Peafowl Question!

[2002]

So I met someone that lives near me that raises peafowl. She said she would love to give me some. And I've been wanting peafowl for a long time!!! So I told her id get back to her. My dad absolutely hates peas. He says their noisy, messy, and get on your roof and poop everywhere, etc. And I understand. So is there a way I could get a few peafowl and clip their wings so they cant get to the roof? I know that its a better chance for predators but ill watch them. Also, will my peafowl stray to far away from home? 1 more question... My coop is 12 ft by 7 ft and 8 ft tall. with a 16 ft by 12 ft run attached to it. But I do plan on letting them free range. My coop is shared with chickens also. Will this work for a few peafowl?

Thanks!

 

[nchls school]

So I met someone that lives near me that raises peafowl. She said she would love to give me some. And I've been wanting peafowl for a long time!!! So I told her id get back to her. My dad absolutely hates peas. He says their noisy, messy, and get on your roof and poop everywhere, etc. And I understand. So is there a way I could get a few peafowl and clip their wings so they cant get to the roof? I know that its a better chance for predators but ill watch them. Also, will my peafowl stray to far away from home? 1 more question... My coop is 12 ft by 7 ft and 8 ft tall. with a 16 ft by 12 ft run attached to it. But I do plan on letting them free range. My coop is shared with chickens also. Will this work for a few peafowl?

Thanks!

I used to raise peafowl. They are beautiful and I loved having them. The neighbors did not. Everything you dad says is true. Clipping will help with part of the problems. I had mine with chickens and had no problems. My advice-if your dad hates the specie, your getting some will just make for friction between you and your dad. In the long run it may just not be worth it. There are many domesticated species of birds. Find one that you AND your dad can enjoy.

 

[barkerg]

So I met someone that lives near me that raises peafowl. She said she would love to give me some. And I've been wanting peafowl for a long time!!! So I told her id get back to her. My dad absolutely hates peas. He says their noisy, messy, and get on your roof and poop everywhere, etc. And I understand. So is there a way I could get a few peafowl and clip their wings so they cant get to the roof? I know that its a better chance for predators but ill watch them. Also, will my peafowl stray to far away from home? 1 more question... My coop is 12 ft by 7 ft and 8 ft tall. with a 16 ft by 12 ft run attached to it. But I do plan on letting them free range. My coop is shared with chickens also. Will this work for a few peafowl?

          Thanks!

You will be impressed with how high they can jump without wings. Your 8' high pen if not covered will not hold them. Peas are very social and oh so curious and will hang around the porches, windows, wherever they feel they need to be, having said that, clipping the wings might not improve your dads view on the subject. Adult males during breeding season get aggressive when it comes to territory, if you have anything reflective ie... Windows, glass doors, rims/hubcaps etc... He will do his best to destroy it. I had 1 male that would go to my neighbors on a daily and relentlessly attacked their glass door from morning until night. No matter how often they ran him off, he kept returning and he became a beast of burden pretty quick. I would suggest prepping the field as they say and educate your dad first then prepare any neighbors you might have or you could put them in a covered run. Hope this helps.

Gerald Barker

 

[Birdrain92]

So I met someone that lives near me that raises peafowl. She said she would love to give me some. And I've been wanting peafowl for a long time!!! So I told her id get back to her. My dad absolutely hates peas. He says their noisy, messy, and get on your roof and poop everywhere, etc. And I understand. So is there a way I could get a few peafowl and clip their wings so they cant get to the roof? I know that its a better chance for predators but ill watch them. Also, will my peafowl stray to far away from home? 1 more question... My coop is 12 ft by 7 ft and 8 ft tall. with a 16 ft by 12 ft run attached to it. But I do plan on letting them free range. My coop is shared with chickens also. Will this work for a few peafowl?

Thanks!

First, if your dad doesn't allow it then it's a bad idea for now. Second thing peafowl are incredible jumpers. My males have had no problem jumping 4ft without their wings and I'm sure if mine wanted to they could jump higher. When clipping wings there are some important things to remember, especially with peafowl. Peafowl can be tamed but it takes lots of work. Peafowl molt once a year usually in the fall. When peafowl loose their feathers it's only about 1-3 months before they are back in. Sometimes sooner sometimes later depending on the feather and nutrition. This can be expensive or time consuming. That is not enough space for peafowl and chickens. Peafowl can be very curious and wonder around. Unless taught where food, water, and friends are they will go where ever. Even then they will sometimes adventure around. Peafowl are social birds, they need friends. Something about the noisy it depends on certain circumstances. This could just be with my peafowl. My peafowl are loud yes, all peafowl are loud, noisy no. Mine only call during breeding season; February to September, and only during morning and evening. Not everyone is the same way. My peafowl are penned and get locked up at night. The reason why peafowl will perch on the roof is because it's high up. They love being able to reach high up places to look out for predators and it makes them feel secure when they are high up. You might have to wait until you have a place of your own before you get them. In the meantime you can research just about everything on peafowl. If you have a question on peafowl don't be afraid to ask, we're more than willing to help.

