Must capture and relocate peas- advice needed!

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

A development company that purchased land has offered me the peafowl that came with the property (free if I can catch them!) because they want them gone. I have a relatively small window in which to catch them as it is a 5 hour drive from my home and I can't afford to do that a lot. I will be in the area next week (July 20-23) and that is when I need to get them.

The peafowl are in the area of Portland, OR, and are roaming a very large plot of land. The property manager said that there were "about half a dozen" but that falcons had picked off a few. He is sure there is still 1 male, and pretty sure there is also a female, but there may be more. He has no idea how old or what breed they are.

My plan, if no other suggestions are offered, is to get there early enough to walk the property and find them and follow them to their roosting place. Then I will wait till dark and nab them in their sleep. It works on chickens.... will this work with peas? Is there a better way?

If I have trouble finding them, how can I best locate them? I have heard they can be aggressive at times (breeding season?) should I be concerned about them? Given the time of year, should I be on the lookout for nests and/or chicks? What are some signs to look for when tracking them? How can I be sure I got them all?

Really any advice will help. I cannot seem to find the answers to any of these questions so I thought I would ask the experts!

 

[chooks4life]

Even with chooks, they can do a huge, even fatal amount of damage if aggressive or even just wild and terrified. Multiply that by a peacock's size and you could get seriously hurt. I would go with another person just in case. I doubt you'd be able to nab them as they roost; if they're still alive they've probably been perching very high in trees. They can fly, but even chooks that can't (though some can fly) will hop from branch to branch to get to the to of a high tree. So I doubt that'd work.

My best bet would be to use a dog trap, or any large animal cage, with grain, bread, whatever, something irresistable. I caught a bunch of wild bush turkeys that way. Of course that would need baiting and leaving to do its business. I'd make it look like a corridoor of brush if possible, so the bird can see out the other side and think it's not walking into a trap; basically do it up like you're trapping a wild animal.

If I have trouble finding them, how can I best locate them? I have heard they can be aggressive at times (breeding season?) should I be concerned about them? Given the time of year, should I be on the lookout for nests and/or chicks? What are some signs to look for when tracking them? How can I be sure I got them all?

I'd expect if you left one you'd hear it calling for the others. But all my suggestions would take time, maybe even two trips out there... I don't recommend you try to grab them, they can do a lot of damage even accidentally. If the male's got his breeding train on, assume there may be nests or chicks; I have only kept peafowl once (they immediately went feral on me lol) so I don't know how long it takes the male to lose his train, but eggs could already have been laid. But either way it doesn't matter; if you capture wild/feral peas, assume the hens won't set any clutches in their new environment, because it's pretty unlikely. It's also unlikely you'd find the nests unless it's a tiny area they're ranging in. Anyway, best wishes, but unless you manage to enlist the help of a ranger or some sort of experienced or expert person, I think it might be a futile goose chase.

 

[new 2 pfowl]

It's very unlikely that you'll be able to catch them on the roost because they will probably be too high in the trees.
I hate to say this but it is going to be incredibly difficult to catch these birds, unless they are tame (sounds like they aren't).
The advice that has been given to me before about catching peas is to herd them gently into an enclosed area, but on open land you probably won't have that option.
As c4l says, setting up some area with food where they might get used to coming would help but that would take time.

On the other hand, they probably have no reason to be wary of people yet.
If you have a big net and attract them with some food, you might be able to catch at least one of them?

Hopefully others will have better advice for you.
Catching peas is no easy task.

 

[AugeredIn]

All I can say is good luck. The odds will be stacked against you. I would not worry about aggressiveness. That will be the least of your worries.

 

[new 2 pfowl]

I hope you don't mind my asking, but are you hoping to catch these peas to raise them?
I recall that you wrote earlier looking for a pea for a cooking project.
Only mentioning this because, of course, if you don't necessarily want living peas then you'd have a completely different scenario for catching them (not one that I could even speculate about).

 

[chooks4life]

True what new2peafowl said. Easy to catch a dead animal.

I have heard green peafowl are more aggressive than blue ones, but that's about all I know about it. From my experience with turkeys and chooks and various other birds, aggression is very rare, but you need to be cautious because if it does happen it'll be swift and powerful. You're more likely to get hurt by their struggles. Either way, all the best, hope it goes well. I've been more often hurt by non aggressive birds than by aggressive ones, because they have quite powerful legs and spurs, and even the wings flapping as they try to escape or regain balance can do damage.

 

[Yoda]

What is a chooks?

 

[chooks4life]

What is a chooks?

Oh dear, now I'm wondering how many people haven't understood a word I said when I talk about chooks.

'Chooks' is Aussie slang for 'chickens'.

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

I will have at least one person helping me, which sounds like it will help out if everyone thinks catching them in the roost won't work. I was planning to bring a ladder, but if they will be at the top, I guess that won't work. I think we can set up a dog kennel trap and I was planning on bringing nets.

Yes, the birds we catch will be eaten (unless we find chicks, those will go into a brooder to be re-homed!) but I am not planning to use lethal force to catch them. I worry that I would injure them and cause unnecessary suffering. I want to make sure that I can deal with them humanely and carefully.
I don't know, short of shooting them, how I could hunt them. I am not that good with a bow and I am pretty sure gunshots would draw lots of unwanted attention

I am also not sure about the legality of hunting peafowl. And I also want to be sure to keep their bodies/skins intact for better presentation.

 

[chooks4life]

Well, best wishes with that, though I don't think catching them alive will be less likely to injure them and cause unnecessary suffering than shooting them in the head on the perch. In fact there's every chance, if they're truly wild, that they'll injure themselves and eachother if caught. Someone who's a really accurate shooter might be able to do it, but aside from that I don't know how you'll manage. If the trees are short it might work to use a ladder but they're not chooks, so there is still a chance they'll go flying off in a panic and harm themselves. Some chooks I've had would go flying off into the night, though they seemed to have night vision to some degree, but geese and turkeys have also been panicked into taking a night flight, sometimes with fatal results. Even a blind bird will instinctively take to the wing.

Lol, I'm such a naysayer, sorry, I hope it goes well for you and them (though that's more or less mutually exclusive) and best wishes to you. I've relocated turkeys before, even tame ones can be trouble with involuntary struggling.