Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

Danz, how big is your peacock pen & how many peafowl do you have in there? I was thinking last night of making an 8 ft by 12 ft pen. I think that would be more manageable size for me to build & I found two 2x6x8s in the garage that I can use for the ends of the frame & then I'll get two 12 ft ones tomorrow when I go to Derby. Then I will put braces in the each corner to give it more stability & that sounds good too to have one brace in the middle. Does that sound like enough room for 2 peahens & a peacock? I plan to just put tarp over the back part of the pen for some shelter. There will be a roost in there for them too, probably a tree branch like I used for the turkeys, I have plenty of those around here from branches that fall down.

Oh guess what, Sunflowerparrot & I went down to her neighbor's place down the road this evening & asked about their peacocks. They have them all over the place & they're just beautiful! We stood there talking to this older couple & looked up on some buildings they had near the house & right on the roof were two beautiful males, they were just gorgeous. The lady said she has either 13 or 15 male peacocks & has no females left now. I asked her if she would consider selling me one & she said she would just give me one, but the trick is to catch it. She free-ranges them all, so unless they can manage to put feed in a pen & trap one by chance there is no way to catch them. She has one yearling I would dearly love to have, he would be the closest to the age I'm needing, he was the last baby that came from the female she had. Oh everybody cross your fingers that they can get one in a pen, I would love to get one of those birds free! My next dilemma is if they do catch one how am I going to get it home? None of theirs have molted their tails yet, so how in the world do you get a big full-grown peacock home with that huge tail? It wouldn't be a very far distance, but it's a matter of how do I even get it here without damaging his tail. Danz, how did you get yours home? I just don't have a big huge cage to put something like that in to put in the back of the truck. All I have is rabbit cages & nothing big enough for a tail to fit in. Oh & while we were standing there that lady did this yell & you should have heard all the peacocks yelling back at her, it was amazing, they were all around us & we couldn't see most of them, I guess they were in the trees.

Sunflowerparrot, I hope your little roo & pullet appear in the morning, hopefully they just decided to roost in a tree somewhere & were scared. I do have a little young roo you can have if he doesn't show back up. I didn't show him to you, but he's a black sex link really similar to the one you have. He is black with some rust coloring around his neck. It's one I hatched out & I thought at first it was a pullet & it turned out to be a roo. I don't need him, so you're welcome to have him if yours is gone, he's about three months old or so, maybe going on four months. He seems like a pretty nice little guy so far, he hangs out with my little group of pullets I got in April. I don't know of any pullets I have extra right at the moment unless I can figure out what the two little Ameraucanas are that I have been holding back from this year's hatch. I only need one for breeding, so if I end up with two you could have one of those too if you want. I just have to be sure I have one for my breeding program first. I'm really thinking that one bigger one, the third one I saved might be a roo because it is fighting with my Salmon Favorelle roo. I was wanting to keep a replacement roo for my lavender Ameraucana hens so I can get some pretty lavender babies next year since these are black split to lavender. Anyway, if I end up with two pullets you can have the extra & then you could have some pretty blue eggs in your egg basket too.

 

[MsBagawkbagawk]

But they've been gone since about 1pm this afternoon...

It's okay! I've had a chicken not show up for weeks! Then just walk back down the driveway slightly confused. My FAVORITE CHICKEN EVER went missing once, I was heartbroken, I spent over an hour crying. You know what happened to her, she got stuck under a bucket, and she came out fine. Just don't worry, but be ready for anything. They might show up next week, and they might show up in the morning. You never know. Just check EVERYWHERE even in the weirdest places, like under buckets, under barns, on roofs, in trees, behind walls. EVERYWHERE. As long as you can do that and have faith that whatever happens will be OK, you'll be okay.

 

[HEChicken]

I agree with the others that they might still show up yet. If you haven't found evidence of a predator attack (piles of feathers or worse), then there is a good chance they're okay. Last December I lost two on the same day - a rooster and a hen. It was when I was still living in Wichita and our backyard was pretty safe. With no evidence of predators, I was sure somebody came into my backyard and stole them and I was so mad I put padlocks on both our gates which was inconvenient for us going back and forth but also made it more difficult for whoever it was to come back and get more.

