Keeping peafowl at home

[DB_Tex]

Most of the issue threads I've seen reguarding peafowl is dissapearances, escapes, etc.

Do you have any tips for success you've had to keep them in? Can you clip peafowl wings to keep them from flying over fences or up trees?

 

[angie3881]

I have never had a problem. We live on a hyway and mine have never strayed from the backyard. Mine roost in the trees at night and free range all day. We do not have neighbors close by. I have one male and two females. My latest female came from about a mile away and has never tried to leave. Make sure they always have food and water. I have read they will stray if you don't have a male and female. I do not clip wings and we are on less than three acres.

 

[Trefoil]

Angie I hope your luck lasts. I don't clip their wings and my neighbors are really good about letting me know if they wander since my cock got hit. The front of my property is fenced, which only seems to cause problems with them getting back in, doesn't hamper them getting out as far as I can tell. I think the easiest way to keep them home would be to only let part of them out at a time.

 

[Kev]

before letting loose, the best set up is a pen with FULL view of their new home. horse stall or barn with no window where the peafowl are held are just about the worst.

generally younger birds are easier than fully mature birds.

start with as many birds as you can afford/want to get. at least 2 males and 3-4 females if possible. they are VERY social birds, so the more peafowl the higher the chance the new birds will stay around. if you get breeding age pair, consider keeping them confined until several clutches of their eggs are under hens or in incubators. mind, artifically incubating peaeggs can be a challenge.

when letting them out, let only one or two out at a time. do not catch or push them out of holding pen. let them walk out. do not let anything harass them during first week of freedom. they need to learn the landscape so if they happen to fly far, they know how to get back.

if possible, have chickens raise the peachicks then let mom and peachicks free range when the peachicks are large and old enough to be safe from cats, hawks.

wing trimming is controversial because a clipped peafowl still can jump 6 ft easily. if they jump over the property fence and a fox or dog comes around... byebye clipped birdie. if the fence is wood or brick, there's just about zero chance of preventing them from at least flying to top of fence/wall. chainlink is better, but if it has a top rail, they can learn that too. just not as fast as brick or wood fence.

 

[DB_Tex]

Thanks for the useful replies.
I'm info gathering for a family friend who wants peafowl to help with snake control on his new property. I'm just having a hard time envisioning keeping them home, especially when getting into peafowl is a significant investment. This is the arizona desert.... so it's not as though off property is all that inviting... on one side of the fence it's a wild undeveloped lot next to a wash full of sagebrush and scrub trees... Cover but no water or greenery.
Maybe we should start with guineas?

 

[AmyLou1782]

I had a male and two females and just recently turned mine out for this first time together several weeks ago. My male and one female did not make it home one day and I now have only a peahen that hangs out with my chickens. In retrospect, I would have turned them out one at a time with the chickens until they learned to stay home. Mine are about a year old. I'm new to peafowl so it has been a learning experience. I got some advice and did clip the flight feathers on one wing each and I do regret that. I won't clip wings again. My remaining peahen can fly up onto the roof now and sometimes decides to roost in the trees outside of the chicken coop. Other nights she comes in, I let her choose. She has stuck around no problem and has actually become much friendlier toward me since the other two have disappeared. I'll be getting her a boyfriend soon so hopefully I will have better luck this go round. Good luck to you and your friend!

 

[Kev]

imo, guineas are a potential giant pain in the flock. you will get those who say never have problems with them ever, forever. then you definitely will get those who say they got rid of guineas because they constantly caused problems with other birds.

some say to prevent guineas from harassing other species, need a large flock so they can act out their bullying instincts on each other instead of other species... but in the past I had a group of 20 guineas and they still suddenly decided to gang up on peafowl, choosing one and running it non stop to the point of exhaustion then they'd mercilessly 'body slam' it in turns. I won't have guineas ever again.

so, guineas are fine if you decide not to get peafowl/.. but keep in mind, that guineas can be prone to the same problems- wandering far off, tempting predators etc. it's the journey part that they like, water doesn't matter much.. but if there are a lot of bugs in the wash, they are big time bug eaters so it might be very attractive to them. they will alarm at snakes but not really drive them off if mid size or large. peafowl will try to take them on because its fun and exciting... I've witnessed a quad discover and drive off a 6 foot gopher snake. (I don't mind snakes at all so it doesnt matter to meif they drive them out or not.. but they do)

if you are worried, get whatever birds you can afford plus set eggs under broody hens so you have a variable age range and more birds.

 

[AugeredIn]

No clipping. I think Kev summed it up pretty good. The longer you home the better off you are. I think if you treat them well when penned/homing they tend to stick around. I have a trio of spaulding BS bronze that are split to whiteeye. Took me a while to get them so they are pretty important to me anyway. I had a yearling pied female that I threw in that cage just to get some additional splits going. I sold the pied and while I was catching her the peacock and one of the other peahens decided to escape through the door that we thought was closed. All they did was wander around the aviary munch on some white clover and they went back into the pen with little encouragement.