Can young peafowl be housed with chickens?

[dianneS]

I don't know much at all about peafowl. I'm just learning about them, and would like to get some, some day. I thought maybe I would start with some hatching eggs, or do you advise starting with birds? Young or older?

I only have one poultry pen. The peafowl would eventually be free range. Could I house peafowl with the chickens until they learn where "home base" is, before letting them free range?

 

[chickenzoo]

If you are experienced at hatching eggs and have a larger bator or a really good working one... then you could do eggs. There are pros and cons to getting both chicks or adults.
Basically you treat them somewhat like a turkey, if you have experience with turkeys......

Hatching your own eggs or getting chicks helps them bond more to you, but it is also a lot more work. It is best to keep peachicks on wire until they are older, up off the ground. I keep mine on wire until about 3 months old, but that's just me. It is best to feed a feed not to high in protein as it could cause leg problems. I raise mine up with chicks until they are old enough to go out into a brooder, then I 'll separate them, but i do not keep them with adult chickens as adult chickens can carry diseases that are harmful to peafowl, especially peachicks and can be aggressive to peachicks. Mine free range together, but are housed separately. Once adults you may be able to get away with keeping them together, but there is always that risk. Some people have no trouble keeping them together, others do. It can be an expensive lesson if it happens , so personally I try to avoid it. I also keep all my fowl wormed well to help prevent these occurrences.

 

[Eagle2026]

A good rule of thumb is to keep your game birds and domestic birds in their own pens.
Pheasant, chukar, quail, turkeys, peafowl if your aviary is big enough can all go in together.
Mike

 

[dianneS]

Does anyone ever use broody hens to hatch peachicks? But if peachicks are susceptible to disease carried by chickens I guess that wouldn't work.

I was just thinking it would be cool to let a hen raise the peachicks along with the rest of the chickens, if that is possible.

 

[lcw]

Quote:
i havent had a broody hen hatch any but she fostered some.and yea i have a 2 year old male peacock who got coryza from the chickens. but thats just because my chickens were sick at the time.when the hen fostered them it worked quite well.

 

[dianneS]

If my chickens are all healthy, and all free-range most of the time, would it be okay to have a hen raise some peachicks?

 

[countrygirl4513]

I used a broody to hatch mine. I bought 4 eggs from a fellow member and they all hatched but one chick didn't make it. She was a much better mother than I could've been. I now have 1 male and 2 females happy healthy and beautiful. Mine still roost in the hen house with the chickens. They still remember their mom and try to smooze up to her if shes got something good to eat. No problems as of this date. So far so good. All my birds are free range and I close them up at night. If you don't like noise, don't get peas!!They are wonderful to look at but they can raise the rafters with their calls and chatter.

 

[Kev]

Quote:
Yes! This is the basic thing to understand regarding peafowl and chickens. If the chickens are "clean" then it is pretty safe. This is exactly why some people will come in a thread and say something like "I have had chickens and peafowl for X years and never had a problem". They are the lucky ones who have grounds that are either disease free or very low.

Problem is, there is a chance the grounds has the diseases so lethal to peafowl, in that case the chickens will pick them up and become carriers. There are many breeders who have to raise their peachicks off the ground for a good while for this reason(the dirt has those bad things).

Still, preventative deworming is recommended. Basically it prevents some diseases by breaking up the host cycle, and also kills the parasites that are directly lethal to peafowl(capillary worms for example).

If you can, contact your local Ag and see if Blackhead is present in your local area- Blackhead is one of the big killers of peafowl that chickens can carry without getting sick. If they have the info but are unfamiliar with care for peafowl, just say "turkeys", as both turkeys and peafowl are very susceptible to the same diseases.

I have used hens to raise peachicks many times. They are wonderful parents and if you want to have free range peafowl, this is an excellent way to do it. I've let many hens with peachicks loose and they never ran away or got lost. Be sure to keep them confined to a safe pen until the peachicks are of good size first before letting them out. Lots of things, especially hawks love little peachicks...

Another problem is they fly really good even at just week old so they tend to get in trouble by flying up and falling in buckets with water or livestock water troughs and drown. 2-3 months before they are just about big enough to let out(older is better but..).

If you intend them to be in a pen and never let out, young or adults are the easiest. Plus it takes the males 3 years before they get all the colors and full length tails. If you want them to free range, young birds under a year old are the easiest ones.. but recommend getting more than just a pair.. reason is they are social birds plus if you lose one, you still have the others. Eggs are pretty hard to incubate for most people. They will do good under a good broody hen, plus they are excellent to use if you want free range birds.

Hope you get some and have fun with them!

 

[dianneS]

Thanks Kev for all the information! I will be looking into peafowl further and I do think that a broody hen to raise them would be a fun and easy way to start!