Buying Geebs Peafowl, some questions..

[chickboss]

I am working on an enclosure for them to stay in while they are getting used to our place being home. There are four, 2 boys, 2 girls. The shelter we are working on is 8'x12'x18'. Half will be covered on 3 sides and there will be a roost. This is only for temp, because we plan on having them free range and maybe only using the shelter for night time if we can offer enough yummy stuff to coax them back in.

My question is will this be enough space? Or should I add on now before it would be a total pain?

Also, they are all related, so how do I handle breeding issues? Should I take the eggs and eat them? Will a hen let me take the eggs? Should I plan on getting unrelated hens for the boys? What is a good Peacock/Peahen ratio to minimize fighting....LOL, and probably just about anything else anybody would like to add would be helpful. Thanks!

 

[deerman]

Yes the size is fine. how old ? males with full trains need more room then 2yr old and peahens. Make sure to keep them pen for a few months before releasing them.

If peahens are 2 yr or older wait till they lay also Don't release all the same day. Other in the pen will help keep the others around...

 

[Choctaw Valley Farm]

Since you will free range your birds they should get along fine unless you just want to add more to your collection, as for breeding I would say that there are very few birds that are not related to each other I bet if you did a lot of foot work you would find out that most will be related some way or another.

 

[chickboss]

Deerman- They are all 1yr old. When I do start to release them, should I wait a week or so before releasing another one?

CTF- Just to clairify, they are brother/sisters, is that okay? And I was looking at your website (beautiful, BTW) and I noticed you have tin siding along the bottom of your runs, just wondering why and should we do the same?

Thanks, again

 

[Choctaw Valley Farm]

We have the metal dividers for breeding purposes so the males can't see one another they would spend more time fighting then breeding. You can visit our other website and see the out side of the pens. http://lazywpoultry.webs.com

I put tin around the out side to help keep the wild critters from getting in the pens but not everyone does it and I guess you really don't have to.

Steve