How do I befriend my new peachicks

[littlemonstir]

I bought 4 birds from a breeder that don't seem to have been handled much. I've had them almost 2mths and they are not interested in making friends. I sit in the pen and talk to them and try to bribe them with treats. All I get in return is neck puffs and click noises. Any advice on befriending them?

 

[KsKingBee]

Withhold food so they are hungry when you come to visit in the morning, take excess away in the evening so they have cleaned up what they have by the time you feed in the morning. Before feeding offer a special feed they don't normally get, I mix an egg with about a cup or so of crumbles. Very moist crumbles are incredibly appealing to young peas, they will be eating out of your hand in no time. If they are really wild you may have to put a little pile on the feeder so they can figure out what you have, then try again.

 

[KsKingBee]

Here an imprinted hen lets me feed her babies.







It is always better to start out at an early age.

 

[Birdrain92]

I bought 4 birds from a breeder that don't seem to have been handled much. I've had them almost 2mths and they are not interested in making friends. I sit in the pen and talk to them and try to bribe them with treats. All I get in return is neck puffs and click noises. Any advice on befriending them?

I got my White peacock by catching him every day so he got used to me catching him. That I got him used to perching on my arm and staying there. Then letting me pet him while he is perched and then I put a tether on and walked him outside.

 

[ILuvsChicks]

I got my White peacock by catching him every day so he got used to me catching him. That I got him used to perching on my arm and staying there. Then letting me pet him while he is perched and then I put a tether on and walked him outside.

You have some type of harness to put on them to use the tether? Where would someone find one of those?

 

[Birdrain92]

You have some type of harness to put on them to use the tether? Where would someone find one of those?

I made my brace and tether at home. I just buy all the materials at craft stores. Buy leather, leather hole puncher, rivets, leather thread or leather shoe laces. Tether is like a string that attaches to the bird's legs. The tether is to keep the bird from flying away from you. They have two options when the tether goes tight, come back or they land on the ground.

Here is my arm brace and tether with my White peacock I trained. Next fall he should start growing in a train. You can see the brace on my right arm. I bought leather, I already had a leather hole puncher to punch some holes in it, I bought some rivets that way when I added the leather thread it wouldn't keep catching on the leather it could pass through with ease. I made it so my bird could get farther away from me if I have him on the ground. The tether is about 4 feet long from my arm to the bird. This is my new one that covers my entire forearm. My previous one only covered part of my arm and my peafowl that were yearlings would always have one foot going into my skin and their claws could easily pierce your skin.

 

[new 2 pfowl]

Just got to jump in here to say that the tethers only work for @Birdrain92 because he spends a lot of time working with his peas and getting them used to being restrained in this way.

In general, peapeople don't recommend tethers because peas are quite strong, and restraining them by one leg creates a strong risk of breaking their leg when they try to get away.

 

[Birdrain92]

Just got to jump in here to say that the tethers only work for @Birdrain92 because he spends a lot of time working with his peas and getting them used to being restrained in this way.

In general, peapeople don't recommend tethers because peas are quite strong, and restraining them by one leg creates a strong risk of breaking their leg when they try to get away.

X2. You have to work with them a lot to do what I do. I know some zoos have some people that do shows with peafowl tethered but their tether is different then my tether. Their tether has a circle wrapped in leather and tied to the bird's leg and they have leather thread with a clip to clip to the loop. Mine is a loop that connects the leg goes into and then I tighten the loop to the leg. It's not tight enough to cut off blood circulation. The zoos work with their birds. You always have to be cautious, peafowl are animals and at any moment they can go to their instinct. You have to be ready for it. The only part that I'm cautious about are small children. Mainly because they see peacock and want to pull feathers.

 

[Birdrain92]

Also I've been having lots of people ask me how do I train my peafowl. I'm going to be making a video to help explain because it's hard to get all the needed details in a small paragraph. My male is done molting and all I need is someone to film and then I can start the video series.

 

[littlemonstir]

I've tried that but these birds are strange. They will not eat boiled eggs or anything that has touched or mixed with boiled egg. I catch them once a day to look over them and try to calm and pet them but they aren't getting any friendlier. I really don't think they where handled at all by the breeder.