Should we allow our India Blue Pied to Free Range?

[stillok]

I was recently given an India Blue Pied peacock for my birthday. We have him penned up for now and he seems to be doing quite well. The question is.....can we eventually allow him to free range without much danger of nighttime predators getting him?

He has quite a few white feathers and I know this will make him stand out at night.

 

[new 2 pfowl]

Hello!

Nighttime predators are not the only problem your boy may encounter when free ranging. Peas are super nosy and love to roam and explore!
How large is your property?
Do you have big trees?
Are you near roads?
Do you have friendly neighbors?
What kind of predators do you have?

 

[enola]

When spring gets here he may also wander off looking for a mate.

 

[stillok]

We have 5 acres about 2 miles from town. No busy roads close by. I know he will probably roam over to our neighbors' properties and will talk to them before we let him out. We do have big trees on our place, so plenty of room for him to roost out of reach of coyotes. We see raccoon occasionally and have owls around. It's the owls and raccoon I am concerned about since they could get to him at night in a tree. That is why I am concerned about the white feathers.

I was hoping that we'd be able to lure him in at night by keeping food in his enclosure. Will that work?

Years ago when we lived in town, there was a peacock that lived in our neighborhood for a number of years. This was within a block of a busy road. He would roost in large trees in a small park near our house and I think someone in the neighborhood kept food and water out for him. He never seemed to stray far.

 

[elthznd901]

I am also curious what people think on this one.. I also have 5 acres.. lots of trees... that said my neighbors arent terribly far. Is a free ranging peacock sensible?

 

[KsKingBee]

We have had peas going on four years now and have free ranged some of them, and at times all of them. So far we haven't lost any to predators and only one has left us. Our situation is that we live on 160 acres and other than my sisters that live about 150 yards away, our closest neighbors are about 1 1/2 miles away. The freerangers have gone down to visit my sisters, but have never gone any further away than that. The road is almost 1/2 mile from the house and they have never seen it. Our freerangers only roost on our pergola and deck, never in the trees, we have owls that regularly take the guineas at night but so far have left the peas alone. We had two Great Pyrs for about nine months until they ran off and we haven't seen them since the first of the month so I guess I will need to start trapping for the coons and opossums again.

 

[barkerg]

If you've got great neighbors then your half way there. Depending on your location predators could be an issue but if your penning up at night you should be ok. Keep this in consideration, age will play a huge role in personality especially in young males that have bonded with humans, in my experience young male peas especially blues can be "bottle babies" meaning they kinda lose their fear towards humans and during the season they may attack you this is why having good neighbors is a must, if they have sliding glass doors, french doors, etc... This includes rims on cars pretty much anything they can see their reflection in, will be attacked and can cause damage to both. India blues do free range very well but once they get a "bad" habit, it can be hard to break, this includes neighbors who feed cats or dogs outside as peas will wait on a daily and attack what it can for that food not to mention pea poo is a terrible smell to those not used to it. My neighbors as do I feed our outside 4 leggers at night. I know, long winded but, I hope it helps and please keep us posted.

Gerald Barker