Should I Get Peafowl?

[KsKingBee]

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

 

[SulkyBantam]

Yep I thought so. But can I home them and how?
Yours are lovely!

 

[Entreparadis]

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!

I've been keeping peafowl for 5 years, The way to "home" them is just keep them confined to their coop and pen from the time you first get them for a few months. This is easiest and works best with young Peafowl I would get yearlings at oldest and keep them in a house with a run for a month while they get used to you and their surrouundings. Begin training them by letting them out on their own and watching them for an hour before dark and then guiding them to walk back before dark or luring them Inside the pen with food and shutting them in. Do this for longer periods of time each day before putting them back. Young males especially will wander during spring and summer so you will want to supervise them when free ranged at those times but do not let them free range during winters I'd you are in a cold winter place. I would get young chicks if you have the time to care for them, because you will have great bonding and fun teaching them to forage around your home. If you don't have more than a few acres to free range then don't. They will likely roam onto someone else's property and be hurt or possibly run away to live with wild turkeys. Also a big difference between them and other poultry is their vocalizations and calls, they are just about the loudest. Calls carry very far and they are especially noisy in spring and early summer, they make many different sounds and even honk when they are scared or separated. They can get on with hens not roosters and must have enough space or can catch diseases chickens carry. Also you cannot have more than one male peacock if there are peahens or chickens around or they will fight over them. This is especially important when not free ranging because they will fight more when confined. So make sure if you get chicks that the breeders knows weather they are males and females by DNA testing or that they are large enough to sex for sure so you only get one male. 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.

 

[swampfox440]

I've been keeping peafowl for 5 years, The way to "home" them is just keep them confined to their coop and pen from the time you first get them for a few months. This is easiest and works best with young Peafowl I would get yearlings at oldest and keep them in a house with a run for a month while they get used to you and their surrouundings. Begin training them by letting them out on their own and watching them for an hour before dark and then guiding them to walk back before dark or luring them Inside the pen with food and shutting them in. Do this for longer periods of time each day before putting them back. Young males especially will wander during spring and summer so you will want to supervise them when free ranged at those times but do not let them free range during winters I'd you are in a cold winter place. I would get young chicks if you have the time to care for them, because you will have great bonding and fun teaching them to forage around your home. If you don't have more than a few acres to free range then don't. They will likely roam onto someone else's property and be hurt or possibly run away to live with wild turkeys. Also a big difference between them and other poultry is their vocalizations and calls, they are just about the loudest. Calls carry very far and they are especially noisy in spring and early summer, they make many different sounds and even honk when they are scared or separated. They can get on with hens not roosters and must have enough space or can catch diseases chickens carry. Also you cannot have more than one male peacock if there are peahens or chickens around or they will fight over them. This is especially important when not free ranging because they will fight more when confined. So make sure if you get chicks that the breeders knows weather they are males and females by DNA testing or that they are large enough to sex for sure so you only get one male. 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.

 

[Entreparadis]

Haha thanks, I didn't realize it had gotten so long there's so much to know though, I'm sure there will be much more advice as well. I kept 3 peacocks in with 9 chickens now I know not to keep males confined together. That's my biggest mistake so I just hope others learn from it.

 

[SulkyBantam]

Thanks, you are all so helpful and informative!

 

[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.

 

[SulkyBantam]

Oh right, worth knowing thanks.