noise,free range,cage??

[gaza]

hi group,i have kept peafowl for years in england,all penned,with a cope to roost at night.
never had any noise/problems with nieghbours.
now,have 3 peacock chicks[2 months old],which i will release onto my street/nieghbourhood,in the next week or so.
my question is-
1=will these guys make more noise??
2=have been told,as these guys are "family",as in,they were all raised together,they will sleep[as they do now]together.

 

[Choctaw Valley Farm]

Kinda young aren't they?? should be about 6 months old I would think and that may be to young yet. We don't turn ours out until they are a year old that away there a little bigger and will be able to roost up high and can more or less take care of them selves.

 

[MinxFox]

I am also planning that once I get peachicks they will free-range, but my advice is that just like what Cherokee Trail Farm said is that they might be too young. If you don't want them to get hurt or something I would keep them penned for a while longer. Let them learn more from the adults about what to eat, how to roost, ect. You want to make sure they are big, because a big hawk will snatch up any little peafowl he can or a fox. Your chicks need to be maybe around adult size before you let them out. So at the oldest a year. I have heard that if the birds are young and/or are raised on your place and that is all they know then they should stay put. I don't really think they would be very noisy. The only time they might call would be to locate eachother but mainly they probably would all be together roosting. They will eat plants, bugs, ect but you still should give them treats just to make them stay around. Make them think they really have it made you know.

My first two peafowl were adults that I bought and I made the mistake of letting them free-range when they grew up someplace else. I had them penned for a few months and then when they were free-range they stayed for a month or more then when it got cold the male left (I mainly think it was because he only had one female and he didn't like her). We never saw him again, but hear stories every now and then of people spotting him. The peahen left too but we were able to find her in a backyard and netted her and I still have her!

 

[deerman]

Agree 2 months to young, at that age even small hawk will pick them off, and without mother to protect them lot greater risk you will lose them.

 

[trudigale]

Hi,
I know this post is old, but am hoping to get more information about this..... Here is my situation:

Have bought adult peafowl pairs - three times - first time (yearling pair) I was told to put them into a dark room for a week, and then let them out - they walked down my driveway and never came back. Second time (older male with two hens) I was told to put them in a dark room for the night and then let them out into an enclosed pen for 30 days - did this - they stayed for one day - ate bread from my porch - they walked down my driveway and never came back. The third time (an older pair) I was told to just put them in an enclosed pen for 6 weeks or longer - I waited 8 weeks - they stayed for 3 maybe 4 days and were gone. The enclosed pen has a large fully enclosed house with a high roost and a large door that opens out into a covered fenced in area that has a high roost and is 10 foot by 20 foot and 7 foot high.

I WANT peafowl

....... my grandparents had them on this farm and I want them!!! So, I purchased hatching eggs and now have 7 babies -- and hope to hatch another batch this year. Help! Will the babies be more inclined to stay if they are raised here and if there are more of them? (this is my hope)!

I have raised turkeys and know about when to let them start to free range...... At what age is it safe to let my peafowl babies free range. I hope to let them free range with them coming in for food and even to house in their pen..... and then to bring them in during mating season..... do not want the girls to be unprotected if they build a nest. How big does the pen need to be?

Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Trudi

 

[MinxFox]

Hi, yes it sounds like you had some bad advise...For some people those methods can work, but not always. Generally older peafowl are harder to free-range especially if where you got them from they free-ranged. Young peafowl do best free-ranging, but they have to be in a pen were they can see the area they are going to free-range. They need to be penned for a month or probably more. I would wait until you feel that they are used to you and don't get spooked when you enter the pen or get a few feet away from them.

Peachicks are great to raise up for free-ranging. I don't have turkeys but I would think whatever age you start free-ranging your turkeys you should start free-ranging your peafowl. The fact that you have other birds should help to keep them around. We have a friend that raised his peafowl from peachicks and now they free-range. He only has a few but they are so friendly they walk up to you begging for treats and perch on the garden fence. He told my dad that recently when they had a cook out the peafowl would jump up on the table and were really interested in the steam coming off of the grill.

I hope you can get your peachicks to stay, make sure you handle them a lot and they are really bonded to you, that will help a lot.

 

[gaza]

i got mine as day olds,kept them in the house,with a heat lamp for weeks,then put them in a pen outside,till they were 5 months old
i have a small yard,with only a 4 feet high fence,which they could jump over with ease.
they show no interest on seeing the other side.
you really need to put up a high perch[mine is under my patio roof,at 12 feet]before i put this up,they would try and jump,and run around when dusk came.
i have a 8 feet wall on one side,and they roosted there once,but i was worried they would jump off the other side in the morning.
now,they spend their mornings on this perch,preening them selves,then about 1 pm,they jump down,eat,and then chase each other around the yard,playing,sunning them selves,dust bathing etc.
them around 6-7 pm,they jump back up .
i handled them alot when they were young,but only one ,of my two is tame
i can pick him up,but the other is SO SCARED,i cannot get near him,only if i have food,then he will eat from my hand,but cannot touch him.
wish you all the best
gary