Im getting peafowl. problem: ive never had them and know nothing about them. please help.

[nathanmouse]

So we have finally gotten my father to accept the fact that no matter what he does, we are getting peafowl. so I know enough about breeds to know that we want some indian blues. so first off, our coop is un insulated, but we will put in heat lamps and heated roosts. plus were in greater vancouver so we seldom get temperatures below -7 celcius. its about 10 by 15. is that big enough? also are glass windows okay? ive heard horror stories about peas flying into them. so one thing ive never been able to find is male to femalae ratios. id idealy like to have two males. but i dont know how many hens i would need to keep them from fighting with each other, and if these hens would be too many to fit in the coop? also, we dont have a run with a roof on top. is that okay? we do have a large yard with a approx. 4 foot fence. if their wings were clipped would that be enough to keep them in? (on the subject of wing clipping we would have to put them in the coop at night. would that be a huge task?) so we also plan on free ranging them. we have 1.5 acres of clear land for them to roam. would that be enough? also we dont have a gate, would that be a problem? our driveway is approx. 200 feet if that makes a difference. another thing, we have a 100 pound goldendoodle dog, who i can safely predict will try to make friends with them. he is very enthusiastic about it as well. we do have a fenced yard to keep him in though. will this be a problem? the road we are on is a slight concern, as though its not super busy, it is not a farm road. speed limit 70. i would hate to lose a bird. are we going to need a gate? one last thing is, i have heard if we raise them from a young age, they will be more friendly, and less likely to go exploring down the street. we would like to raise them from youngsters, but we also want to be sure about their genders, what age should we get them at? one definitely last thing is, i have heard they need to be wormed. no idea what that means or entails. thank you SO VERY MUCH for reading this. I would be greatful for ANY help. Thanks!

-Nathan

 

[new 2 pfowl]

OK, I'll bite. Although I am thinking this is a troll...

No offense if you aren't a troll, but I wonder how you could talk your father into getting peas if you are so completely uninformed about their care, and about how to keep them comfortable and safe.

I'd recommend the first thing you do is educate yourself about peafowl and their care. The questions you are asking have been answered here many times, and if you do some searching, you will find most of the information you are looking for. There is also a great deal of basic information on the stickies:

"Sticky" Threads for the "Peafowl" forum:

• Peafowl - "Sticky" topics index

But just so you know:
-peas need at least 100 square feet per bird, so your pen is not big enough
-if you free range, your peas will immediately roam off your 1.5 acres and onto the highway
-peas are in extreme danger from predators if their wings are clipped
-a 4-foot fence will not stop them even if their wings are clipped
-a gate will not stop them
-your dog will scare them into flying away


Well, I probably just embarrassed myself by chasing a troll, but...
anything to prevent a poor pea from being crushed by a speeding semi truck...

 

[MinxFox]

There is a lot of information on this site already to answer your questions. We are all willing to help, but if you really want peafowl you must do your own research first. I was only able to be allowed to get peafowl AFTER I did all my research. A lot of the things I learned I found on my own, and then I did ask questions on the forums if there was something I could not find on my own. I think you will remember all the info more if you have to actually go find it rather than someone handing it to you, no offense. Basic things like what to feed them, pen size, etc are all very easy things to find.

2 males will fight each other if they are in the same pen, and it doesn't seem to matter how many peahens you give them. They will fight for their territory and the right to breed, because what will likely happen is one peacock will do all the breeding and the other won't get to breed. I have kept 3 males in with each other and they fought often and one male was always having to run and hide in a dog box. That is why I am going to make a pen for each male now because it is unfair to the peacocks that are not dominant to be trapped in a pen with a dominant male.

You certainly need to research worming peafowl and how to keep them healthy. There are many sources on worming peafowl (which is done at least 2 times a year). Worming is treating to get rid of worms in the bird. Just like how you give a dog pills from the vet to keep it from getting heart worms and stuff, you also have to treat your peafowl for things like that.

Peafowl can fly very well so you need netting over the top of their pen. Glass windows might not be a good idea. Anything that you read that could kill peafowl if they fly into, stay away from.

