Why Peafowls?

[krinkles]

Hey all,

I am slightly interested in eventually keeping a peafowl or two, but I've yet to find out good information on what peafowl are actually used for (I kinda like animals I keep to have multiple purposes

). Are they purely ornamental? I've read somewhere that they're good at killing snakes, but besides that, does anyone keep them for other reasons?
Thanks!

 

[xlboergoats]

I have not had peafowl long, but have always thought that they were beautiful birds. We breed, raise, and show chickens. We sell chicken hatching eggs, live chicks, and breeding chickens. We plan to breed the peafowl and sell some of the eggs and/or chicks. There is also a market for the feathers. We have not gotten rich off of our chickens and don't plan to get rich off of our peafowl. It is just nice to have enough of a market to be able to get some of our expenses back.

I think that sometimes, we do what we do because we enjoy it. Different people have different hobies that they enjoy. We enjoy raising chickens and peafowl. Even though there are expenses involved, they are much less expensive than mood medications and/or psycholgists. LOL!!

Good Luck,
Ernie

 

[krinkles]

Quote:
You know, I didn't even think about their feathers, but I have noticed lately that they seem to be more prominate in the crafting stores lol

And I can't imagine anything more beautiful than a peacock on full display strutting his stuff in the yard.

 

[Kedreeva]

You've got a lot of things peafowl could be good at- like someone told you, they will kill snakes; and mice and bugs and they are excellent sentries if you have other animals. You will always know when something unusual is in your yard because they will start alarm calling at it. You can also sell their eggs if you get females- even regular india blue eggs sell for a decent amount, or hatch the chicks and sell those if you want an adventure. Then there's the feathers to consider- of course the train feathers are coveted by many for crafts or cat toys, but also the wing and tail feathers (I mean the huge black ones that are their real tail, not the colorful train ones). I know more than a few artists who use these for feather painting (Like so: http://nambroth.deviantart.com/gallery/273060 ) or quill making (like so: http://www.taghairmarts.com/extimages/p_feather_quill_pheasant.jpg ). Even the colorful body feathers (like the little ones on their heads/necks/shoulders I have seen used in jewelry making. Like xlboergoats said, you won't get rich off of hobby peacocks (in fact you probably won't make enough to pay for their upkeep... but the look on people's faces when you say "My peacock did this thing the other day..." is priceless really), but they can be useful birds as well as beautiful.

 

[ColbyNTX]

Quote:
"My peacock did this thing the other day..." is priceless really

It is an even better look when you say my peahen did this..... cause they don't know what the heck you are talking about!

 

[Kedreeva]

The people at my new job, even after half a year, still give me that look any time I mention them. Then they apologize "I'm sorry it's just... you have PEACOCKS!" Makes me smiiiiile.

 

[MinxFox]

Yes that is one of my favorite things! At school I said one day..."So my peacock..." Then everyone was amazed that I have peafowl and everyone always asks how you get them as if peafowl are a rare thing to come across. Everyone is surprised to find out that peafowl are just as easy to get as chickens. I think if more people knew that their were peafowl breeders near them and how easy to get and take care of them it is then there would be lots more people with peafowl.

Anyways why peafowl...The thing that made me want them was beauty. I just thought they would be a nice eye candy and I liked watching the peacocks at the zoo display. I also liked the noise they make. Once you get peafowl then you learn about all the other reasons to keep them. They make all sorts of noises, really cool noises. They are not just a living ornament they are fun to watch...They do other things than just preen or eat or walk around. It doesn't take much time of sitting and watching to see them do something new or funny. I have sold a few of my peacock's train feathers after he shed them to my art teacher so you can sell the feathers, and give them away to friends or just to be nice to someone which is fun to do also. Something I never like to think about is eating them...I don't know if I have ever heard of a peafowl owner eating one of their peafowl but peafowl used to take the place of turkey as the table bird of choice and peacock was very popular to be served by the wealthy or something like that. I couldn't imagine going out and killing one of my peafowl for dinner tonight.

It does start a good conversation though...I can talk a lot about animals, I just love them a lot so whenever I find someone who is very interested in my peafowl I can go on and on about them.

I have had fish, bunnies, butterflies, ect and all of them got kind of boring to me...Peafowl on the other hand...Not boring at all. I am still learning things about them there is so much to learn about them and that is what I like. It never gets boring.