First Attempt at Peafowl

[DylansMom]

Concrete floors take much more cleaning and expense than dirt floors covered with sand. I have a brooder house with concrete floor that gets wet when it rains, the water seeps in around the sides. I have to change out the bedding every couple of weeks or after every big rain. If you can make it shed water then it may work better, I know that DylansMom has a huge barn with concrete floors and I never hear her complain.

I'd be a fool to complain! My barn was originally built as a poultry house and the sucker is pretty waterproof, we have one spot where some freezing caused a crack in the foundation and in a torrential rain we have 2 pens that get some water in them, other than that we are quite dry. I use wood chips and clean to concrete once a year, the rest of the time we just spot clean under the roosts and add fresh chips. Attached runs are 20 x 30 and are big enough that they haven't been turned into dirt by the Peas.

 

[Tuhmu]

Yea, that's pretty much amazing and every poultry fanciers dream.

 

[DylansMom]

Yea, that's pretty much amazing and every poultry fanciers dream.

I got lucky, we bought this place for the land, and had no idea what we would do with such a big barn. Then after a few years I got bit by the Peafowl bug and managed to fill that barn up pretty quick.

 

[Tuhmu]

I got lucky, we bought this place for the land, and had no idea what we would do with such a big barn. Then after a few years I got bit by the Peafowl bug and managed to fill that barn up pretty quick.

Very lucky indeed. I'm starting from the ground up, which has some benefits too but man, I know I'll never get anything as beautiful as that "taj". Are there pens on the other side too? Can't tell from the photo.

 

[DylansMom]

Very lucky indeed. I'm starting from the ground up, which has some benefits too but man, I know I'll never get anything as beautiful as that "taj". Are there pens on the other side too? Can't tell from the photo.

There are interior pens on both sides, but no runs on the other side...... Someday! We use the other side as quarantine pens and for the older birds who are trustworthy enough to be allowed to free range regularly. In other words, they don't visit the neighbors. We also have a smaller shed with heat for our Burmese green Fred.

 

[Garden Peas]

I may be able to do concrete. I'm adding a 30' x 32' shop onto my pole barn, and there may be some concrete left over..not sure if it would be enough to do that much though..escpecially since I was hoping to use what's left on the truck to put in the "people" side of my barn.

Concrete itself is so expensive though, so if I don't have any left over (have to have three trucks come out for the shop) it's probably not going to happen. The flooring I had planned out in my latest design, is 3/4" osb supported by treated 2 x 6 's. with the new coop's plan's size being an 8' x 8' which I figured would be around $600 with steel siding and it being 8' tall in the front and 6ish' in the back. Planning on doing a large covered pen to make up for the space.

Hi Levi -- you are really putting the effort into planning

I don't know if you are going to be satisfied with 8 x 8 (especially if that's exterior dimensions), but I am pretty sure you aren't going to be happy with 8' roof tapering to 6' in the back once you start trying to figure out how to put a pea-appropriate roost in there. Remember adult train 5' - 6' has to go somewhere. And they need to have room above the roost to fly up and land. Plus there needs to be room to fly up and jump/fly down, so think about approach. If they are turning around on the roost, tail may bump back wall if the roost is close to it, and they may not be able to get down if they are pointed that way and need to turn around to get down. Those big trains just really make getting around awkward in a small space.

BTW, for a roost/perch, use a 2 x 4 or 2 x 6 laid flat so they can keep their toes covered at night and avoid frost-bitten toes. Wide side of board should be flat (parallel to the floor).

It's so much easier to build a little bigger from the start then to try to expand a too-small coop after the fact. Hope this helps!

 

[Tuhmu]

Hi Levi -- you are really putting the effort into planning

I don't know if you are going to be satisfied with 8 x 8 (especially if that's exterior dimensions), but I am pretty sure you aren't going to be happy with 8' roof tapering to 6' in the back once you start trying to figure out how to put a pea-appropriate roost in there. Remember adult train 5' - 6' has to go somewhere. And they need to have room above the roost to fly up and land. Plus there needs to be room to fly up and jump/fly down, so think about approach. If they are turning around on the roost, tail may bump back wall if the roost is close to it, and they may not be able to get down if they are pointed that way and need to turn around to get down. Those big trains just really make getting around awkward in a small space.