On the third day, I was in the coop and heard a scratching noise above me. I couldn't see up on the roof very well but eventually figured out the hen was up there. I was overjoyed. I don't know how she got up there but she was stuck and didn't know how to get back down, and I was perplexed as to how to help her. I needed something to stand on, so pulled my bin of feed over to stand on, and the lid popped off. There in the feed bin was the missing rooster. I thought it was amazing that they both went missing the same day and I found them within minutes of one another, in two completely different places. I think the last time I filled the feeder I had left the lid ajar and he stuck his head in to see what was in there, realized it was the mother lode of food, climbed in to eat his fill and then couldn't figure out how to get back out so just hunkered down and slept for a couple of days. I got the hen down and the two of them went over to drink water for about 15 minutes straight, they were both so dehydrated.

Anyway, every situation is different but it really is amazing how many ways they can find to get trapped or lost and yet will show up a day or two later, so don't give up hope yet.

Trish, congrats on the free peacock - what a find. I hope you are able to trap one. I'm surprised they haven't molted their tail feathers yet. Percy at our barn has been molting for weeks and when I saw him this morning he really looks like a shadow of his former magnificent self.

Well, Cyrus flogged me tonight. I didn't see it coming because he's been so sweet up until now, but he ran up behind me and threw himself against the back of my legs. He doesn't have spurs yet and didn't draw any blood but he sure found out how to make me mad. I turned around and kneed him and then chased him a few more times to make him back down and away from me. After that I walked towards him several more times to make sure he got the message that he has to avert his eyes and walk away from me - not the other way around. He's at that hormonal age and I know he is trying to do a good job of looking after his hens so I'm not going to get too worried about it unless he doesn't outgrow it. He has such a sweet nature overall that I don't think it will become a problem, but I will be looking over my shoulder when I walk away for the next little while, I think, so he doesn't catch me unawares again.

 

[Trish44]

HEChicken, just keep facing Cyrus down every time you go out where he is. Face him & back him up into the coop or somewhere, they don't like it, it shows him that you're boss. Any time he shows any aggression towards you just give him a quick kick & run after him. When he sees that you aren't backing down & you're showing hm you're the leader he will leave you alone. That's what I had to do to my rooster I just gave away. He did spur me twice from behind before I finally had to show him who was boss, I hadn't seen it coming either. You can't let him get away with it now though or he will just continue & get worse. They get like this when they're teenage hormonal monsters. My other two haven't shown my any tendencies for being aggressive to me as of yet, but if they do I will show them my shoe again just like I did the other one. My big Black Copper Marans rooster is really hormonal right now & I'm just watching to see how he acts. The other one that is usually out free-ranging is so focused on aggravating my big Blackie, the Ameraucana roo in the pen that all he wants to do is stand there all day at the gate or on the side of the pen & they jump at each other through the fence. I'm trying to break him of it, but he just doesn't think of anything else but that, especially first thing in the morning. When I let him out of the run he goes right for Blackie & they commence to fighting through the fence. It's just crazy to watch. I can't let Blackie out of there at all because he just wants to literally kill all the roosters I have, he tried it the first day I had him & consequently he has been in the pen every since. He is a great breeder though & I got a lot of really nice chicks from him this year.

Yeah, well don't congratulate me yet on the peacock find, they have to catch one first!

 

[sunflowerparrot]

My next dilemma is if they do catch one how am I going to get it home? None of theirs have molted their tails yet, so how in the world do you get a big full-grown peacock home with that huge tail?

Sunflowerparrot, I hope your little roo & pullet appear in the morning, hopefully they just decided to roost in a tree somewhere & were scared. I do have a little young roo you can have if he doesn't show back up. I didn't show him to you, but he's a black sex link really similar to the one you have. He is black with some rust coloring around his neck. It's one I hatched out & I thought at first it was a pullet & it turned out to be a roo. I don't need him, so you're welcome to have him if yours is gone, he's about three months old or so, maybe going on four months. He seems like a pretty nice little guy so far, he hangs out with my little group of pullets I got in April. I don't know of any pullets I have extra right at the moment unless I can figure out what the two little Ameraucanas are that I have been holding back from this year's hatch. I only need one for breeding, so if I end up with two you could have one of those too if you want. I just have to be sure I have one for my breeding program first. I'm really thinking that one bigger one, the third one I saved might be a roo because it is fighting with my Salmon Favorelle roo. I was wanting to keep a replacement roo for my lavender Ameraucana hens so I can get some pretty lavender babies next year since these are black split to lavender. Anyway, if I end up with two pullets you can have the extra & then you could have some pretty blue eggs in your egg basket too.

