Peafowl outdoor pen advice.

[syble]

I recently got eggs from a guy who kept his turkeys outside in stationary pens year round. they were chain link circular things(around 8' diameter i would guess, maybe a bit bigger) with a 4'x2'x4' 3 sided shelter and perch in the center. he was keeping trios and pairs in there, and his birds looked great! I noticed he kept some peafowl in the same mannor. I want to make a few permanent pens outside here. Predator wise our biggest problem would be coyote and fox, hawk/bald eagle too(though i intend to net the tops to prevent the latter from being a problem).

We are thinking of using galvanized corn crib fencing(2"x4" holes) for the sides, and making a frame with PT 2x4 held in the ground with 4x4. Will a run that is 16 x 10 be sufficient? we're thinking of making an attached shelter on the end but more like 5' deep, and possibly majority of the 10' width, thinking maybe of partially closing it off as well.

My hope is to keep a trio or quad in there. Is that sufficient?
Thanks
Sib

 

[C&Rman]

Yeah that would work but you can't keep a trio or a quad in just one pen, you could only keep a pair in the pens because male peacocks take 100sqft and peahens take 50sqft. If you can make a 20'x20' pen that could keep a quad. I used 2"x4" welded wire for mine too. It works great and it is very sturdy.

 

[featherhead]

Our aviaries are 2x4 welded wire also, and so is the top. Critters can easily chew thru the net squirrels, mice, raccoon, etc. When your male is displaying, a 10' width wouldn't allow him enough room to strut and turn, which we learned the hard way before tripling the width of the aviary. It was embarrassing to work that hard on the construction, only to realize it was way too small for a trio. Plus, the male pretty much ruined his train within 2 weeks. Within 24 hours of "finishing", we had to start planning the expansion.

As we added adjoining aviaries, we learned 2 things: solid stain the wood first, and use 4"x6" lumber everywhere. The stain keeps carpenter bees and wasps out and keeps the wood from weathering/warping too fast. We learned that even though the construction looked "perfect" when finished, within a couple of years a few critical 2x4 boards warped and it looked really crummy. We're currently replacing them with 2x6. All corner posts are 6x6; interior posts are 4x4; all sunk in concrete.

You will enjoy your peafowl so much!

 

[syble]

Thanks for all the great info. i was looking at a turkey pen drawing (limited space, crowded paper and not enough sleep sorry hehe), the one for peafowl was to be larger, 16 x 16, I will see if we can enlarge it more, but i have a feeling i'm ukered. This will be a summer project after the wheat is all off... but for now i will hopefully have some that can live in the barn till we get better accommodations. Do they need to be brought back to the barn in the winter or can they stay out all winter long aswell?
Thanks
Sib