Should I lay wire on bottom of the pen for safety?

[doudini2]

I was wondering whether it would be better to line the bottom of the pen with wire, instead of burying sides of the wire in the ground. It would be all sealed off from all predators, but peacock would walk on wire, and I would have to buy a lo ad of dirt.
Also is it necessary to put sand down or can he be on the grass and dirt? Will he mow the grass in one week and will it become all muddy? How do I clean all the poop?

 

[wannabchick]

I know peafowl breeders and many peafowl owners do not let their peafowl onto ground until a certain.. shoot I must go back and research why?? LOL

but their is a reason

and as far as wire and dirt.. well, they sure do love the dirt..

wire- if its fully covered with inches and inches and inches of dirt.. guess you could do that..

I do hear though.. peafowl can handle lots of the smaller predatators.. fight wise, compared to chickens..

Also my peafowl- I have one that is over age 10 months just got her last week.. soooooooooo she is on grass/ when the grass is all gone, I will use sand, and just shift the poo out.. like one would do with kitty litter.. now another adjoining run.. I was thinking of lots of dirt in that one.. we will see when that time comes.. but I do like the sand idea.. seems easier to clean...and inside.. I will do pine shavings..

welcome to the peafowl world..

others will have to chime in with their advice/ I am totally new at this.. but my above info is what I have learned reading and researching on here..
xoxoxo

 

[featherhead]

Peafowl instinctively take dust baths to help prevent skin parasites. They will scratch a depression to roll around in, and that little dustbowl will be around 6" deep. If your hens nest on the ground, their nests will be about 4" deep. That's a lot of dirt, so it would probably be more cost effective to either bury the wire, or attach another length of wire and run it 2 feet our from the pen.

Another thing about buried wire - it will rust faster. With a good welded wire and medium rainfall, you might be looking at 6-8 years before it rusts out and the welds pop. Above-ground wire will last much longer than that. And it's easier to replace if you need to. You might also take a chance of your birds cutting their feet on rusty wire.

My peafowl are on grass and they love it. It harbors insects that they eat, and I let parts of the aviaries grow tall to keep the ground cooler during the summer. Yes, I do have to mow the grass in their aviaries, so I bought a manual rotary mower for that job. Depending on the size of your enclosure and the number of birds in it, you might not need to cut the grass because they do eat grass. Peafowl don't scratch and dig all over the place like chickens do - they choose one or two spots and dig their little bowls. You will probably only need to clean poop from under their perches. About 3 times per year, I take a shovel out and remove what's under the perches. Whatever is in the rest of the pen serves as fertilizer, and the grass grows quickly.

You are going to LOVE your peafowl.