introducing Peacocks / peafowl to chickens?

[cheekyappenzellaowner]

Hi I have free range chickens and wonder if I can introduce peahens/peacocks to my land to walk among the chickens or will I have to keep my chickens in an enclosure.

I would like to hear from anyone who has had experience with this or anyone who can offer advice.

Thank you

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

they do fine in an open yard, just make sure you dont have sickly chickens, peafowl are much more succeptable to disease than chickens are, if one gets sick, you can bet your peafowl will too.
Aside from that, personality wise, they get along just fine

 

[Kev]

They will get along ok in general but be prepared for a couple "incidents". Such as a rooster decides he can take on the peafowl..... they are going to remind HIM real well that he can't ever think that nonsense ever again. After a while, they will let up, as long as he does not challenge them again. For this reason, sometimes Game breeds don't do well with peafowl. (many do fine though).

Peafowl also are extremely curious and very quick to notice and investigate anything new or different. Such as a broody hen making the broody hen noises and movements, some peafowl will want to check that out real up close.. why is that hen looking and sounding different? Hmm? Or if a hen comes out with a brand new batch of babies and tries to shoo the peafowl away- the peafowl will take that as a challenge and try to remind her of her proper place, hen tries to defend her babies. You get the idea(another reason some game breeds don't do well with peafowl- the hens FIGHT and FREAK out.. which excites the peafowl way too much). They will get bored of her and her babies fast though. It's not they intend to be mean, it's the curious personality bringing out a temporary conflict.. Other than that it's fine..

I agree, be careful to make sure the chickens are "clean"(best to avoid auctions and swap meets at all costs) and also worm all regularly as precaution.

 

[cheekyappenzellaowner]

Hi, many thanks for the replies they have been very helpful!

THANK YOU

 

[NCIndiaBlue]

Quote:
Mine get alone well most of the time. If you haven't had the peafowl penned up for several months, you would need to do so before letting them free-range with your chickens. Peafowl will roam a LONG way sometimes, especially if they are new to your farm and don't know where "home" is yet.

 

[Rowdy5150]

Quote:
Mine get alone well most of the time. If you haven't had the peafowl penned up for several months, you would need to do so before letting them free-range with your chickens. Peafowl will roam a LONG way sometimes, especially if they are new to your farm and don't know where "home" is yet.

Yes they do roam a long way, like into other people's yards!! This is nice to know, I have a peacock that comes to my yard all the time, and I was worried what my chickens would do if the peacock got too close or vice versa. I don't know who it belongs to either! I never knew people had pet peacocks!

 

[vbgarden]

I have four "adopted" adolescent peacocks (1 year olds, still only half-tails but turning that lovely India Blue like their Dad) living in a large run with my chickens here in Virginia Beach. They seem to get along fine - everything everyone has said rings true. The peacocks are terribly curious and were driving the hens crazy by squeezing themselves into the chicken coop so they could line up and stare at hens making egg-laying noises in the nest boxes. I had to make the henhouse opening smaller to discourage them. They mostly ignore the chickens and the banty rooster (I have a very calm rooster anyway), although they go through occasional afternoons of displaying for all the hens with their half-sized, junior tails (full tails won't grow in for another season or two).

The boys are happiest when I keep mirrors around - spend hours gazing at themselves. No effort to "attack" or anything like that, they just turn from side to side apparently admiring the good looking guy in the glass! They are friendly and personable and really keep me entertained -- their previous owner, who had them from egg on, had treated them to cake scraps from the nearby cupcake store... they LOVE cake. They come scurrying if they hear me call, "Mama's got cake, Mama's got CAKE!"

I took the four in when an acquaintance needed a home for them during a difficult period in her life - she wasn't sure she wouldn't be moving shortly - and had hoped to let them free range our farm, as the chickens do. I kept them in with the chickens for several weeks, acclimating them to the flock and to me... and then let them out to roam with the hens. They immediately panicked and flew about 1/4 mile distant to the nearest woods and disappeared entirely.

They are only blue down to their shoulders at this point and still have the highly camouflaging adolescent plumage... you'd think we'd see those heads, but no. Folks reported them here and there.... We spent almost two weeks searching for them. One came home (here) on his own. Actually, I called him in the last few fields by playing peacock calls on YouTube over my laptop. (Oh, the things we do for our poultry pals!) The other three ended up at a neighbor's house, having traveled about five miles and crossed a small river. Amazing. They had no desire to come "home" and were most happy exactly where they had ended up but the residents there didn't like them (well, one did and one didn't - it was a bit of a family argument) and we had to capture them and bring them back.

Now they are back in with the chickens and I'm afraid to let them out for fear exactly the same thing will happen. I'd love to find loving homes for three of the four... or all of them because I think our farm is too open for them. They seem really happy with tall pines and trees they can fly up into --- and, believe me, a hop of thirty feet is nothing for these boys. Right now I have to come up with a way to integrate two perpetually IRATE banty hens and their peeps with the rest of the flock and those girls are going to have a gasket blown when the peacocks come to investigate, which they will. I don't think the peacocks will hurt the peeps but they might peck out of curiousity -- and they are SO much bigger!!! So we're trying to figure it all out until we can find a good home for the boys to go to. It was obvious that at the right site they would move in and stay happily. Anyone near Virginia Beach love peacocks????

 

[Kevnew71]

Hi. I absolutely love your story!!!! I )ive in tulsa, OK and am allowed to have up to 6 of any poultry within the city limits. I currently have 3 peafowl and a black silky i still have to get a hen for my rooster, but if youre willing to separate i can offer a good home to one of them. Let me know if i can help.

 

[Bee Buzy]

How would I indroduce a peahen ?? thx

 

[Midnightman14]

I personally would be very careful when mixing peas and chickens, as stated earlier when chickens get sick the peas can also get sick. BUT because chickens have been domesticated longer they are immune to some diseases that will kill peafowl. Even if the chickens don't look sick they can act as carriers for these diseases, I had chickens with my peas for years until last year when I lost 6 birds to disease that my chickens had harbored. I got rid of the chickens and haven't had problems since. As it was mentioned earlier aggression can be a problem both peacocks and peahens can become aggressive towards chickens. When I did have the two together if it was the breeding season I had to rescue a couple of my chickens from my male peas because they would chase or fight each other. One other thing to be aware of is that peas can sometimes kill baby chickens . Why they do this I am not sure but I think it might have something to do with food as peas are much more omnivorous than other types of poultry.