Hoping everyone is having an amazing summer... Miss u all.. And ...

[wannabchick]

Oh my g.. I can't beleive it's freaking August, kids to me just got out of school and now are before u know it about to go back.. Ayayaya
That's good and bad, love having them home,,but spending my days playing ref is driving me nuts..LOL

Iam hoping everyone is doing well??? And enjoying their summer..

Wqnted to say hi and ask u all something as well...

So here's my feeling I wanted to share and get advice all in one about my own personal experience of having peas..

I have 3, as my white hen passed away in late spring and thank u all again for helping me with what was going on with her.

I have 2 peacocks and now 1 peahen.. Here's my problem.. I FEEL SO GUILTY.... Why u ask?

Because their trapped in their pen with a huge tree to roost on, but nonetheless that's it... I watch my goats run around outside of their pen all day, my chickens all over my backyard all day.., my dogs.. All day run all over... But my poor peas.....

I feel just awful, like sad.. Because their not free, to fly and roam around. Anyone else feel this way?

I even placed in ad on craigalist ..priced them high.. Because after going to an auction near where I live.. People were purchasing them for food. I don't want them eaten!!! So no one bought them and that's okay..I figured if someone did then they really would give them a nice home, but then again.. I can't help but think,,what if they don't... Can they give them a better hone then me? Maybe..but turned one person down that did get close to wanting to purchase them..but realized he was just going to do what Iam doing.. A pen.. Etc

Should I wait and next spring.. Freerange them?

Anythoughts on this would be super helpful, or at least help me get past my guilt.

Xoxoxox

 

[Glenmar]

Where have you been?? I free range my peas. I kept them penned up for 6-8 weeks before letting them out. During that time I worked with them, feeding treats, etc.
When I let them out for the first time, I only let them out for an hour or so, then gently herded them back in. I slowly started increasing their free time. The only porblem you may have is during nesting time. If you free range your hen, you may not know where she is sitting on a nest. Mine is missing right now. I am not too worried because I think she is nesting. I am going to look for her this week.

 

[wannabchick]

Hey there... Miss u..
Lol.. Yes, but didn't u get those super sweet friendly peas?? Mine are not.. Very skid dish around me..etc..

I let them out, their might not be anyway of herding them anywhere..iam envisioning.. Freeeeeeedom.. High in the sky and gone..lol

Just not sure how to really go about doing this..etc.. And when to try this, that is why I was thinking next spring.. But then again, with snow and winter they may just love hanging out in my husbands workshop at the back of our property.

My neighbor made some comment when I was hinting that I may free range and they may end up liking his yard.. And made this bullet, shot gun comment..u know they say behind every joke their is some truth, that scared me.

Xoxo

 

[Glenmar]

It is taking a chance, but you could let out 1 boy. He likely would not go far if the others are still penned. My boy will eat out of my hand, but the girl is more cautious. I have caught him a couple of times and picked him up. I would have a hard time catching her.

 

[Yoda]

I have 2 acres of fenced land and I do not free range my peas. I want them to live as long as possible. I have fox, skunks, opossum and coyotes lurking around that will find my peahen nesting and then she is gone. Mine might be in a pen but are they happy? They lounge in the grass, sun bathe, fight, breed, display, eat and follow each other around - yup them seem happy to me. See most chickens will stay in the area of the coop because they nest there and sleep there so they really are not going to fly away and leave. But a pea flies and can fly away or be killed by something. Chickens are really cheaper to replace as peas are not. Where does a white pea go to hide from something? These things need to be thought of?
I watch my goats run around outside of their pen all day, my chickens all over my backyard all day.., my dogs.. All day run all over... But my poor peas..... You put your chickens, goats and dogs in at night where they are safe, where do you put the peas if you cannot herd them into a pen? My chickens and peas have a 65 foot by 45 foot pen to walk around or "free range" I seen pics of your pen and they look fine in it. I just wish I had a tree like that in mine so they have more room to roost. The tree in mine are sooo tall that I cannot do anything with it. Too tall to cut down and would cost a fortune to have someone do it for me

Try putting some plants and a couple shrubs in your pen to give them something to hide in.