Just a thought - especially since you'd get the bird for free.. how much would it cost to rent a small Uhaul/Budget truck? (I thought they were like $19.99 a day) - you could put the bird in the back of one of those and then go return the truck. I bet you could rent it by the hour??

Thank you so much for the kind offer! I will surely take you up on the rooster (am getting more hens in about 3 weeks.. I will be fine with hens) The age of your rooster is perfect too. I will wait a week to see what happens. My first thought when I woke up was about my 2 missing children; I hope they nearby and safe.

 

[Hawkeye95]

So, I went about the business of blowing out all the "first" eggs from all my hens and ducks. I bought stickers over the weekend and am going to decorate them and turn them into ornaments for the christmas tree. My cheeks were sore after all that work, but the chicks were happy with their scrambled egg treat last night!

I've also started cutting off the heads of our sunflowers and am drying them out. They'll be good treats for over the winter. My watermelon and cantelope have started to develop, so i'm hoping that it doesn't get too cool for them.

So how do you carefully blow out an egg? Do you drill a nice clean hole in it? Or do you have to somehow crack it?

Well, Cyrus flogged me tonight. I didn't see it coming because he's been so sweet up until now, but he ran up behind me and threw himself against the back of my legs. He doesn't have spurs yet and didn't draw any blood but he sure found out how to make me mad. I turned around and kneed him and then chased him a few more times to make him back down and away from me. After that I walked towards him several more times to make sure he got the message that he has to avert his eyes and walk away from me - not the other way around. He's at that hormonal age and I know he is trying to do a good job of looking after his hens so I'm not going to get too worried about it unless he doesn't outgrow it. He has such a sweet nature overall that I don't think it will become a problem, but I will be looking over my shoulder when I walk away for the next little while, I think, so he doesn't catch me unawares again.

Oh bad boy!! Looks like you'll have to be on your guard. When I was a kid, we kept a broom by the back door just so we could walk out to our cars! I remember having to drag that broom everywhere-- even to feed horses. I was well broke in to roosters when I was a little kid myself.

Yeah, well don't congratulate me yet on the peacock find, they have to catch one first!

Very cool about the peacock! Hope they can catch one for you.

Just a thought - especially since you'd get the bird for free.. how much would it cost to rent a small Uhaul/Budget truck? (I thought they were like $19.99 a day) - you could put the bird in the back of one of those and then go return the truck. I bet you could rent it by the hour??

Thank you so much for the kind offer! I will surely take you up on the rooster (am getting more hens in about 3 weeks.. I will be fine with hens) The age of your rooster is perfect too. I will wait a week to see what happens. My first thought when I woke up was about my 2 missing children; I hope they nearby and safe.

I was sure expecting to hear your birds had come back this morning. Sorry about that. Maybe they'll mosey on back in a while. Great idea about the UHaul! It might be fairly cheap..??

 

[chicken danz]

