to hear that Gary. Unfortunately it is a common fate for ground roosting Peas, whether they are on eggs or just not entirely "right". The last time I had one refuse to come in, a trail of feathers was all I found as well.

 

[sasglm]

thanks, he would roost every night in his cage up on the 6ft high 2x4, so he was used to going up at night, so I'm at a loss to figure why he wouldn't do that free ranging.
Hopefully our new one, Arrow the kids named it, will be more home bound.

 

[MinxFox]

How low are the branches on the trees in your yard? I am wondering if the peacock just wasn't looking up high enough to see the branches? I was reading something that said in the wild peafowl love to roost in trees whose first branch is high off of the ground and they like trees that have a lot of visibility and that is why often they will roost in dead trees or trees that don't have a very thick canopy.

I didn't free-range for long but I noticed that my birds always roosted in an old oak tree that was easy to get into at night. The tree trunk split into a V around 7ft up and the peafowl would hardly have to put much effort into going up the tree. They hardly flapped up to the V of the trunk, then from there they would climb up the trunk and do a bit of jumping and flapping to get up to the tippy top. I have noticed that peafowl do like getting up very high in trees, but often they will try to find the easiest way to get up high such as flying up on the roof then flying from the roof to a tree branch. Even in my aviary I have noted that the peacocks like to jump up onto the tree stump then from there fly up to the roost.

The zoo peafowl roost in pine trees at night.

 

[sasglm]

Min, we live in Central NC and we have large Oaks and 100' pine trees. The oaks have some branches at the 15-20' level and I have an open barn with lots of places to fly too at the 10-20' height.

I'm hoping it wasn't because we had kept him in his 10x10x15H cage where he could only fly a few feet at a time.
He seamed very healthy and was eating well, so I don't think he was sick in any way.

maybe his personality just wasn't compatible with free ranging and our property. Sometimes he would almost come right up to me and other times I could get 30' from him.
The day before he got caught, he displayed his full train 10' away from me for 3min and it was beautiful.

gary