Peafowl 102: Advanced Housing and Accessories

[ShouldabeenaVET]

I also was "gifted" two pea hens. I have found in my life the chicken comes first then the planning as to shelter. As with these pea hens. I let them live in my barn. the first two weeks I did NOT let them outside for fear of them leaving. Then I let them out when I was working around the barn and so far Knock wood they have came in the barn to roost at night. A few nights when it was bitter bitter cold they went in the heated chicken house! My friend caught mine by 1. waiting till they were asleep and just picking them up off where they were roosting on the porch. and 2. feeding them pancakes and one day throwing the pancake in a dog kennel and slamming the door shut behind them.

 

[Catfsm]

Our peahen came back. The neighbors did not feed her, but we do. She lives outdoors free ranging throughout our 2 acres. She is a beautiful bird, and serene and sweet. We feed her a mix of chicken food and dog food with all sorts of treats such as vegetables, fruit, grain.

She seems to be happy living here. She has been back with us for two months.

I would love for her to breed and to have some fertile eggs. How might someone get a male to breed with her? Should I try to borrow a male from someone? There are a few living in a neighborhood in a nearby city: It does not have much traffic. No one really owns the birds, at least as far as any neighbor there I have talked to. They are semi wild. I thought maybe I could lure a male into a dog crate somehow and then bring him here and have him mate with our hen. Then, after a few days, I could take him back there. Would this work?

I will hunt for eggs once it it the time when the female might lay. Will she lay even when she has not been with a cock? How might I find the eggs? She has full run of our property! Are the eggs edible?

 

[Catfsm]

Our peahen came back. The neighbors did not feed her, but we do. She lives outdoors free ranging throughout our 2 acres. She is a beautiful bird, and serene and sweet. We feed her a mix of chicken food and dog food with all sorts of treats such as vegetables, fruit, grain.

She seems to be happy living here. She has been back with us for two months.

I would love for her to breed and to have some fertile eggs. How might someone get a male to breed with her? Should I try to borrow a male from someone? There are a few living in a neighborhood in a nearby city: It does not have much traffic. No one really owns the birds, at least as far as any neighbor there I have talked to. They are semi wild. I thought maybe I could lure a male into a dog crate somehow and then bring him here and have him mate with our hen. Then, after a few days, I could take him back there. Would this work?

I will hunt for eggs once it it the time when the female might lay. Will she lay even when she has not been with a cock? How might I find the eggs? She has full run of our property! Are the eggs edible?

 

[ShouldabeenaVET]

I do have two pea hens and a peacock but I really dont know an answer to your question. I bet if you ask around you could get some help. I have "heard" they mate in February or March. The males will start "calling" mine have done nothing like that. I have heard they are super noisey. mine are quiet as little mice. Although my husband heard them the other day when he was out hunting a bobcat that has been disrupting my chickens. I would go to the threads and start a new thread pertaining to your peacock question. Good Luck

 

[JordanFamily]

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with chat or sand as outside run ground cover? I’m making a large enclosure that can be divided up for my breading trios and want a ground cover that won’t turn to straight mud in a year of use.... was thinking thick layer of chat or sand, spot clean and add little more each yr... Any ideas on this???

 

[KsKingBee]

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with chat or sand as outside run ground cover? I’m making a large enclosure that can be divided up for my breading trios and want a ground cover that won’t turn to straight mud in a year of use.... was thinking thick layer of chat or sand, spot clean and add little more each yr... Any ideas on this???

If your pen provides at least 150sq ft per bird you can maintain a grass carpet for the birds which is much better than any other kind of litter or substrate.

 

[JordanFamily]

I would love to have grass but that is not going to be possible. I am having a 40x40 building pole barn type built and the workers are going to create a muddy mess and kill any grass and the area is thin grass not great soil, lots of clay... so grass is not going to be possible. Anyone use anything else? Or ideas with sand or chat???

 

[1lilmrnstr]

Hello! Our peafowl pens are almost done. Here are some pics.

We are using an RV carport for the inside enclosure. Each pen is about 10' x 10'. We used some heavy duty hardware cloth to divide the 2 pens. We also used the cloth for the window in the door and the window at the top of the enclosure under the peak. The roosts inside are 2" x 6" boards at 6' high.

Outside the run is 10' x 45' for each enclosure. It is made with 3' x 9' steel panels that are buried 6" around the entire perimeter. Those panels are secured to 4" x 4" pressure treated posts that are cemented into the ground 2' so that they are rock solid. The posts are spaced every 9'. Above the metal is the same hardware cloth we used inside.

The roof is made from some greenhouse hoops secured to the wood 4" x 4" posts. The netting will be over the top of those hoops and will come down the sides to the top of the hardware cloth.

To divide the outside into 2 runs we are using more hardware cloth which will be sandwiched between 2 - 2" x 4" pressure treated boards that will be cemented into the ground same as the 4" x 4" posts around the perimeter.

There are trees around the pens so they will have dappled shade as well as sun through the day. There is also one tree inside the run that we will cut the netting to go around it. I plan on adding a few perches at different heights.

I am using auto waters for them. We don't have very cold weather in the winter so we haven't had too many problems with them freezing. I use the same auto water for my chickens. Can't use them for the ducks because they turn them into a muddy mess and create a mud hole under them!

For their feeders I'm not completely sure what to use. I have an idea I saw and I hope it will work well for them. Let me know what you guys think about it please. If it's not a good idea please give me some better recommendations!

I got the hardware cloth via auction for $25! It was about 150' long 4' high and so heavy I couldn't lift it myself. That was a great score. It has no tags on it so I can't figure out where to find more of it unfortunately.

The metal panels I got from a person who builds those steel buildings. These were all their odds and ends left over from different jobs. I got them for about $1 a foot.

The 2" x 6" boards used to frame the inside enclosure were left over from someone's greenhouse that they dismantled. Those were free.

The paint was from the Habitat for Humanity Restore and it was $20/gallon. It is eco-friendly and has little or no VOC's so no worries about the fumes. I did let it off gas anyways though just for an additional precaution. The inside was not painted to prevent the peas from eating any paint.

I added some little solar lights from Harbor Freight that work off a switch as opposed to coming on at night so that there would be extra light inside during the daytime so I can clean it out and so they can see too but not at night when they will be sleeping.

For the flooring inside I put about 3 inches of clean construction sand, which is not a fine sand like what is used for kids sandboxes, to make it easy to rake out the poo and to help it stay cooler in the summer time.

With all the free and cheap materials I will be at about $2,500 at the end of this project. If I could have done this myself I would have been at about 1/3 of that price. If things look a little off kilter it's because the building wasn't completely level so my handyman made everything attached to the carport level to the building as opposed to level with the ground if that makes any sense

It should be completely finished by the end of the month and I can hardly wait to be able to let the peas into their runs! Currently we still have lots of rain so they can't go out yet. We have been getting about 1/2" - 1" of rain a day!

Eventually I want to extend their enclosure by taking down the eucalyptus grove on the other side of the building and adding another run going to the right of the building!

Each enclosure is currently 100 square feet (10' x 10') inside and 450 square feet (10' x 45') outside for a total of 550 square feet and they will each have one cock and one hen per enclosure.