Thinking about getting Peafowl~any advice?

[jenlynn4]

I really love these birds, yes I know they are LOUD but that doesnt matter to me....I only have one neighbor and plan on putting them on the side of my property furthest away from her. Any advice for me as far as care and types I should look for? I wanted to try hatching eggs and was wonderring if its even worth trying to get some shipped or should I just buy pairs??? There is a breeder in Ohio who is only 2.5 hours from me...I was just wonderring which way would be best to go. Any advice would be helpful. JEN

Edited to add: and what is fair prices for pairs???? I am thinking White and india blue but not sure. JEN

 

[TerriLaChicks]

Read the sticky topic at the top of this post & it'll give you a lot of useful info. If I were you, I'd buy younger birds from the breeder. I hear the eggs are hard to hatch. I got my girls as month olds & they are both friendly & tame to me - they get shy if anybody except my husband is around. The boys were a few months older but they are coming around now & becoming almost as tame as the girls. The India Blue types are hardier than the Javas. Price depends on your area of the country.

 

[destinduck]

Why are the blues hardier than the greens? Because of temperture requirements? Im getting some Java greens soon. One of my best friends has kept them and many other type and Im going to try the young ones .

 

[jimmythechicken]

check out deerman i think he is selling some in ohio an has some great birds.greens have trouble with the cold.we have had them for a year hatching from eggs is fun but keep them on wire for first 3 months they are very susceptable to disease.they are not as loud as i thought they would be but mating season is coming so i my be specking to soon.hahaha goodluck

 

[MinxFox]

Blues are hardier in terms of cold. India Blues can withstand far colder temps than green peafowl can. Here in Florida that wouldn't be a problem and I probably wouldn't need a heated roost if I got greens, but if you are somewhere cold then you need an indoor heated roost for them.

Jen, if you like the look of the green but don't want to worry as much about cold tolerance you might want to think about getting Spaldings. Spaldings are a hybrid of the India Blue and the Green peafowl, but they can breed unlike most hybrids. Of course India Blues are always great for first time peafowl owners, but if you really want something closer to a green than you might want a Spalding. Here is a page about them:
http://database.amyspeacockparadise.com/spalding.shtml

Still India Blues are the cheapest peafowl so you might want to try them first before getting something else. Blackshoulders are about the same for price and are very interesting too. I wouldn't try hatching eggs. At least get them as chicks. There are multiple pros and cons for each age peafowl you get...
Peachicks- If you get peachicks then you get to watch them grow up and you form more of a bond. They should end up tamer. BUT it will take a long time for them to get fully beautiful and be able to have peachicks of their own.
Yearlings- Getting yearling peafowl means they are more hardy than peachicks so they are less likely to randomly die, but they will be less tame because they were not raised by you. Still it can be easy to tame them down with a little time and food.
Adults- With adult peafowl you don't have to wait for them to get old enough to breed, and the peacock will have a train with eye feathers unlike a chick or a yearling which you will have to wait on to grow that pretty tail. Also the adults can make the calling noise, whereas the yearlings can only honk. Then again the adults haven't grown up around you and so will be probably less tame as a yearling bird would be, but still you can work with them and they might end up pretty tame.

It all depends on how long you want to wait. We couldn't wait for our yearling to grow out his train so we got an adult peacock. I think it was a good decision. This year our yearling is two with only one puny eye feather and our adult peacock is four with a beautiful train that he will shed at the end of summer for us to collect the 100 or more train feathers to put in a vase for decoration and sell to people for crafts, ect.

Ask a lot of questions when you visit the breeder. That is what we did when we first got peafowl. It will help clear up a lot of things and you can find out some background on the peafowl you are going to buy like what is their favorite food,ect. Take your time and check out all their peafowl before getting the first ones you see you want to make sure you get something good and what you really want.

 

[jenlynn4]

thank you so much! I will do that....someone mentioned deerman is in ohio...I am not far from ohio. I am still in the THIKING stage..but If I do decide after I learn as much as I can about them that I want to give it a try I will be contacting a couple breeders to see if I can go see thier birds.