Peacocks

[Midnightman14]

When it comes to male peas getting along it depends alot of the environment the birds are in. Free range males will squabble and chase each other around occasionally but as long as one can easily get away from the other there shouldn't be a huge prroblem. One male will take all of the hens though since they're only interested in the most dominant and strong male. The other male will keep displaying but the hens won't show to much interest in him. Peacocks don't typically actually defend the hens from predators beyond making a ton of noise to warn them of predators or threats. The two males will start getting along again once breeding season ends. I'd also keep an eye on them with the chickens, peacocks can become aggressive to and even kill chickens during the breeding season.

 

[starhikers]

your males will be fine without hens..they will strut for you and the chickens. don't get females unless you want lots of babies! you don't need them. males can and do fight often during breeding season, free-ranged and penned. I would never pen 2 males together unless they had always been together and especially not during breeding season. I've had one killed from fighting before in the top of a tree, not in a pen. my boys have certain areas on my property and they go there to stay away from the dominant males. the dominants won't let them even eat, so I have to spread out the food and sneak around to feed the shunned males.

peacocks do not go one on one with predators. there are 2 types of animal responses, fight or flight, peafowl are flight animals unless they are all together. we have fox that try for the babies in the spring and early summer. the peafowl all make distress calls and band together to chase the predator away. if one peafowl went after a fox alone, it would be dinner. mine even gather for hawks and the babies are taught to hide under brush if they hear them calling. moms do a good job of telling them how to stay safe. they only have to hear a crow and they run for cover!

peafowl call in the spring and early summer where I live, depends on weather where you are. they will call without hens as they mature. hens fly up in the trees as well to stay safe. all peafowl are taught to roost high to avoid attack. peafowl need moms to teach them these things, so don't get hatch-lings, they will likely die. a young bird without its feathers will die in any weather, they must stay warm. moms sit on them periodically during the day and at night. I rescued a pea once that had been raised to be penned, it had no idea how to do anything. I had to work hard to get it to acclimate to life as a free bird. these birds are not chickens and they deserve to be free but they need to know the ropes to be safe.

 

[Midnightman14]

It will always be a risk to free range birds. Predators can get them, they can get stolen, hit by cars, etc. It's part of the reason all of mine are penned up since I am more serious about breeding birds and several of the colors I keep are to valuable to allow them out and about. You can start with hatchlings that have never seen their mother without any trouble BUT be aware that peachicks don't have a very strong immune system so usually the best way to go is to get juveniles or adults.

 

[starhikers]

midnight- I have seen pens where fowl were trapped and mutilated by predators, being in a tree is much safer. I live in a rural area with no cars and I don't breed them for profit, so they just live a natural life except that I feed them extremely well. some years, I lose 1 or 2 to old age or some other illness or injury, it's hard to say what happened.

Peas are bug eaters and without that as a food source, they need lots of protein and greens. I wouldn't have them if I couldn't let them roam. Trying to make them into pen birds is sort of like the whales at Seaworld. And I disagree that hatchlings are a good investment. I've tried to raise babies whose mother was killed and they all died and they were older. Without those skills the mother teaches, they can't fend for themselves and they get cold. They are very fragile also to injury. One orphan that I raised in a pen was so unhappy, he injured his head, banging on the cage. When I let him outside, due to the banging, he seemed to be fine, but after a 3 day rain, he got too cold and died. They need a full set of feathers to be able to survive weather. I think they are much fun to have and perfect pets, but chances are, if you don't have enough property, it's a mistake. Your neighbors will hate you for the screaming and possible roaming and the birds will be miserable locked away. When I lived in the city, I had neighbors complain about my small parrot, it's just life today. Some people have nothing better to do than complain. We've got 50 acres, so they don't generally go that far away from the food source.

 

[Midnightman14]

Dozens of breeders keep them penned with no ill effects. It's a question of personal preference not of health. You can have birds mutilated on anything if they're unlucky or spook at the wrong time. Owls and the like can get them up in trees as well so they're not safe up in a tree. If you have a well built pen with a blinder around ground level you're not going to have trouble with predators or spooking due to dogs, cats and other creatures wandering around to close. Very few of the larger breeders allow parents to rear the chicks and after this year I am not planning on doing it anymore either. To much goes wrong with disease unless you keep the mom and chicks on wire. Peafowl have precocial young meaning the mother doesn't need to teach them much in the way of feeding. Otherwise we wouldn't be able to incubate and raise the chicks at all without the mother. If you want to allow them at liberty they can certainly handle it but you are going to have more issues with predators and diseases especially blackhead. Peas can live over twenty years in captivity so if you're losing them younger than that you've got predator or disease issues not old age.

 

[starhikers]

I've had mine for over 30 years, some are very old. And peas are some of the only fowl that do require mothers to teach them. I see it in action. No other mother has to deal with teaching them to find bugs. Chickens peck right away, ducks can swim right away. I would never buy hatchlings from anyone, because that would be like buying a 3 day old puppy or kitten. And it isn't a question of person preference. Nature works on natural selection. I've had some killed by fox before, it isn't pretty but it's better than losing 10 or more in a pen. All wildlife do better in nature than in captivity. Peas are wild birds. And mine are not diseased. I have a lot of birds, losing 1-2 a year to old age or a predator is low. And birds in captivity are far more likely to get any disease than free ranging birds. I've never had blackhead in 35 years.

 

[Birdrain92]

I've had mine for over 30 years, some are very old. And peas are some of the only fowl that do require mothers to teach them. I see it in action. No other mother has to deal with teaching them to find bugs. Chickens peck right away, ducks can swim right away. I would never buy hatchlings from anyone, because that would be like buying a 3 day old puppy or kitten. And it isn't a question of person preference. Nature works on natural selection. I've had some killed by fox before, it isn't pretty but it's better than losing 10 or more in a pen. All wildlife do better in nature than in captivity. Peas are wild birds. And mine are not diseased. I have a lot of birds, losing 1-2 a year to old age or a predator is low. And birds in captivity are far more likely to get any disease than free ranging birds. I've never had blackhead in 35 years.

Well my peachicks know how to forage for bugs and seeds without me teaching them nor a hen. Granted they do need some help learning what's food just like a peahen does. But that is not hard teaching a chick what to eat or drink. Actually penned peafowl would be at lower risk of contracting Avian Influenza vs a free range peafowl. If you have other animals, for example dogs, they can protect your flock. I have 3 Border Collies. They alert me when there's something on the property that doesn't belong. Also with my pens, my peafowl are locked inside the coop during the night and can go out into the run during the day. Also I bury boards in the ground so it takes longer for predators to dig under. Another is make sure the chicken wire can handle my weight. These peachicks I hatched out and I raised them.

 

[Midnightman14]

The only commonly kept galliformes in capitivty that arguably NEED a bird mom of some type to show them the ropes are the peacock pheasants from what I've seen.