 

[DylansMom]

So we have finally gotten my father to accept the fact that no matter what he does, we are getting peafowl. so I know enough about breeds to know that we want some indian blues. so first off, our coop is un insulated, but we will put in heat lamps and heated roosts. plus were in greater vancouver so we seldom get temperatures below -7 celcius. its about 10 by 15. is that big enough? also are glass windows okay? ive heard horror stories about peas flying into them. so one thing ive never been able to find is male to femalae ratios. id idealy like to have two males. but i dont know how many hens i would need to keep them from fighting with each other, and if these hens would be too many to fit in the coop? also, we dont have a run with a roof on top. is that okay? we do have a large yard with a approx. 4 foot fence. if their wings were clipped would that be enough to keep them in? (on the subject of wing clipping we would have to put them in the coop at night. would that be a huge task?) so we also plan on free ranging them. we have 1.5 acres of clear land for them to roam. would that be enough? also we dont have a gate, would that be a problem? our driveway is approx. 200 feet if that makes a difference. another thing, we have a 100 pound goldendoodle dog, who i can safely predict will try to make friends with them. he is very enthusiastic about it as well. we do have a fenced yard to keep him in though. will this be a problem? the road we are on is a slight concern, as though its not super busy, it is not a farm road. speed limit 70. i would hate to lose a bird. are we going to need a gate? one last thing is, i have heard if we raise them from a young age, they will be more friendly, and less likely to go exploring down the street. we would like to raise them from youngsters, but we also want to be sure about their genders, what age should we get them at? one definitely last thing is, i have heard they need to be wormed. no idea what that means or entails. thank you SO VERY MUCH for reading this. I would be greatful for ANY help. Thanks!

-Nathan

I'll bite too. If you know nothing about Peafowl, what made you decide to get them? They are nothing like chickens, they are much harder to house, and raise and keep safe.

Nathan, I am wondering how old you are? No offense meant by the question, I just don't quite understand how you could have reached adulthood without knowing what, why and how you worm an animal. Do you worm your Goldendoodle? The Peacocks will get many of the same types of internal parasites he does.

 

[Garden Peas]

So we have finally gotten my father to accept the fact that no matter what he does, we are getting peafowl. so I know enough about breeds to know that we want some indian blues. so first off, our coop is un insulated, but we will put in heat lamps and heated roosts. plus were in greater vancouver so we seldom get temperatures below -7 celcius. its about 10 by 15. is that big enough? also are glass windows okay? ive heard horror stories about peas flying into them. so one thing ive never been able to find is male to femalae ratios. id idealy like to have two males. but i dont know how many hens i would need to keep them from fighting with each other, and if these hens would be too many to fit in the coop? also, we dont have a run with a roof on top. is that okay? we do have a large yard with a approx. 4 foot fence. if their wings were clipped would that be enough to keep them in? (on the subject of wing clipping we would have to put them in the coop at night. would that be a huge task?) so we also plan on free ranging them. we have 1.5 acres of clear land for them to roam. would that be enough? also we dont have a gate, would that be a problem? our driveway is approx. 200 feet if that makes a difference. another thing, we have a 100 pound goldendoodle dog, who i can safely predict will try to make friends with them. he is very enthusiastic about it as well. we do have a fenced yard to keep him in though. will this be a problem? the road we are on is a slight concern, as though its not super busy, it is not a farm road. speed limit 70. i would hate to lose a bird. are we going to need a gate? one last thing is, i have heard if we raise them from a young age, they will be more friendly, and less likely to go exploring down the street. we would like to raise them from youngsters, but we also want to be sure about their genders, what age should we get them at? one definitely last thing is, i have heard they need to be wormed. no idea what that means or entails. thank you SO VERY MUCH for reading this. I would be greatful for ANY help. Thanks!

-Nathan

Hi Nathan, welcome to the peafowl forum!

As you can tell from the other answers, people are pretty protective of their Peas. Peas are definitely harder to manage than chickens, and it takes a lot longer to grow one to adulthood. Peas can live 20 years or more, so they are a long-term commitment, more like getting a dog or a horse than chickens.

Yes, please read everything you can find and learn about how to care for Peas. It sounds like you don't have any yet, so it's good that you are trying to find out the information first, before bringing them home. You should also plan to build your pen(s) first, and make sure that you have all the knowledge you can before you bring them home.

Free ranging your birds will not be safe if you have a 70 mph highway near by. There was a zoo near my old home that had free range Peas, and the stupid feral cat people could not be stopped from continuing to put cat food in the bushes across from the zoo. It is a sad thing to see a Pea killed by a car, and the speed limit on that road was only 30 mph. Peas can't take off quick enough to avoid getting hit by a 70 mph vehicle. Likewise, clipping wings is not something I would recommend for a free range bird, as it makes it unable to evade predators.

I do not recommend heated roosts as there are folks who have had Peas get their feet seriously damaged by heated roosts.
It will be easier to answer your questions if you write smaller posts and do your research first. There's lots of information here on BYC, if you will use the search feature. Good luck!

