Should I Get Peafowl?

[SulkyBantam]

We've loved peafowl for a long time and people down the road have 3 (2 male 1 female). More are being sold around us that ever before, so...

We wondered were they practical for our smallholding?
From what I heard they need a house or shed. You should get them at the same time and feed them grain or game feed. They should be 'homed', is all that right?

How do you 'home' them? What is the biggest difference between them and other poultry (we do have guineas)? Can they get on with chickens? What do you to if you want to go away for a few nights?

I'd really appreciate any help/suggestions/answers from experts out there!

 

[KsKingBee]

If the run is not netted over they will fly out.

 

[ackie]

We feed our peafowl chicken layer pellets, and they free range for bugs. I've read that they do need a higher protein content so you can do a game bird feed instead or supplement with cat food. My peachicks are on medicated chick starter + dried meal worms as treats because the game starter I had access to wasn't medicated.

Ours seem fine with our chickens, but I've never personally introduced new ones; they just kinda all grow up together and work stuff out. None of ours (except the babies I have penned up) sleep in a coop. They're all 60+ feet up in the trees at night. I do know that you'll need to pen them up for a bit to get them to know that's home. Because they roost high, they're pretty safe from predators. The only time I lose peafowl to predators is peahens on nests overnight.

Disclaimer: we have "lost" some peafowl (as in, where did this bird go?), so my methods are definitely not full proof haha.

 

[ackie]

Feed them in the coop if you want them to continue to use it or they will opt for sleeping under the stars.

I actually want to highly second feeding them in the coop. Ours are fairly skittish and the easiest way to catch one is to wait until they're at the feeder and just close the coop door. In case they're sick, injured, being relocated, etc.

 

[ackie]

Yep they sell them fully grown here too.

I would definitely check into how they were raised. I sell fully grown peacocks on occasion, but they are not hand tamed in the slightest.

 

[ackie]

Females usually cost much more because you need more females than males. It is worth it to get set up correctly in the first place with only one male.

Fully grown (with tail) males sell for more than fully grown females in my area. I would guess that young females might cost more than young males. I bought my most recent peachicks straightrun so I'm not sure. (Ended up with 3 male and 1 female... not very useful to fix our awful 6:2 ratio we have... but two of the male peachicks died from histomoniasis. I'm grateful the female lived.)

Edit: the ratio was not this bad but we only lose hens on nests and we almost never lose the boys.

 

[Bird_Lover_17]

@KsKingBee

 

[SulkyBantam]

Thanks a lot for the advice, I know we'd have to give them a coop as there are foxes and such here and not the highest trees.

 

[KsKingBee]

A great place to start your education is at the top of the topics list on the Peafowl page. Look for the 'stickies' topics and the 101 for basic information. In short, yes you will need a place to keep them for a few weeks until they get acclimated to you and the new home. Feed them in the coop if you want them to continue to use it or they will opt for sleeping under the stars. They can free range with all other types of fowl without any problems. If you contain them in a pen with other birds you will have to keep up with the regular deworming treatments. Do you have a livestock guardian dog? You may want to consider this too.

 

[SulkyBantam]

A great place to start your education is at the top of the topics list on the Peafowl page. Look for the 'stickies' topics and the 101 for basic information. In short, yes you will need a place to keep them for a few weeks until they get acclimated to you and the new home. Feed them in the coop if you want them to continue to use it or they will opt for sleeping under the stars. They can free range with all other types of fowl without any problems. If you contain them in a pen with other birds you will have to keep up with the regular deworming treatments. Do you have a livestock guardian dog? You may want to consider this too.

We have a 100m square space with chickens in but the guineas can escape so I presume peafowl could too? Want to make them happy but would be worried if they freeranged...

I actually want to highly second feeding them in the coop. Ours are fairly skittish and the easiest way to catch one is to wait until they're at the feeder and just close the coop door. In case they're sick, injured, being relocated, etc.

Good idea thanks for advice.

We got our India Blue peas fully grown and hand tamed they were great !

Yep they sell them fully grown here too.