Hatching ethics questions...just wondering.

[Yoda]

As long as folks don't let things like this video happen i do not see any problem, this video breaks my heart, i am hoping someone just bought them and is transporting them but the video does show what can happen when you have more than the market can handle and you don't have a place for them.
To many folks put the cart before the horse cause they are impulsive and that usually ends in disaster

That is a very sad video. I saw a few that are sick and most likely died in that video

So many in on area that thye are pooping on each other - sick just sick

 

[Kedreeva]

To answer the original post, I know of at least one place that raises peafowl specifically for meat. They process at yearling age because the meat gets tougher after that. I think most people wouldn't eat their birds if there were extras, but I'd guess that not everyone is very responsible with their breeding.

I would rather sell the eggs than hatch them if I didn't have the space- I know that the eggs are DELICIOUS (I normally can't eat egg whites, but the texture of the peafowl egg white is very different) and there are people who have contacted me about purchasing eggs for crafts. This would be a good way to take care of the eggs without producing more birds if there's a problem with population... however, at the moment... most places don't have that problem. I've never had trouble finding homes for birds I didn't want, and I never let them leave my hands without thoroughly explaining how to properly care for them, and directing the new owner to these forums if they aren't already here.

 

[Lil Zoo]

My word. A place actually processes them for meat. It's hard for me to imagine. I guess when I was a child people use to pull pranks giving goats to other farmers. At that time everyone felt they were pretty worthless, and no one heard of eating a goat. Some children couldn't tolerate cows milk and goat was supplemented was the only purpose I remember of a goat. Today farmers are raising herds of them for milk, cheese and the meat. Maybe other cultures as India think peafowl is a table food. Some religions believe we should not eat pork. I would hope a peacock I raised would ever see a packing house.

I never thought about eating a peacock egg either.

 

[Kedreeva]

They are tasty! I was eating the early ones this year, because I was pretty certain they would be infertile. No sense wasting a perfectly delicious egg! After about 3 weeks of laying, I spotted my first fertile yolk, so I stopped and mailed them to some people.

The place that sells peafowl for meat sells them at $300 a head.... so I dunno. Seems like an OK deal to me. I wouldn't personally eat any of my own birds, but I don't particularly have a problem with other people doing it. I've heard it is not very good though.

 

[Lil Zoo]

They are tasty! I was eating the early ones this year, because I was pretty certain they would be infertile. No sense wasting a perfectly delicious egg! After about 3 weeks of laying, I spotted my first fertile yolk, so I stopped and mailed them to some people.

The place that sells peafowl for meat sells them at $300 a head.... so I dunno. Seems like an OK deal to me. I wouldn't personally eat any of my own birds, but I don't particularly have a problem with other people doing it. I've heard it is not very good though.

I was totally shocked when I picked up my 4 year old peacocks how light they are. They must be mostly feathers. That's a whole lot of money for a few pounds of meat even if they weren't so beautiful. Numerous places thru Nebraska and Wyoming offer Buffalo and Ostrich. Many eat it but it just doesn't appeal to me to try it. I'll stick to selling mine as birds if that doesn't work I'll give them away. We had Yorkie puppies, we chose to give them to the elderly and people suffering with conditions like Multiple Sclerosis, because we knew they would give and get a lot of love and attention.
Next spring I may give the pea eggs a try.

 

[Kedreeva]

They get a lot more on them if you feed them the wrong diet. Corn fed peacock, I'm sure, weigh a lot more. When the feather quality doesn't matter and you only need to get them to a certain age, I bet they can put a lot of weight on them. Not something I would care to do!

 

[zazouse]

Kedreeva i would think a corn fed diet they may weigh less because as you know peas don't gobble their food like chickens, they eat a bit at a time all threw the day, if you fed them corn they may get fat but there would be alot less meat because they cannot build muscle on corn alone ,hence they will be thinner.
I have processed a couple (they died) and there is alot of meat on those birds, i have photos but don't want to upset anyone by posting them.

 

[Kedreeva]

Well that's true, and I know mine would have as much meat as a heritage turkey (which is the sort we eat, I'm not fond of the broad breasted), but I know mine will also gobble any corn I put into the pen. Since I wasn't expecting them to feather out, and was expecting a really cold winter (that didn't happen), my few got a heavier portion of whole corn in their feed over last winter, and they gained a lot of weight (maybe it mattered that they were getting their normal mix as well? Layer and game bird and kitten chow, with just extra corn as well). Granted, it was probably fat, but the fat in other meats gives it flavor... maybe it would for peafowl meat as well? We give more corn to our pheasants for the last few weeks, to fatten them up some... I would expect it to be the same for peafowl, but again- never done it!

Would you mind PMing me the pics? I'm very curious and not offended by that sort of stuff. Always happy to learn from what's already happened!

 

[zazouse]

I am having trouble getting the image to the PM no matter how i try i get an error message, i will try again later.
Sometimes i hate the new setup here, i loved it when i could post them in multiples from my photo bucket

 

[Kedreeva]

Have you tried from Flickr? I can post multiple images from there... I wonder why it won't let you from photobucket? or did you just mean at a time, not per post?

At any rate, I'll PM you my email Thanks!