I'm sure these questions have been answered...

[BernerBabe]

I have always wanted a peacock but have not wanted my parents to have to live with a noisy bird that they don't love (they put up with so many of my other animals) It has always been a standing joke that I would get a peacock as a house warming gift to myself when I bought my first home. I'm getting close to getting my own farm and had some questions for you peafowl lovers.
1. Can you keep a single male by himself? will he be more quiet by himself or will he call more because he is by himself? He would be a pet/ beauty to look at, I'm not planning on breeding.
2. Is it better to get a chick or an adult? I don't want him to be super flighty but I don't need to hold and hug him either. And if you get a young bird how old are they before they make the loud mating call noises?
Sorry for all the questions just trying to do this right. I've had pigeons, chickens and geese for a long time but not experience with the peafowl family.

 

[MinxFox]

You can get a peachick, that might be best so that they get used to your yard and know were they will be staying if you are going to free-range him. With a peachick you would maybe want one a few months old just to be sure it is a male and not a female. Peafowl are social but when you raise one up it will love people and probably won't need other peafowl friends. You can also get a yearling peacock. At that age they can still warm up to you fairly well. If you are not free-ranging then you can go ahead and get an adult peacock but it is always harder to free-range the adults than it is the younger ones. When a peacock is three years old he makes the loud call and also at three he has his first train (the display with all the eye feathers).

We know a guy named Spec who only has two peacocks and no peahens roaming around on his farm. He didn't want to breed peafowl but liked the beauty of the males. He hand raised the two peacocks he has so they walk up to you when you are outside and beg for food because they are used to people and when he is outside grilling on the balcony they are there next to the grill interested in all the steam coming out of it. We are raising a male white peachick for him actually right now. Later when it is bigger and we are certain it is a male we will give it to him to add to his free-ranging peacock group.

I don't know if the males are louder without peahens or not because I have always had peahens and peacocks but to me one peacock is not very noisy at all. I really like the call they make. Of course some peacocks seem to like to call more than others. They only call durring the breeding season, spring-summer, and the rest of the year they are really quiet.

I wanted peafowl since I was little and went to the zoo and saw a peacock displaying. Then when I found out you could have them as pets I went crazy researching them and looking at breeder websites. We visited a breeder and my parents were still not ready for peafowl. My dad especially. Finally a few years after that I got interested in them again after visiting the Big Cat Rescue that has free-range peafowl on the grounds of the place. I started drawing peafowl and looking more into them and our local zoo closed down and we found out who got all the zoo peafowl and so my first peafowl were two zoo peafowl. That was only maybe 2 or 3 years ago so I haven't had peafowl that long. I tried free-ranging my first peafowl but because they were adults the peacock left and we had to catch the peahen. I still have the peahen she is on a nest right now with the eggs due to hatch any day now hopefully today. Peafowl are very cool and much better than I thought they would be. I knew they would be beautiful but I just didn't picture them as interesting as they are...It is hard to describe...You should be fine with one peacock, you could have two peacocks so they could be friends also if you wanted. I think you can have a few males and they won't fight as long as there isn't a peahen.

Good luck getting peafowl, do you know what variety you want to get? Make sure you get the one you really want there are so many cool varieties! Here are a few of the 225 varieties with pictures:
http://database.amyspeacockparadise.com/

This peafowl breeder site has very beautiful pictures of peafowl.
http://texaspeafowl.com/

Oh and a breeder directory listing so you can find peafowl breeders in your area:
http://www.peafowl.org/breeders.htm

Hope this helps get you on your way to having a peacock!

 

[Frosty]

If you have had geese, the peacock noise shouldn't bother you. My guy just calls out now and then, I love to listen to him. My African goose is much noisier, and much as I love her I'd rather listen to the peacock.

 

[Kedreeva]

Quote:
You can keep a single male by himself, though this may increase the chance of him wandering off in search of true love (har har). He may also wander off if he hears other peafowl in your area (and the call can be heard from a loooong way off, several miles), if other people own them.

You will almost certainly prefer raising a chick to buying an adult. As chicks they will have a better chance of thinking of you as family, as opposed to the other chicks or adults they may have been raised with at a breeder's. This has the potential to increase the chances of them staying around. If I were you, I would see if I could obtain a pair of chicks- if they are both boys, you can always sell one later or have two that are friends, if they're both girls you could trade for a boy later and your hand-raised girl will have a good chance of keeping the boy around (and just because you HAVE a girl doesn't mean you HAVE to breed her, you can always take the eggs away like people do for chickens), and if they're both girls, you can always try to sell/trade for what you want with them.

The super loud mating call shouldn't start til they are 2-3 years old, but be aware they do make a loud "peaHONK" noise prior to that (mine started around 6-8 months with this noise). It's not the one that can be heard miles away, but you'll still hear it for a good distance.

One note I will make is that if you wanted to start with just one chick but wanted to be sure of the gender, you might look at the sex-linked colors like purple. You would for sure from the day of hatch be able to tell what gender your chick is, which would give you the male you want AND the ability to raise it from chick size without having to worry it's the wrong gender and you'd have to give it up in some way or get another one.

 

[BernerBabe]

Thanks guys for taking time to answer my newbie questions. I think I'll go with a chick. We have a big breeder about an hour south of us so I may go down there and look. I'm hoping for a black shoulder. They are my favorite. Thanks again!