Housing Peafowl

[horselove]

Hello!
There is a variety of basic pea info, including housing info, in the Peafowl Stickies:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/389059/peafowl-sticky-topics-index

For the most part, peas prefer to sleep high up in trees and not in a pen, so IMO free ranging in the day and keeping them in at night is not likely to be a successful plan (others here will hopefully share their thoughts about this).

How much property do you have?

I have plenty of property

 

[izigg]

My male has been free range since he moved in and took over three yrs ago and stays in my garage in the winter. In the summers he would sleep in the high pine branches sum forty feet in the air or sometime on my chimney until one night he had a coon encounter across the road and let out a cackle and flew straight for my head as I duck he flew into the open garage up on his platform where he stayed the night where sometime around 2 or 3 am a few coons tried to get in with such a ruckus he was squawking and as they tried to get through the pen hell fire rained down upon them and they were no more and I went back to bed where upon day light I opend the garage and let my bird " Kevin " out and after several hours of not hearing or seeing him I went looking and found him starring frozen in space at a dead coon afterwards I grabbed by the tail and tossed in the garbage can but ever since then he sleeps in the garage every night now and we are minus a few coons around here as well. Prior to this my main concern were predators and still will be when you live amongst the wild things of North America. Learning quickly a few traits about peacocks I have been able to get him to come into the garage using bread, particularly hot dog buns, they are soft and a little sweet and they love them in small pieces, also using cantaloupe seeds and guts. A trick is not to give them a lot of any treat all that often but try to give them a little treat when your around them and then they start looking at you for more.I also have to cover up my chrome bumpers on my truck or he will fight my truck all day long without even stopping to eat or drink he just goes nuts and will attack cars and trucks of fishermen parking nearby. Also peacocks are territorial so by putting holding out a life size mirror I can get Kevin to pretty much charge the mirror and he will come running into the garage to attack it, didnt know that at first that was his intentions but after watching him attack the mirror and realized the danger I quickly took down the mirrors from his roost in the garage and hid them, that was before he had a harem and was by himself, now he has 4 mature females now 2yrs old he has been around since 2yrs only I have kept them in an outdoor pen with inside access to the garage separated until just last week by large holed chicken fencing they could preen each other through. Since the girls I bought at 6months old do not know to roost high in the trees Im unable to let them free range just yet because anything could get them at night as my previous attempts to let them free range failed and I had to collect them at 1am off the ground in various places with a flashlight and talking to them kept them calm allowing me to pick them up and put them in the pen, one female was sleeping in a creek bed full of water running around her. Im not sure if I can teach them to roost in the trees but my male I have no worries about he knows the garage door closes at dark and he is in or out but on nights when I know bad storms are coming I bring him in and just before hunting season I bring him in for the winter. He also hates rain and thunder and will run for the garage anytime he hears a storm. So maybe my tricks will help you to free range your birds also