The peafowl/deer project

SJS66

In the Brooder
Aug 7, 2025
13
5
11
We have white tailed deer here like NYC has pigeons. This year my efforts to keep them out of my gardens has come to a head.... also, we have new peachicks.

So I need to brainstorm a fencing project to keep the deer out, and at the same time attempt to keep the peafowl in, so I need some real owner examples and data.

Some of my yard has 6' stockade fence. I have seen deer, with difficulty, jump it. I think 3 feet of box wire along the top would stop them. The rest of my yards are all surrounded by either a light weight 4ft welded wire (2"x4" box) or 5ft no climb horse n goat box wire fence. (we had goats, and some horses, now we have 2 cows and a flock of muscoveys).

From reading posts here I can see that a fully winged peacock can fly well enough to go anywhere it pleases. i had one fly in here years ago, and it left a week later but I know how they fly. Our Muscoveys generally do not fly off the property, except for the occasional hen who flies out, but to keep them safe in the fenced yards, I clip the wing of those. Most of them just fly up on top of stuff, roofs and whatnot, and don't leave. Another reason they have to be contained is they will go off and make a nest and keep coming back to eat, then out of nowhere one day ya got 20 more ducks waddling back to the gate for dinner.... the males are all too fat to fly much at all. Even clipped, the hens can fly up about 4 feet onto stuff. They learn what they cant do and give up any heroic efforts to get out. they are pretty easy to please.

Deer and ducks out of the way, lets talk peacocks....

If a full sized peacock/hen has a wing properly clipped, how high can it realistically jump fly up? If I make the deer fence that high, I've solved several problems. I know for the deer its going to have to be an 8ft min. will the peacocks be able to jump that?

I'm kinda factoring in their territorial nature, and the fact they are being hand raised from a week old to mentally anchor them here. The ducks are similar in nature, they are a semi domesticated breed, who will pretty much stay where they are fed every day. Fortunately over the years, by accident they are addicted to cat food so... I'm like their drug dealer. I call the cats "kitty kitty kitty" and a dozen hens come out of nowhere.

So, actually putting up the right fence will be a simple matter of adding a run of it on top of all the existing wire, which I had planned to do anyway peacocks or not. My question is basically, how high....


A lot of type for the question "how high" but hey... sometimes context matters right?
 
Grown peas can clear six foot with a single flap of the wings, they can do this with or with out clipping. Clipping peas is not generally looked upon with favor in the pea world, mainly because it removes their ability to evade predators. As for the fencing it sounds like you already have a plan, but what to do when the peas get out and can't get back to safety? We do not have many deer, but the ones we do have, and named, do frustrate me when they browse on my fruit trees. My remedy is to hang CD's on the trees to scare them away from my fruit I grow for the peas.
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The deer here learn pretty fast what stuff can't hurt them. At present I have solar chaser lights flashing in random patterns all night and that is keeping most of them away from the fence. Even still, once one jumps it, theyll all follow. Hight is the only thing thats gonna stop them.

As for predators, the biggest ones we have here are coyotoes and foxes, but one of our fences borders a heard of cows and donkeys, so anything resembling a dog is chased out or killed by them. I think I've seen one coyote in 20 yrs. Our cows also chase foxes away so...Ive seen them around along the roads but not on my property for... decades. We have cameras everywhere, and its been a long long time since anything but a opossum has wandered in. I'm not real concerned about predation. The only problem we have is with coons, but we live trap those as soon as one show up and deport them to another property.

Pretty interesting how high a pea can jump fly even clipped... not being able to get back in would be a problem. thanks for pointing that one out.

The clipped ducks can get a few ft off the ground but that second or 3rd flap spins them off to one side and prevents them from getting any sustained flight. Whats the deal with peacocks that this doesn't work?

Peas or no peas, I do have to raise the fences for the deer...its kinda unavoidable. These deer are so used to nobody hunting them they hide their babies in my hedgerows.... I have almost stepped on the little guys at times.

In your experience is there any kind of practical training you can do with peas to better anchor them to a property?
 

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