 

[MinxFox]

When I wanted peafowl, my Dad wasn't so sure but he told me as long as I took care of them and he wouldn't have to he was okay with the idea. We keep my peafowl at my Grandma's though and we did ask her neighbors if they were okay with me keeping peafowl. We know the neighbors and they liked the idea so that helped. My Grandma loudly said "NO!" when I said I wanted peafowl because they are well known by most people as being noisy birds. My Grandma felt bad for telling me no and she quickly told me it was okay. Now when my Grandma goes out to get her hair done or get some food with her friend, they drive around to the back and park and watch the peafowl in the aviary. My Grandma really likes watching them. My Dad is fine with them as well.

I wanted to free-range too, and that is what I did with my first peafowl. The neighbors liked it when my birds visited them, but I don't think mine were misbehaving. The neighbors told me they had people come visit them, and my peacock was in their front yard displaying to the peahen so it was quite the surprise for their visitors to see. My first pair ended up running away though and now I keep all of my peafowl in the aviary. I don't have to worry about them running away or getting curious and wandering off and getting lost. I also don't have to worry about them bothering the neighbors. It is a horrible thing to finally have peafowl and then have them run away and then have no peafowl. Very, very heartbreaking. That is why no matter what I do I always want to have at least a pair of peafowl penned - that way if the free-rangers run away, a predator problem occurs, etc you will still have peafowl.

The noise is an issue for some, and not for others. If you keep your number of males down you will have less noise. Often when one male calls, the others like to chime in which can get really loud if you have a lot of males. It is hard to say how much noise the peafowl you get will make. When they are young they certainly won't make a bunch of noise, but once the male is around 3 years old he will have his voice. I have 3 adult peacocks and one is very quiet and hardly calls, and the other two call about the same amount. What will be a really big problem is if yours decide to call a lot at night. That could really upset some neighbors.

In summary, make sure you have done ALL of your research, you may not want to free-range your first pair but you could free-range some of their offspring which would probably work better anyways since they would imprint to your property and imprint to you (hopefully), definitely talk to your neighbors about this now before you get peafowl and if you free-range be prepared that they may jump on someone's car and scratch it up or get hit by a car. Your Dad might not be sure, and most people only know peafowl as being loud, obnoxious birds. Show him that they aren't loud all the time and that you have done your research on them. If he still doesn't like the idea, look into getting peacock pheasants, Himalayan monals, crested firebacks, or any kind of pheasant because there are some really beautiful unique looking pheasants out there that have very wonderful displays as well and they aren't as noisy.

 

[barkerg]

Now theres an article for the magazine readers hint hint. Very well written, wow good article Minx!

@2002 if your worried about peas flying over the pen, dont get Himalayan Monals aka impeyans they are gorgeous but will dig under the pen, literally.

Gerald Barker

 

[MinxFox]

Thanks Barkerg - This first issue I did that was just sent off to the printer has an article of mine in it. I won't have my articles in the magazine much though because I don't want to upset anyone that I am the editor and I am putting my own articles in the magazine. I already get my own "Letter from the Editor" area in the magazine. When I was just a regular UPA member in total I have had 6 articles in the magazine. It is time to hear from other people - I just hope I can continue to get people to contribute articles.

I almost forgot I have page on my website titled "Neighbors & Peafowl" it has pros and cons as well as "Neighbor Horror Stories" which is me re-accounting other peafowl owner's dealings with neighbors that did not like their peafowl. Here is the page: http://bamboopeacock.com/Neighbors_&_Peafowl.html

 

[2002]

My run is closed on the top and is 7 ft tall. I only want a cock and 2 hens. And I would always free range them during the day. There is a peafowl breeder in my area and she says everything is good about peafowl except they may become a nuisance because they will come to your deck and poop everywhere. But my neighbors are animal lovers and they are fine with it. We have pastures on all four sides of us also.

 

[Birdrain92]

My run is closed on the top and is 7 ft tall. I only want a cock and 2 hens. And I would always free range them during the day. There is a peafowl breeder in my area and she says everything is good about peafowl except they may become a nuisance because they will come to your deck and poop everywhere. But my neighbors are animal lovers and they are fine with it. We have pastures on all four sides of us also.

How many chickens would the peafowl be sharing a coop with? If it's not large enough the peafowl will pick on the chickens and then goes egg production. Sometimes dogs will keep peafowl away from cars and the house.

 

[2002]

There are 25 hens in my coop. And I do not raise them I eat their eggs. But my dog is not even a slight bit mean toward my animals, but my chickens arent even aloud in the yard so I would have to keep peafowl occupied with something outside of the yard.