Why do you raise Peafowl?

[ParadiseFoundFarm]

Yes, they are beautiful. But, what purpose do they have? What is their role in our lives? Do they return affection? Do they protect us? Feed us? I have an urge to own them but no real reason. You, out there in cyberspace, you own them, care for them, raise them, breed them carefully and rejoice in them. Share your thoughts with me please.

 

[Phage]

Ours LOVE us.
They are imprinted from hatching but do they return affection?- HECK YES!!!

here is DD having fun

 

[ParadiseFoundFarm]

That last pic is sooooo sweet! Are yours housetrained? Do they like petting? My chickens love to be petted.

 

[chickenzoo]

I have 2 males & 3 females that were hand raised. They like their chin scratched, to be given treats and will follow me all over stealing my tools, pecking my fingers when I try to put up wire, laying in the flight netting..... LOL I love watching them lay in a big pile of fire ants and gobble them up. I like to watch them harass black snakes and squirrels and chase down buggs. I like when they hollar to let me know somethings amiss and how they wait to clean up after the dogs spilled food.

They do have a purpose here besides being eye candy.

 

[free_ranger]

Phage, your daughter looks like an angel in your first picture, with her expression and the light behind her.

As for peas, there's no reason for me to have my chick because it is a big, huge time sump. But for some reason, the love and trust it shows us outweigh the inconveniences of having it... in the house. With its nest taking up a quarter of our kitchen floor. Messing with the boys' lego masterpieces. Kicking dirt out of my indoor plants. Pecking the dog's nose. Having to sleep next to me in bed. Quick, someone remind me why I have it?

 

[Kev]

IMO- if you like or admire them.... simply, why not?

Anyways, will agree with others that they have much more personality than chickens. If hand raised, they can bond much stronger than chickens do.

You think they are beautiful as is.. wait until you have a trusting peacock fanning and going through the courtship motions just mere feet away from you to truly appreciate their beauty, so much more detail, shades, sounds you may not have been aware of previously..

Financially, adult peafowl eat MUCH less then other poultry & waterfowl.. pen of 5 chickens will eat in a day or two that lasts a pen of 5 adult peafowl about a week. Eggs or chicks of some colors will sell for fair amount, which can cover the feed cost at least. The con may be requiring much larger pens which can get expensive but then again, should be able to eventually make even by chick/juvenile/egg sales.

My childhood home was in a very rural area with just 4 neighbors. Lots of wildlife including snakes/rattlers. Before peafowl, we would see all sorts of snakes very often, including rattlers on the porch and patio sometimes. After peafowl, simply saw way less snakes and barely saw rattlers at all.. while the one neighbor who hated birds & encouraged his kids to chase and throw stones whenever they saw any continued to find snakes/rattlers frequently in his yard... our peafowl didn't kill the medium-larger snakes, just harassed and bothered them until they moved out.

 

[MinxFox]

Well, I always was interested in these beautiful birds. When going to zoos I would watch the beautiful males high up in the pine trees walking around, the peahens with peachicks following them, and one magical day were I saw a beautiful white peacock on a patio at the zoo his train all spread out as he preened it. All his white feathers were catching the light comming through the trees and so he seemed to glow. The beauty really made me like them, but I had no idea why I was soo attracted to them. I had never ever had a pet bird before or really been around someones pet bird so I had no idea what birds were like ecept from what I had observed with little birds that visited our feeder. Still I really wanted them. So peafowl are my first ever bird, and I really love them. I can't compare them to other birds because I haven't had chickens or anything, but they are just funny! They surprize you in what they do every day. I have yet to learn all their ways. Each day I see them doing something new! Sometimes I see them catch a bug in mid flight, which is pretty cool. Other times they sneak up behind me and when you turn around to see them they walk away pretending they were not staring at your shirt. My peacock Alto is facinated by water. When I water the plants or fill up their water he stares at the water curiously. All the birds like to follow me around when I water the plants because the water makes all the bugs come out from under the leaves so that the peafowl have an easy time of catching and finding them. Also there is nothing like getting up early in the morning to watch free-range peafowl fly down from a big tree and land right there feet away from you.

I raise them because it is really relaxing to watch them, and entertaining. Their antics are never ending and it is fun to watch them show off their beauty too.

 

[AndysPeafowlSanctuary]

I raise peafowl because I'm simply amazed and intrigued by everything about these birds. They have been around forever and the fact that they mutate into different colors and patters is completely mind boggling. There quite intelligent birds and they live for a very long long time. I love it when they communicate with each other. Exspecially peahens, they have some many different types of calls and honking and half the time I can even figure out whos saying what. Another reason why I like them so much is bc they are not native to this country and they have a presence that I have never experienced before with any other animal. My 1st encounter with peafowl occured when I was almost a teenager next to the banks of the mighty mississippi river at an old plantation home. This place is simply amazing and still looks the same till this day. I'll have to go there one day and take some pics and post them to show you what I mean. A 3 story plantation house surronded by Oak And Magnolia Trees and all you can hear for miles is the honking and calls of peafowl. There were well over 100 India Blue Peafowl that free range upon the acres of land and on the levees of the river. If I ever win the lottery thats gonna be my home.

 

[Phage]

Quote:
They are NOT house trained, which is the worst aspect about having them in the house. They stay in the house/ garage until 3 months then they are outside. That means that they get lot of exposure to people dog etc. Some like being scratched, some don't but treats make them much more amenable to it!
It is all about how you treat them. This is an AMAZING video of kev's Javas going tricks. Who said that 100% Javas could not be tamed????

 

[ParadiseFoundFarm]

Thank you all so much. I appreciated the link to the video - are those peahens or sub-adults? I notice most all tags from the respondents are from the south - where it doesn't get what we up here in northern Illinois call cold. Are any people raising them up here too? Is that because our winter is hard on the birds? We are a humane focused family. We would not try to raise something that would suffer for our enjoyment. Please keep the thread going. I find it fascinating to hear your views. You are convincing me and opening up my eyes. Are they very loud? How about red tailed hawks? We have a resident red tailed hawk who has taken one of my chickens. Do they attack chickens? Will they put my dog in his place and peck him into leaving them ( and maybe my chickens) alone?