Trish the best way to catch a peacock is to have a pen or a trailer and feed them in it. Give them feed in there for a few days. Once they get relaxed going in to eat, you can just shut the door. It's best if you can do it about the same time every day so you know when to expect them. They are particularly hungry first thing every morning. When mine escaped I set up a dog kennel and managed to catch the run away hen the first day after the others were already in the pen. When all of them escaped it took me about 4 days of leaving feed in the trailer before I caught them in there and got the door shut. If your neighbor is willing to do that for you that would be great. If you chase them though you will NEVER be able to catch them. Don't even try.
If you get a peacock with a full tail the normal thing to do is bunch the tail together and cable tie it in three to four places to keep it from getting damaged.
I wouldn't worry about it this time of year. It is time to moult.
Later to catch a peacock the only way to do it is to grab it at the point their wings attach. Other wise they will either flog you to death or get injured. It is pretty hard to get hold of them even if you have them penned.
My male started moulting just yesterday and there were about 10 feathers in the pen already. It goes really quick. Most of the people I know with peafowl say theirs have already moulted or are doing so by now. I figure my male is moulting now since the peahen is getting ready to hatch her peachicks and he knows he isn't going to get to breed any more. If you happen to catch several in a pen I would definitely go with the yearling. Two reasons. He is closer to their age and it is torture for a male peacock that can't breed. Secondly because they are free range and it is going to be much easier to acclimate a younger peacock to being in a pen.
The standard for peafowl is 100 square feet per bird. It is recommended the pen be 6 foot high by 6 foot wide at least. My pen including housing is 8' X 32 foot. I actually have 4 birds in that one pen and they seem fine. I plan to have the pens set up with 3 birds per pen. A trio in each eventually. Your birds are young so they can get by for quite a while with less space. My other pair is in a pen that is about 10 X 16. I have 2 peacocks and 4 red golden pheasant in it. They are 18 month old birds. And my sweet little white peachick is still in the house in a large rubber maid bin and about 8 five week old chicks.
Speaking of him he is such a crazy little bird. He always pecks at my fingers when I give them fresh water. I'm not sure what that is about but I love the idea he is somewhat tame. I still don't know where I'm going to house him or hopefully any new hatches the mama peacock has.
Hawkeye I used to blow eggs when I was a kid. You make a small hole on one end and a slightly larger one on the other. Then you blow in the small end. I recently blew out some peachick eggs and I used my dremel tool to drill the holes. I was afraid of breaking the shells. I think we used to use an ice pick or a nail to make the holes when I was a kid. I am filling the peacock eggs so I can use them to put in nests to encourage laying. I do understand now why my Mom had us kids do the blowing. That is a lot of hard work for an old pair of lungs and lips.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Trish the best way to catch a peacock is to have a pen or a trailer and feed them in it. Give them feed in there for a few days. Once they get relaxed going in to eat, you can just shut the door. It's best if you can do it about the same time every day so you know when to expect them. They are particularly hungry first thing every morning. When mine escaped I set up a dog kennel and managed to catch the run away hen the first day after the others were already in the pen. When all of them escaped it took me about 4 days of leaving feed in the trailer before I caught them in there and got the door shut. If your neighbor is willing to do that for you that would be great. If you chase them though you will NEVER be able to catch them. Don't even try.
If you get a peacock with a full tail the normal thing to do is bunch the tail together and cable tie it in three to four places to keep it from getting damaged.
I wouldn't worry about it this time of year. It is time to moult.
Later to catch a peacock the only way to do it is to grab it at the point their wings attach. Other wise they will either flog you to death or get injured. It is pretty hard to get hold of them even if you have them penned.
My male started moulting just yesterday and there were about 10 feathers in the pen already. It goes really quick. Most of the people I know with peafowl say theirs have already moulted or are doing so by now. I figure my male is moulting now since the peahen is getting ready to hatch her peachicks and he knows he isn't going to get to breed any more. If you happen to catch several in a pen I would definitely go with the yearling. Two reasons. He is closer to their age and it is torture for a male peacock that can't breed. Secondly because they are free range and it is going to be much easier to acclimate a younger peacock to being in a pen.
The standard for peafowl is 100 square feet per bird. It is recommended the pen be 6 foot high by 6 foot wide at least. My pen including housing is 8' X 32 foot. I actually have 4 birds in that one pen and they seem fine. I plan to have the pens set up with 3 birds per pen. A trio in each eventually. Your birds are young so they can get by for quite a while with less space. My other pair is in a pen that is about 10 X 16. I have 2 peacocks and 4 red golden pheasant in it. They are 18 month old birds. And my sweet little white peachick is still in the house in a large rubber maid bin and about 8 five week old chicks.
Speaking of him he is such a crazy little bird. He always pecks at my fingers when I give them fresh water. I'm not sure what that is about but I love the idea he is somewhat tame. I still don't know where I'm going to house him or hopefully any new hatches the mama peacock has.
Hawkeye I used to blow eggs when I was a kid. You make a small hole on one end and a slightly larger one on the other. Then you blow in the small end. I recently blew out some peachick eggs and I used my dremel tool to drill the holes. I was afraid of breaking the shells. I think we used to use an ice pick or a nail to make the holes when I was a kid. I am filling the peacock eggs so I can use them to put in nests to encourage laying. I do understand now why my Mom had us kids do the blowing. That is a lot of hard work for an old pair of lungs and lips.

