Putting peafowl out in shelter in cold Wis weather

[FrenchToast]

I have three peafowl that are about 1.5 yrs old. Two males and a female. I've been meaning to put them into the greenhouse where I was going to house them for the winter before the temps got to extreme but in the mean time I purchased 6 new peafowl (1 adult male and 1 adult female) so I quarantened them in the greenhouse. It has been a few months now and no problems so I wanted to put the original three in with the new ones.
But now we are getting freezing temps as low as zero at night at times and it will only get colder.

My question is. Can I put them out with the group now or do I have to wait until spring. Right now they are housed in a huge pen in the basement but I could really use that pen for other birds in my breeding program.
I'd say the basement is in the high 50's or low 60's.

I would put a few heat lamps out in the greenhouse if that would make the transition go better.

Do they actually develop a winter down that I have read that chickens get or is that just hearsay ??


Thanks for your input !!

Happy Holidays !!

 

[Stacykins]

My Wisconsin family member with an elk farm used to have a flock of peafowl too, and they thrived without supplemental heat. Heck, they wouldn't go inside the available barn during harsh winter weather, like ice storms and blizzards, they'd stoically perch in their oak tree.

But I'd think they'd need to be acclimated to the cold (which happens naturally if they are outside as summer turns to fall and fall turns to winter. If they've been in a warm environment, putting them in freezing weather might not work out so well.

 

[FrenchToast]

Thanks, I guess my question should be, can I put the ones out in an unheated coop that have never been outside ????
I would put the heat lamps out to help them adjust if need be.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

I don't think your peas would "hover" under any heat source.All my 2 year olds are together and have an enclosed flight pen and many times at nite there will be many of them outside in the flight pen.I would be sure tho to build a perch off the ground using a 2"x6" laid on it's side,,giving them a large enough area for their toes to be covered by their bodies when it gets extremely cold,preventing frostbit ends of their toes.

 

[nevsma]

My peafowl survive great out in the cold. Every night they are out on their perch, I have even seen them outside in the very cold subzero weather. The only time they sleep inside the shelter is when the wind is strong on a very cold night (below zero). In the mornings I have even woken up to see them covered in snow and ice. They don't seem to mind the cold at all. The only part of winter they don't like is walking on snow. They spend their days in the shelter or outside on the perch and when they go to roost at night, they take one step outside the shelter door and fly up to the perch.

I am not sure on the acclimation process to the cold, but I think I would use a heated perch over heat lamps, less of a fire hazard. After a few weeks, you should be able to slowly wean them off of the heat. But, they might not have a problem at all, and you wouldn't need any heat. I know our daytime temps in the lower 30's right now shouldn't be any concern. If you are interested in building a heated perch, the United Peafowl Association has an article posted by Craig Hopkins on how to build one. http://www.peafowl.org/ARTICLES/26/

I would put the birds together as soon as possible though. The closer it gets to breeding season, the more your males will fight.

 

[trailchick]

My young peas (hatched in June & have been out in the coop with pen since September) do hover around a heat lamp....
I would give them a heat source in the event they got chilled.
Blizzard conditions right now, 29°, 30 mile an hour winds.
My free ranging peas are on the front porch to get out of the wind, & they are covered with snow.
They will not go into a coop or garage, & will be blizzard conditions all night tonight.

 

[FrenchToast]

Quote:
Thanks for the link to the heated perch. I love that idea. Might even use it in my chicken coops. Will probably get this done right after the holidays. Thanks again.

 

[Frosty]

How are the temps in your greenhouse at night? My husband built a greenhouse, not a professional type but it's ok. The problem is during the day it really warms up but after the sun goes down it cools off. I don't keep birds in there because of the drastic temperature swings.

 

[trailchick]

Well, the blizzard is over....
We ended up with about 18" & max drifts about 3' ....
Made it to work at 03:20 AM thanks to my old ('97 w/ 267k miles) 4x4 toyota with great new mud snow-tires!!!
Quit snowing at about 07:30 & free rangin peas are now in the big tree to roost for the night- they sometimes choose it out by the chicken coops & horse corral. We expect snow again on thursday but shouldn't be as bad as what we just had.
I haven't seen the wild blue scale quail covey that have frequented the bird feeding stations for a couple of weeks and I'm starting to get worried about 'em.
Dang, all the animals that I worry about, mine & wild.
Sorry for hi-jackin your thread -
IT is my dark period and won't feel better until at leat 2 wks after solstice.
Just had to rant 'bout the weather..

Thanks
Merry Christmas to all...........


PS. Please , oh please Santa, I want a greehouse for Christmas

 

[Trefoil]

I wouldn't put chickens,geese,ducks,turkeys, or guineas out now unless they've been out all along. I haven't had peacocks that long, so can't really answer for them. But I wouldn't.