Wow, a load of peafowl!!

[seabreeze]

We've never had pea fowl and found a lady needing to find a good home for several of her birds (I think she has over 50?? but don't quote me!). She and her husband brought down some beautiful birds albeit not in the best shape because they had to be cooped due to getting on neighbor's roof and he was very unhappy about that so they've been cooped up for about a year.

Anyway, they brought out two 3 year old breeder males, two 2 yr old white males, two 1 yr old males and I believe four hens. She mentioned black shouldered and pied but didn't point out which was which. Of course the whites are easy

but not sure about the others. So once it stops raining and sunlight filters into the barn, I can get some pics!

In the meantime, I asked what they were feeding them and she said cat food (Costco) and corn.

Is this a balanced feed? At the moment, they are in a huge stall with rafters just for habitat adjustment until they feel comfortable with all the goings' on at my place (dogs barking, tractors, equipment, donkeys braying, horses whinnying etc) Once they have adjusted a bit, they will get to free range the rest of their lives.

Also, where do they lay their eggs if they are free range? Are they broody? If they are, can I collect the eggs easily without getting pecked to death by the hens?

thanks so much in advance for the *Cliff's Notes* on peafowl.

 

[C&Rman]

Cat food works. I caught my peafowl as wild birds so I didn't have anything to feed them so I searched online and read that cat food can be their treat. Also before I had caught my peafowl one of the peahens had her eggs on an abonded house roof. She was easly frightended and would fly off the roof if anybody got to close. So you shoudl be able to get their eggs if needed. From what I have read they go broody every spring or sometime around there. I am not an expert by all means but I hope this helps

 

[CORNISH_MAN]

Congrats on your score. Now please post lots and lots of pics so we can all drool...

 

[MinxFox]

I second that! It sounds like you got a good mix of peafowl!

 

[Glenmar]

I feed mine gamebird pellets and whole corn free choice. Cat food, grapes, nuts, seeds are treats.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Pictures Please!!

 

[seabreeze]

Hi Everyone, thank you so much for the input!!! What exactly is gamebird feed? Is it like scratch? How about cracked or whole corn or flock raiser which has a higher protein. As soon as this weekend is done and I can get pics, I will definitely post them here! They are currently in one of my barn's stalls and I just want them to get used to the sounds (lots!!) and voices and become familiar with us before they get to get out and free range. I suspect they will select the arena to roost in, its 60x150 long and has a ton of rafters! We also have a lot of trees but mostly hybrid poplar and cottonwood with two blue spruce trees at the front of the barn. They seem pretty docile though.