Okay, so a dremel tool. I have one of those, so maybe I will give it a try. It sure sounds like a fun thing to do! I made homemade playdough for the kids this morning. They were fighting over stupid stuff and so I whipped up a fresh batch of playdough and instant relief! LOL They are still happily playing... although, I'm sure their attention span will wear out soon...

I've been watering all morning. Trying to get the trees watered and I even set out the wide (the kids call it the rainbow sprinkler) sprinkler to try to water several of the trees that are close to each other all at once. It takes longer, but it also greens up the grass in between and makes it look a bit better out there. Been watering my baby catalpa and trees I have in the front yard. I need more trees out front-- I think I have just 3. I've been concentrating on planting in the back yard because the sun is so horrendous in the summer, that my main priority is to grow some shade out there first. But I think I have about 16 trees out back now, I can think about the front.

I hear it is supposed to get up into the high 90's again today. Bleah. I was really enjoying our cool weather, I want it back! So far, it's still REALLY nice out there! My temp is reading at 79 degrees right now!! Wheeeee!!!

 

[chicken danz]

I need to get in gear and get things done. It seems I don't get anything done unless it is last minute pressure.
I hatched a couple more of the redstar/brahma chicks this morning. And I moved the other eggs to the hatcher. I really intended to be all set up to vent sex them but it hasn't happened. The bin I have in here with special chicks is over full. I have the lavender orps, flower hens, 2 guineas, 3 redstar/brahma crosses, and one mutt in there. I need to make room in the brooder house and move some of them out there. It just makes me a nervous wreck if I can't watch them and check for pasty butt and stuff.
I have some sussex eggs in the incubator too. Hopefully they will be purebred. I only have the sussex rooster in that pen but they've been free ranging so I'm sure they've gotten bred a few times by another rooster. It was more of a fertility experiment this time around. I just don't really need any more mutt chicks.

Hawkeye, I just used a pointed bit on my eggs and it went really fast. I have 5 more peacock eggs I need to do as well but it's something I've put off. I am sure they won't be fresh!!!!

 

[Trish44]

Danz, well I would love to have the yearling peacock they have, but seeing as how they're offering it free I can't be too picky & whether they could even catch one at all is really a big IF. This couple are older & I don't know if they will take my request seriously or just shrug it off & forget it as too much trouble. I don't have a stock trailer, it would be nice if I did, then I could just take it over there & leave it for awhile & see if they could catch one in there. I wouldn't want to borrow a trailer from anyone knowing it could be sitting there for awhile. I know they said they did have a pen they could try getting them into, but it needed to have brush cleaned out of it. So we'll see if anything develops from it or not. I really didn't go there expecting anyone to offer me a free peacock, I offered to buy one.

Sunflowerparrot, any sign of your rooster & pullet yet? It's kind of strange they got separated from the others that much since they really have stayed pretty much together most of the time.

Well I may try to make that pen for the peafowl 8x16 if I can, I have enough livestock panels, it's just a lot more work to make one that big. I read on BYC that someone make a coop with these panels & they attached both sides to the bottom boards first & then scooted them towards the other boards & attached them instead of having to try to bend the panel & attach it. It was supposedly easier to do it that way, especially with just one person doing it. On the other hand, if this coop is only going to be temporary for the peafowl until they get old enough to free-range maybe the 8x12 will be big enough. I'm thinking that maybe after the peafowl are done with it that I could move the turkeys in there since that would be a bigger space for them & then I could use the pen they're in for another breed of chicken I'm wanting. Hmmmm......, that's an idea.

Danz, I know what you mean, I've been procrastinating about getting this house cleaned up & now I probably will have to work my butt off cleaning. I did start painting on the livingroom again last night & got most of the big wall done on the first coat, but I need to finish it & them touch up a bunch of places. That stuff they tried to do on the walls downstairs is just the pits to paint over because it's textured & you have to go over & over it to get all the spots that appear later that didn't get covered. I think these people that built this house were on something, if you saw the things they did you would probably think so too.