re"home" left behind peafowl

[morrison7368]

My husband and I bought a rural home property. There were two males and one female left behind by the previous owner. Now there are four young ones. I would like to keep them safe for the winter. Any suggestions? We have coyotes and occasionally cougars and very rarely bears. Because we pretty much live in the forest, it is hard to keep track of them. We have one neighbor that they visit and lots of surrounding empty space. Any help or suggestions would be very appreciated.

 

[new 2 pfowl]

Hello! and, even if you didn't quite arrive here on purpose...

If these peas were already free ranging before you arrived, they probably already have an idea about how to take care of and protect themselves from predators. I'm sorry to say this, but unless you are planning to put them in a pen, there isn't much you can do to protect them. We have free ranging peas here and every year chicks fall victim to predators; that is the downside of free ranging. The upside is, of course, that they are free!

Did the previous owners feed these birds? Are you planning to feed them?
If you do, they will certainly hang around your house and get used to you.
But they really like to do their own thing, they are curious and like to wander.

 

[zazouse]

Where are you located? are you just concerned about the weather?
New2pfowl has made some great points, i also have nothing but free birds here, alot of them now, my dogs protect them as well as my other birds at night most of them come up by the house and roost , but there are some that now roost in the pasture and i have never lost any to predators of any kind.

Enjoy your journey threw pea world they are fascinating creatures.
Please share some photos of your new friends

 

[morrison7368]

Im in the puget sound. I have no past history of the original owners. But they are so beautiful and its just down right awesome to have peacocks haha. I have chickens and the peafowl love to come by during feeding time. We have a lot of trees so... I shouldnt worry too much? Im just new to it all! And I want them to live as long as possible. And I do not plan to pen them up. It just seems like too much work at the stage they are at.

 

[zazouse]

My guess is they will be fine, look at it this way if you leave them free nature will keep their numbers down and if you live with folks close by that is probably a good thing cause they can be a nuisance, they pester me to death when i am trying to do something, like cut down trees or cut the fields, they love to run around the tractor like they are running the gauntlet bad thing is the tractor is being used by me while they do it, gonna run one over one day

 

[morrison7368]

So no other "home" setup needed? Just maybe some food/feed and its all good? They have survived one winter on their own that I know of here...

 

[zazouse]

So no other "home" setup needed? Just maybe some food/feed and its all good? They have survived one winter on their own that I know of here...

Sounds like this is what they are use to, mabe next breding season you can find their nest and snag some eggs for hatching

raise up some pesky imprinted baby's

 

[Garden Peas]

Lucky you!

See what survives the winter, and maybe add a hen or two next year if the babies don't make it.

Really, unless you seriously want to go through the hassle of trying to introduce free ranging birds to a pen, which may not even be possible, they will probably be fine. I've read stories about peas roosting in trees through ice storms and surviving... pretty scary if you are attached to the birds, but I guess they are tougher than it seems they would be. Supplemental food will be nice for them, hopefully not in a place where it exposes them to Wile E. Coyote during dinner

Good luck, and welcome!

* Oh yeah, and they loooove catfood. Of course, so do raccoons and all the other predators that eat your birds

 

[morrison7368]

Ok trying to find their nesting area may prove difficult for where we live. Another question. The young ones all look female...? Im guessing they are 6-7 months old about. Just wondering if it takes a while to be able to tell or not.

 

[zazouse]

They are plenty old enough to tell their age if they are indan blues, do they look like their mom? can you post photos and we can tell you for sure