Getting peacocks!

[Jmanvanatta]

I found a guy selling peacocks for 75 dollars is that agood price and i have 6 acers for them and was wondering how many eggs they lay a year?

 

[ImpulsiveFarmer]

That's not a too bad price considering hatcheries charge about $40 bucks a chick plus shipping. Peacocks don't lay eggs though, peahens do.

I have no idea how many they lay a year. I have looked into getting a couple, but have never actually owned any.

 

[zazouse]

How old are they for that price?
What color are they?
If you want them to stay on your 6 acres you might think of starting with babies, they are much easer to teach boundaries than older peas are, i have 100 acres and my peas no less than 25 of them and more when they get a bug in their but and go hide from me, my DH says they laugh at me when i am trying to find them cause they come when i call them, but when they decide to go on a walkabout outside their normal area they will not answer back to me, bad peas

They are laughing at me cause i may have just walked past them while they were hunkered down in a sweet spot.
What i love is i go to make my rounds and they are not around, i look for them and nothing, get back to the safe area and they are up in the loft of the barn looking down at me.
I love them, they keep me on my toes.

 

[Jmanvanatta]

They are indian blue and black shoulder about 2 years old also i have a big pond is that dangerouse

 

[Kedreeva]

They are indian blue and black shoulder about 2 years old also i have a big pond is that dangerouse

Are they india blue AND blackshoulder (solid wing) or are there two birds and one of them is india blue (barred wing) and one is india blue (solid wing)?

Around here, regular india blue males typically are listed for about $125. When I go to bird swaps, you will sometimes see people selling yearling males for $35, and they'll take $20 by the end of the swap. I have seen people asking anywhere from $5 a chick to $80 a chick, with the usual being ~$15-20. I have seen adults be listed anywhere from $30-300 each. So, is it a good price? Well, it's about average for an india blue. The blackshoulder mutation typically sells for a little more here, so if they are blackshoulder birds, then that's an ok average price.

As for free ranging them- totally agree with Zaz. If you want free range birds, look into hatching some yourself. Older birds can often have a difficult time figuring out that where they are is "home" unless there are other peas penned to call them in.

As for the pond- nope! In fact, your peas will enjoy hunting bugs and small fish (if there are any) and frogs around the edges of the pond. The first time I added any sort of water feature to the pea pen, Octavian got algae stains on his legs from standing around in it so much. Silly bird.

If you want to figure on how many eggs, their breeding season lands somewhere in the span of April to August (often times shorter). So let's say an average of 3 months (may to july, which is fairly mid range and typical I think). If your hen lays an egg every other day (because they typically do, they are not "every day" layers), then about 45 eggs. However, they also seem to "cycle" 2-3 times, and won't lay for a few days sometimes. If it gets too hot, they might stop laying in favor of working to keep cool. So how many eggs a year? My guess would be 30-35 average.

 

[Jmanvanatta]

there are black sholder and indian blues.

 

[Kedreeva]

Well they're all india blues

But I get what you mean- and that's a decent price if you get the blackshoulders.

 

[zazouse]

They are indian blue and black shoulder about 2 years old also i have a big pond is that dangerouse

They will be fine around the pond, mine actually go to the pond a couple times a day to catch fresh water shrimp ,tadpoles ,snales and minnows

Click to enlarge

 

[NateinFL]

Do they really eat minnows? I might go catch some for mine I have a creek right behind my house...free source of protein!

 

[Kedreeva]

Do they really eat minnows? I might go catch some for mine I have a creek right behind my house...free source of protein!

Yep. I put rosie reds into their kiddie pool for them, or toss them live on the grass. If they haven't seen them before they might be leery at first, but mine figured it out pretty quick.