Can I have Peacocks with Chickens?

[Birdrain92]

Is it safe to have peafowl with chickens? I currently have 10 hens that have 3 acres to roam around in but they all sleep together in a coop. I would get baby peafowl and introduce them to my chickens when they are big enough. Is there a threat of disease? Do chickens and peafowl get along well together?

If you have enough space, practice good hygiene, proper nutrition, make sure parasites are on a down low, they can live together. Make sure you have at least one male and one female. Otherwise you can sometimes get males that try to breed chickens, which can kill them sometimes. The biggest threat for disease is blackhead which is usually from roundworm or cecal worm. So give the Safeguard or Valbazen. Don't use Wazine, not that great of a wormer, only kills roundworm. Peafowl tend to be dominant and will sometimes push the chickens around so make sure you have a couple feed and water sources just in case. Peafowl are excellent fliers, and I wouldn't clip their wings. Not much benefit since they can still jump 8' into the air, and it just makes them easy targets to predators.

 

[Birdrain92]

Oops almost forgot. Welcome to BYC!

 

[MeepBeep]

Peafowl are excellent fliers, and I wouldn't clip their wings. Not much benefit since they can still jump 8' into the air, and it just makes them easy targets to predators.

There is the benefit that they are much less likely to roam long distances and/or roost in tall trees or on roof tops, that is the reason mine are clipped now they rarely leave the fenced pasture and I don't have to 'rescue' them when they go to roost on the steel pole barn roof instead of the coop every time a storm approaches a roof they have no grip on and end up getting knocked off of by the wind resulting in them spending the night on the ground as predator bait... I would rather they take the chance with clipped wings and predator during the day then have them all huddled on the ground under the barn's area light all night after being knocked down by the a storm...

There are always going to be pros and cons and give and take when clipping...

To the OP my chickens both standard and bantam, guinea fowl and peafowl all live peacefully together in a communal coop, but I have a huge coop so they have plenty of their own space...

 

[KsKingBee]

Welcome to the peafowl forum! I have both free ranging peacocks and penned breeders. The free ranging cocks are four years old or older and during breeding season they hardly roam at all. During the winter they are attracted to the neighbors about 150 yards away to feed on the corn they provide for the local deer. I did lose two of my favorite young boys because they started roosting down there and the owls got them.



They free range quite well with our chickens and **** guineas with the exception of one of the cocks that pesters a broody guinea hen. I have had one cock run off by those **** guineas, and I have had at least one occasion where a cock killed a guinea, which was ok that he beat me to it as I have had to kill about three guineas that kept attacking my peas. Right now we probably have close to fifty of those **** things and for the most part they coexist with only an occasional exception.

Penning chickens and peas is another problem, as you have already read here that it can be done, but it is more stressful on the birds and you really have to keep an eye on disease and worms especially if they are crowded.



As far as roosting together in a coop, it rarely happens. Peas are notorious for roosting outside in the worst of weather and coming inside when the sun is shining. This guy is covered with about a quarter inch of ice, he could have gone inside...

 

[AnimalsRmyLife]

Is it safe to have peafowl with chickens? I currently have 10 hens that have 3 acres to roam around in but they all sleep together in a coop. I would get baby peafowl and introduce them to my chickens when they are big enough. Is there a threat of disease? Do chickens and peafowl get along well together?

and Welcome to the Peafowl group!

Hope you continue to have a wonderful time here! We're glad to have you join us!

 

[barkerg]

Clipping of the wings can also contribute to a lower fertility rate as adult roosters will use the tips of his wings on the ground for balance when trading with a hen which is another reason not to clip,

.

Gerald Barker

 

[Birdrain92]

Clipping of the wings can also contribute to a lower fertility rate as adult roosters will use the tips of his wings on the ground for balance when trading with a hen which is another reason not to clip,

.

Gerald Barker

I never thought of that. Good point.

 

[JayMatoes]

I'd worry about diseases.

 

[msmolly]

I love having my peacocks and chickens together. For me,...I would not do it any other way. I free range every body, the pen is bedded with pea stone, so nothing rots. I don't keep large numbers of birds so there is no crowding, and everyone is happy and healthy. I try to only have the one main Peacock and every one else is hen- so he lords over his harem and acts as chaperone, bouncer and body guard. Yes, I feed medicated feed, dust the bedding and egg boxes with 7 dust/or poultry dust and spray the coop with coop spray when I do major, down -to -the boards cleanings. Yes, the peacocks used to leave early on, till I started banding them, supplied plexiplastic mirrors and plenty of high perches. Just make sure your neighbors are on board. I give bouquets of peacock feathers and fresh chicken eggs to my neighbors and invite them over to enjoy dinner with my birds. For what its worth. Enjoy!

 

[Midnightman14]

Yup, and alot more problems with cocci.