Surprise guests in the pea pen...

[new 2 pfowl]

WestKnollAmy,
I'm not sure if this is helpful, but this is how I closed off some awkward-shaped openings around the door of the pen. I don't know what these plate with holes are really for? Just found them at the hardware store.
As long as you have one for each side of the rail, you can screw them together and tighten them.
It isn't pretty but it seems to be working so far...

 

[casportpony]

Very clever!

-Kathy

 

[new 2 pfowl]

Well the guests have been 100% evicted, thank goodness!

But I am having so much fun with the trail camera that I had to share a few pictures (not near the pen!), hope that you guys don't mind that this is off of the topic of peas...

 

[casportpony]

Too much fun, I want one!

-Kathy

 

[zazouse]

Well the guests have been 100% evicted, thank goodness!

But I am having so much fun with the trail camera that I had to share a few pictures (not near the pen!), hope that you guys don't mind that this is off of the topic of peas...

Spying on nature is so much fun and you can learn alot from these photos.

 

[MinxFox]

Aww grey foxes!

new 2 peafowl: Did you hand raise Peggy? I think if you hand raise them and don't give them a place to perch soon enough they get used to sleeping on the ground. I am wondering how you can get him to roost at night. Now that he wants to be pet, you could tap the roost and get him to fly up there to be pet. Is the roost shaky? I don't know what it could be...I just hope he stays safe sleeping on the ground.

 

[new 2 pfowl]

Thanks for that Minxfox!
I think the perch might be a bit shaky for Peggy, since he has a bad leg.
I'm not sure how to make a better perch for him - I'll have to work on it.

Especially since it looks like he'll be in the pen for much longer than I ever imagined.
I FINALLY let him out of the pen yesterday, and saw him fly up into the big tree to sleep...

And he showed up this morning missing most of his primary flight feathers - something attacked him and pulled out his feathers!

That sweet boy has the worst luck of any peacock in the whole world, I think.

 

[MinxFox]

Oh my goodness! Well on one hand it is good to know he knows that he should roost, but that is too bad that he lost feathers... Is he hurt? Do you have your perch held up by the fencing? I have a smaller pen were I just run the wood through the fencing and sometimes that makes shaky perches. Maybe if you zip tie the perch to the fence or something...

No I don't think he has the worst luck. I was reading an article in this November issue of the UPA magazine and the article is titled, "Miracle". It is about a peacock that has had literally the worst of luck. The first thing that happened to him is he got spooked when the author's husband was cleaning the pen and the peacock flew into the fencing and got his neck hung in the fencing. By the time the husband noticed, the peacock had gone limp. He removed the bird from the fence and the peacock lay on ground for 3 days without food or water then finally got up to drink and recovered. The next thing that happened to this bird is he was turned out into a large pen along with all the other peafowl for the winter. The peacocks ganged up on him and stripped all the skin and feathers off of his neck. The author doctored him and have him medicine and once again he recovered. Then he got gape worms even though he had been wormed. The owner gave him all sorts of meds but none worked and the peacock was coughing a lot. They got Metronidazole tablets from the vet and that healed him. This poor bird's story is still not over! This year he was put in a pen with all males and they were fighting him again, so he was let out to free-range. He roosted on a plank that the netting was attached to. Even with a great Pyrenees patrolling a cat (doesn't say what kind) got the peacock on Monday night and all that was left were feathers. Well, on Thursday morning they heard a peacock calling out in the pasture. They found the peacock under a tree with feathers everywhere and his entire right side was missing feathers and skin all the way to where the wing joins the body and with a puncture wound on his leg. The husband wanted to put him out of his misery but the author said no and after some treatment he is on the road to recovery. It says his puncture wound is healing and he doesn't limp. They named him Miracle after all of that. Now that is quite a story! It goes to show how tough peafowl can be!

 

[fosterson]

RE: Miracle and tough peafowl -- their natural habitat is full of things like tigers and large snakes. They have to be tough or there wouldn't be any at all!