my peahen

[petmom]

Well, I joined just awhile back to get some answers about my acquired peahen. We bought a juvenile male thinking this would keep her from wandering. Sometimes she would go missing for about a week at a time. We kept him penned up for about a week then turned him loose in the yard. He stayed for 3 days then disappeared. Then a few days later, she was gone again too. It has been 3 weeks. I am starting to loose hope that she will return.

 

[MinxFox]

Well 7 X 3 = 21 and the incubation period for peafowl eggs is at most 30 days but normally it is around 25 or 26 so there is still time left if she is on a nest. Also, depending on how far away her nest is, she might keep the peachicks near the nest until they are old enough to make the trip back to your yard.

My first peafowl ran away though. I had a pair that I penned for a month and after being lose for a while the peacock ran away and eventually so did the peahen. We got the peahen back but we couldn't catch the peacock. I think you should have kept the yearling peacock penned for a lot longer than a week. How long was the peahen penned for? Two months is a good amount of time to keep them penned and if the peafowl were raised up on your property by you the chances that they will stay are even better. Sometimes it can be really hard to free-range them. After my first pair running away I haven't really free-ranged since. I tried to get some peahens to free-range but they only wanted to get back into the pen and one landed on the netting and I had to get her off so I kind of gave up on free-ranging for now at least.

 

[new 2 pfowl]

As a person who recently had my best peaboy Peggy kidnapped, and then miraculously got him back, I say - Don't give up hope!

What have you done to try to track them down?
I would suggest posting ads on craigslist, flyering, and calling local feed stores, wildlife rescues, vets, humane society, animal control, and talking to all of your neighbors.
And I strongly recommend calling places many times (don't be afraid of annoying someone) - you may get someone different on the phone who has heard something about your peas.

If you do get them back, I assume you won't try to free range them again...your birds are clearly wanderers...

*edited to add:
Minxfox is right, she might be on a nest?

 

[MinxFox]

Yes I agree with new 2 pfowl. If you do get them back you could probably free-range offspring you get from them.

 

[zazouse]

with her staying gone a week at a time my guess is that she was keeping company at someone else's place and perhaps when they both showed up someone kept them or called to have them picked up. or she could be nesting like the others said
Do as suggested above and have a catch plan in place.
I keep a 10X10 chainlink panel dog pen and a role of netting in my barn, it is there in the even my flock decides to take off on me, i have 19 free rangers.. so far the panels have not been needed but there is always a chance they will see a wild critter and take off after it.

 

[petmom]

I have been looking for them. I ride my horse all over in the area we live in. It is rural and surrounded by farms that grow potatoes and cabbage. There used to be a group of peas that were wild but they are gone now. Many were shot. That was some years ago. There are a lot of dogs in the neighborhood too. Mostly pits. There was a lady mauled not too long ago by 5 pits. Animal control destroyed 3 of them. The hen usually returns and lays eggs but they are infertile. I guess time will tell. I just hope they are ok where ever they are. ..

 

[casportpony]

When my boy went missing I went door-to-door until I found him. Hope you find yours!

-Kathy

 

[petmom]

I might get dog bit or shot if I do that. Everyone has no trespassing signs and beware of dog signs. I have asked around when someone is outside.

 

[new 2 pfowl]

Sounds like a rough neighborhood!!

Definitely not a place for free ranging peas.

What about signs? Craigslist? Animal control?

 

[zazouse]

I might get dog bit or shot if I do that. Everyone has no trespassing signs and beware of dog signs. I have asked around when someone is outside.

Put a flyer in their mail box, if they ain't got a box stick it on the closest thing to their drive so they see it.