Peafowl missing

[isuperman35]

I have two sets of peafowl that all free range on property (about an acre fenced and then many ranch acres outside fence. One is a pair of two hens about 1.5 years old. Other pair is male and female about a year old. The male and female went missing a couple days ago. No signs they were injured or killed. They occasionally go outside our fenced property, but a majority of the time they stay on our property and even allow us to hand feed them. I'm guessing this has something to do with breeding season. Can anyone give me any information on the behavior? Any chance they will return after conducting "business?"

Any thoughts appreciated.

 

[MinxFox]

They are pretty young for breeding. Some people have yearlings mate, but normally around age 2 or 3 is when they first start breeding. It is hard to really say what they will do. Peafowl can wander pretty far and they do get curious and like to explore and sometimes that means leaving your property for a week or longer. Some people have had theirs finally come back after a year. Birdrain just recently had a peacock he once had that ran away show up again and so far the peacock is sticking around. My male that ran off has been gone for maybe 6 or 7 years so I doubt I will ever see him again.

Did you hand raise the ones that left and did you keep them penned for at least 3 months before turning them lose? If the male was 2 or especially 3 I could see him leaving to find a mature peahen, but being so young it might not be a breeding thing.

 

[zazouse]

How long have they been free? an acre is an awful small area for peafowl to roam, mine cover about 25 and could cover way more if i had not worked to keep them in this 25 acre area because they will follow thing that they see, they are very curious and territorial,

IMO your peas went on a walk about if you are not finding any sign of feathers they should return if they were born and raised there and if no one has captured them but if they have not been there very long you may find them miles down the road or not at all.

 

[isuperman35]

Thanks for the info. They were hand raised and "played" in the house with my family...once larger they were penned outside for about 5-6 months if I remember correctly. They follow us around the yard and normally sit out on the front deck preening and waiting for us to bring out some treats, they even allow us to hand feed and touch them. They recently have been moving out a little farther from the fence line, but they've always come home to roost in their trees. I knew they would branch out sooner or later, just wanted some insight. Hopefully they are safe and having fun exploring. I just hope they come home soon. They are beautiful!

They are only yearlings, so it sounds like nothing to do with mating/breeding? Anyway, he has two other older girls still here, so he has no reason to step out for other women

 

[zazouse]

Yep sound like they are exploring hopefully you do not have any close neighbors that might try to catch them or worse dogs because they will fly off in a panic to god knows where

, They will come home when they get hungry for their treats as long as nothing has messed with them like i said.
Keep us updated and we would love to see photos of them as well as your other peas

 

[isuperman35]

 

[isuperman35]

Great news...they just showed up like nothing ever happened

 

[isuperman35]

Here is a picture of Zod (male)

 

[isuperman35]

Here is Faora

 

[zazouse]

They are beautiful, glad they made it back home safe and sound,

Sometimes when a pea gets spooked here it will fly off to god knows where and show back up about 24 hours later, had my entire flock disappear once, darn near had a panic attack, it was getting dark and no way to search any longer for them, first thing in the morning they showed back up and later that day i found lots of poop under and old oak tree at the back of my place, i think they had a rough night because they slept most all the next day, good thing was they never did it again, that was 4 years ago when i only had a dozen.