BTW, for a roost/perch, use a 2 x 4 or 2 x 6 laid flat so they can keep their toes covered at night and avoid frost-bitten toes. Wide side of board should be flat (parallel to the floor).

It's so much easier to build a little bigger from the start then to try to expand a too-small coop after the fact. Hope this helps!

Everything you say makes perfect sense, I'll have to go back to the drawing board. Hard to compare to anything though, as most seem to be way way smaller than anything I've planned so far. Going to toss the idea of making a small pole barn type building again.

 

[Garden Peas]

Everything you say makes perfect sense, I'll have to go back to the drawing board. Hard to compare to anything though, as most seem to be way way smaller than anything I've planned so far. Going to toss the idea of making a small pole barn type building again.

What are your plans about heat, btw? I notice you are in North Dakota... Many folks don't use supplemental heat, but not many places in the US get as cold as North Dakota, either. Blues can take quite a bit of cold; Greens need warmer temps. I personally worry about frost-bitten toes (I have a pea who can't cover one of his feet very well), though my birds generally do okay in the freezing weather we have here. I try to keep my coop above 32 degrees because of the exposed foot -- but it's gotten down to 28 or so in there and been okay. I have deep pine shavings for them -- he can't roost either, so he nestles himself into the shavings at night.

I have seen horrific photos of peas with burned toes from heated roosts that went bad and cooked their toes, so I am personally totally afraid of heated roosts. I don't feel the benefit is worth the risk. Safety depends on having the right parts and then hoping it never goes bad -- not my cup of tea.

Are you going to insulate your building and heat somehow? Or just let them take their chances with the cold? Just asking because that's another preplanning piece that you don't want to have bite you down the road... Of course, being in North Dakota, thinking ahead about staying warm in winter probably comes with the territory...

 

[Tuhmu]

I'm probably going to insulate it but not heat it. Some people in the area have peafowl that are for the most part feral, and seem to be fine. With my hens, the biggest thing I run into is not enough ventilation and it getting so moist in there. So, going to have to figure out something where I can have some good ventilation but cover it when needed for those -50 below wc and 50 mph winds.

That's another part of my pen too, with wind, is I want to have one solid wall. So the coop and the wall would make an L (sort of) to block some of the northwest wind. The wind is always always blowing here, until 6-6:30, and like clockwork it shuts off. (most of the time) I'm guessing the pea's wouldn't have much fun fanning their tails if its getting blown over their head.

Right now the coop plan is to just cough up the dough and do a 12' x 12' coop, the run dimensions are still negotiable but I'm thinking in the 20' x 20' range. (can always make that larger) Maybe getting to come out of the pen in the evenings, irregularly, if they come back in like chickens.....do they?

Update with the first three eggs, only one is developing, tossed the other two. Have 16 others that I'm going to set tonight. Didn't realize how stupid that was, to spend that much in eggs for a "maybe" instead of just getting some chicks from someone and skipping the "if they hatch" step. Lesson learned.

 

[Garden Peas]

Levi, it's not stupid to hatch your own - peas are very personable birds and if you interact with them, will be tamer. As for coming back in when you let them out... no guarantees on that one. Some do, some don't. Some will want tho join the feral flock. Most will go inside the coop from the pen, but not all will go back into the pen from the yard. Depends on the bird and the hormones and the wanderlust... They are very curious and interested in exploring. Free ranging is possible, but sometimes they go feral (as you already know).

You may want to think about how to cover the "L" with some sheet metal or something solid that can withstand the wind and snow load. They will like that... They do need protection from the wind.

Have you decided what you are going to cover the pen with? Netting has more give than chicken wire, so it saves necks from getting broken when they startle, but you will need very strong netting if there is a heavy snow load. Commercial sports netting works well, and there are other options. Like pheasants, they can jump up and burst into flight rather explosively.

Hope your eggs hatch - good luck!