 

[C&Rman]

Yes I agree with Yoda! Just because they are penned does not mean that they aren't happy. Mine seem very much happy! Even the wild one I caught looks very happy to me, she has food and water whenever she wants it! Always has a shelter and they have a 7ft tall roost! If you so conserned about them being penned couldn't you just build a bigger pen for them? If I rember correctly on one of your old post's that you bought a 50'x50' netting and you had way to much, couldn;t you just pull the netting over some more wire? Thats what I did!

I also planted many plants like junipers, and honeysuckle vines they love them lay under them when I water them...

 

[zazouse]

Welcome back,i have missed your post.
I know how you feel , i can not imagine having to pen mine after they have been free to range sence they were 4 months but ya know they go into their old pen when i leave it open and i sometimes lock them up for a few days to worm them and they are fine.

What i am saying is just cause you pen them does not mean they are unhappy.

What i have learned from mine is that they like change as they never range the same place or hang out in any one place for long so you can mix it up in their pen.

You can build them a brush pile, add new roost, make them a pallet platform,till up some ground in their pen,put a mirror in there, hang a head of cabbage ,just create things that gives them something different to explore and you will have fun watching them.

I would not turn mine loose if i had close neighbors as they range a very long way here and many times i can not find them, they are like ghost to ,they will be up for a treat and by time i get back out with one they are gone and i will see the white hen way in the distance at the wood line, i do not know how they get there so fast as they only fly when they get startled, oh and my peas are bad about following things that do not belong here, like deer,hawks,ducks, my daughters cat and dog ,you name it they will go honking after it,i am just waiting for them to meet up with the resident red wolves but i make sure i make my rounds with the dogs several times a day just in case they are out hunting.

Your peas have never been free ranged so i dought they miss what they have never had so i would not worry about them and enjoy their beauty in a safe place

 

[MinxFox]

Hey! Yeah I hate how school is just around the corner.

Each summer vacation seems shorter and shorter.

I don't think yours are unhappy. I do sometimes wish I could just throw open the door and let them all out and do whatever but then again what stops me is the searching...Almost every day when I first got peafowl and free-ranged my first pair I would search for them all over the yard. They had their normal hangouts but then they started to change it up a little and it was hard to guess were I was going to find them. If it were not for Ice being a blackshoulder hen I would have had a much harder time finding them. See I had this peacock named Fire, and one day he ran away and left poor Ice lonely in our yard. He went across a big busy road and was never in the same yard for long. We just couldn't find him and gave up but we always were hearing about old sightings of him passing through. We had to pen Ice back up because she soon left and we caught her in a person's backyard across a busy road. That kind of freaked me out about the whole free-range thing. I think next time I need to just worry less about not spotting the peafowl out roaming around right away. My peafowl seem fine in the pen. I do wish they could have a giant tree to roost in but they are just fine with their perches. I think if they were unhappy they might pace the pen all the time nonstop but my peafowl don't do that so I think they are pretty happy. I was going to let Alto and Pip free-range this next summer but with the death of Dragon, I need a male and Alto is the oldest male I have so the poor thing might have to just stay in the pen. I think it works best though if you have at least one peafowl penned to help anchor the free-ranging ones. When you visit peafowl breeders most of the time you can see that the free-range ones will stick close to the penned peafowl most of the time like perching on top of the pens and looking into the pens or displaying near them, ect. Whatever you do good luck and I hope you can keep them around if you free-range them, just don't let the dogs spook them.

 

[wannabchick]

Thank u ..all.. My dear pea friends... I feel so much better... Not freeing them... Okay maybe I need to rethink the words..freeing them.. Lol

Xoxoxoxoxo