 

[zazouse]

 

[DylansMom]

Zaz, how many acres of land do your Peas have to free range on, and how far would you say they roam? Mine are penned so I can't really say how far they would go if allowed, I do know that fences and gates will make no difference to them.

 

[KsKingBee]

Hmmm, we free range 32 adult peas on our 160 acres, however they have yet to roam off over a hundred yards in any direction. I am guessing that would be around six acres? They just recently found their way across the creek to new unexplored territory. They would have to go about a half mile to get to the road that is nearly never traveled on.

 

[Trefoil]

, our coop is un insulated, but we will put in heat lamps and heated roosts. plus were in greater vancouver so we seldom get temperatures below -7 celcius. its about 10 by 15. is that big enough? As long as you have adequate outdoor (run) space that could be divided into 2 shelters with individual runs (large). also are glass windows okay? You will need to put netting,fencing, or something to protect the birds and windows.. so one thing ive never been able to find is male to femalae ratios.Two, three, or more depending on the health and age of the birds and the amount of room. id idealy like to have two males. If you divided your coop into 2 "stalls" with a solid divider between them and a separate covered run off each side of the shed, one for each "stall" you would probably have enough room for 2 males, each with 2 hens, but your runs will need to be LARGE. also, we dont have a run with a roof on top. is that okay? An uncovered run won't work, you will lose your birds either to predators or escaping. You need a large, covered and well protected run, with the shed room you have they are going to need to be free to go out all the time and your run needs to be safe from predators. we do have a large yard with a approx. 4 foot fence. if their wings were clipped would that be enough to keep them in? (on the subject of wing clipping we would have to put them in the coop at night. would that be a huge task?) so we also plan on free ranging them. we have 1.5 acres of clear land for them to roam. would that be enough? The 4' fence will work as long as you take care of the extra height needed by how you arrange the top. Your fence must have a top on it, for most people netting works well and by putting the supports high enough you can alleviate the effects of the 4' fencing. also we dont have a gate, would that be a problem? our driveway is approx. 200 feet if that makes a difference.Peas seem to be attracted by roads, free range won't work with the amount of space you have. another thing, we have a 100 pound goldendoodle dog, who i can safely predict will try to make friends with them. he is very enthusiastic about it as well. we do have a fenced yard to keep him in though. will this be a problem? Properly introduced, the dog may be a help against predators, but care will be needed during the introductory stage. the road we are on is a slight concern, as though its not super busy, it is not a farm road. speed limit 70. i would hate to lose a bird. are we going to need a gate? They would just fly over a gate. one last thing is, i have heard if we raise them from a young age, they will be more friendly, and less likely to go exploring down the street. we would like to raise them from youngsters, but we also want to be sure about their genders, what age should we get them at? That depends on your experience with raising fowl. It would probably be easier to get them at a couple of months old if you don't have any experience with babies. one definitely last thing is, i have heard they need to be wormed. no idea what that means or entails. Worming is easy, just get in the habit of having fecals done (usually by a vet) a couple of times a year, I worm at least once a year even if the fecals come back negative, just to be safe. Do your research on the different wormers available and don't use the same type every time.
From experience I can tell you that you want to have their housing completely done BEFORE you get any birds, if they escape they will be gone. Housing & feeding tend to be a work in progress so there will be things you will change as you gain experience, but the basics remain the same. Do your research on what you are going to feed them and where you'll get it, the more you know about peas before you get them the more success and the less problems you will have. I hope this has been some help, good luck.
-Nathan

I do not recommend heated roosts as there are folks who have had Peas get their feet seriously damaged by heated roosts.

I don't want to "steal" this thread, but the heated roosts post really disturbed me as its one of the easier ways to help peas out during really cold weather. Can you tell us more about how the peas were injured by it. I hadn't heard of this problem before.

 

[Garden Peas]

I don't want to "steal" this thread, but the heated roosts post really disturbed me as its one of the easier ways to help peas out during really cold weather. Can you tell us more about how the peas were injured by it. I hadn't heard of this problem before.

Here's a photo of foot damage that was apparently the result of heat tape on a roost, the tape was covered with carpet (the same way I had INTENDED to install some at my place, before I saw the photos) -- Can you see the shriveled toes on the left foot?



Here's a link to the thread on the UPA forum that had the photos and discussion:

http://upaforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=1955&highlight=heated+roost

I totally freaked when I saw the photo, and freaked worse when someone else wrote in about having to wrap her hen's "peg leg" weekly after the hen's foot fell off from getting damaged on a heated roost.

Scared the willies out of me.