Should I follow the peafowl home?

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

I love feathers. I love my chickens... but sometimes I just wish I could have a peacock.
I live in a fairly rural town, just outside the city limits. A few blocks away are a band of peafowl who roam up and down alongside a busy street. I see them often. They seem healthy. Maybe they belong to someone... but I see them most often outside an old, delapidated house. At dusk that's where they are. I am sure they roost near there.
Now I want to be clear I do NOT intend to kidnap them... they seem happy enough. But I would like to find their roosting place and pick up any discarded feathers I find there.
So here's the dilemma. I don't know a thing about peafowl.
Are they nice? Agressive? Territorial? Do they drop feathers gradually, or moult during a particular time of year? If I follow them home at dusk will it unnerve them and make them avoid their roost, or will they, knowing that I know, not use it after I discover it? Is there any special treat a free ranging peacock would like? Just how much like chickens are they? Is there anything else I ought to know?

 

[wegotchickens]

If they are in a tree and you are under them.... They poop BIG.
Do. NOT. Look. Up.


Take some scratch and toss it out while talking to them a couple of days when out and about, before you follow them 'home'.

 

[MinxFox]

They go crazy for unsalted unshelled penuts! I don't think you would startle them if you followed them as long as you don't get too close and make them feel like they are beeing herded. You won't find the long "tail" feathers (train feathers) from the male all the time. They shed those after the breeding season (summer) so you might not find any of those feathers but if you do they might be oldish. Once summer is over though you will find a bunch! It is amazing how many feathers just one peacock can shed! They do lose wing feathers a lot regularly so you might find a few of those. Pluss they lose the blue neck feathers a lot too, but those might blow away...Still I can find even the smallest feathers they shed which is the small itty bitty rounded ones ontop of the head (not the crest feathers) I call them tic feathers because they are shaped like a tic...Anyways they are easy to spot because of the irridecence. Mainly they lose feathers all year round and never seem to have a big moult, except for the peacock shedding his train. Peafowl are nice and not agressive, and they are not territorial when it comes to people. Just let them get used to you and it shouldn't be a problem following them around. I hope you find some good feathers! When we free ranged we would watch our birds when it started getting dark. The peahen would always get a drink of water right before flying up then they would walk up to a big oak tree, jump to the low fork in the tree, hop to other branches, then fly to a high spot in the tree and stay there. A good sign of their roosting tree would be a tree with lots or some poo under it.

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

Thanks!

As soon as it gets lighter out when I get off work I will begin making friends. I am prety good at getting skittish animals to accept my presence (and my chickens LOVE me) so I am sure with some treats it won't take long.
I like feathers of all types but I am excited to find train feathers. Those sell for about $1.50 each if you find a good deal... and its hard to justify buying enough to make anything truly spectacular. And for some reason its almost impossible to find any other peafowl feathers for sale at all. I guess most folks just want the big ones.
Is there any time of year I shouls stay out of their way? (breeding season, hatching season, etc?) There are 5 females and one male and I don't want any of them thinking I am a threat.

 

[MinxFox]

I'm not really sure that there is a time when you need to leave them alone. If anything the more you hang out around them the more they will accept you and get used to your presence. That is what I had to do with my peafowl. Even the skitish ones are very tame now since I spent a lot of time with them trying to hand feed them ect. Peafowl are pretty good with people around them. Mine just go about their business pecking around, chasing bugs, displaying, ect when I am in the pen. Hmm think about it this way: Almost all zoos have free range peafowl and zoos are open all the time, so peafowl are certainly fine with people around all the time.

I always wondered what I should sell my peacock feathers for...I sold a bunch to my art teacher. I also organize other feathers into ziplock bags from baby eye feathers to blue neck feathers, ect. I haven't tried selling those yet.

 

[hvnsnt3388]

Quote:
I ran across an internet site a while back that sells feather.....I was searching google peacock images and found it. It may give you and idea for pricing. I think I remember seeing flight feather type for 2.00 and train for 4.00.....anyway, maybe you could find it and get an idea.

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

Yes, as I said, $1.50 each is a GOOD deal for a train feather.
Feathers of all types are way more expensive than most bird owners realize. A small packet of rooster hackles, for example, can cost $6 or thereabouts. Your standard rooster has enough feathers on his neck to fill about 20 such packets. I estimate that the value of a rooster pelt is conservatively $100 if you were to piece it and sell it for craft store prices.
Any crafter I know who doesn't raise birds would be delighted to pay $20 for a wet bag of feathers leftover from proccessing a rooster.