Your total number of Peas PLEEZE?

[zazouse]

Arbor,,waiting for peas to mature is like waiting on a fine bottle of wine to age,,anticipation is part of the 2-3 year wait.

When i think of the 25 years it took to get all my kids on their own waiting for peas to turn 2 to bare offspring is easy

 

[MinxFox]

I'm kinda feeling like a "pig" with my numbers,,,someone has to have more than me here.I actually thought several members here had numbers around 100 birds. AugeredIN and Dany12 in particular.Arbor I knew you were moving-ect and until you get situated your numbers would be less but still 44 birds from you is more than I thought you had.

I think it is awesome how many you have. How long have you had peafowl?

We had that many but we have really cut back. Our farm is a second home so we have help during the week. I made the decision to go for quality over quantity. We had some colors that we were having to let go for nothing. I don't like selling eggs so we hatch everything. I also got tired of having a couple of hundred birds in grow out pens. I decided for the time being to focus on the colors and patterns that we like as well as those we can trade and/or sell to support the farm. I really want to focus on a couple of spading colors and increasing the percentage of green. I have been very impressed with some of the larger breeders efforts. We also starting raising and selling rare breed chickens and we would like to get back into the ornamental pheasants. Think more personal zoo than single animal. All of that stuff takes time during the week that we cannot let get out of control.

I will say, however, that we have no problem with growing the peafowl numbers back up as long as we can handle it. We started last year with even more than I indicated and we have now cut back twice. We have lots of empty pen space. If Brad makes another trip south, I envision possibly some of them being filled. I look at his list all the time.

Peafowl will always rule around here. If we cannot have them, we will not have any animals.

A couple of the things that we have really enjoyed the last two years is (1) selling in bulk and (2) trading with other breeders. Having someone want your birds makes you feel good.

You have some stuff (both color and bloodline) that I would like to have. Maybe we can do some chick trading this spring. I don't mind trading straight run.

You must drool over that Spalding pied Sid has, I love how tall that bird is. Do you have green peafowl? I am asking because you said you want to increase the green blood. I like everything you have said here. During the summer time I would love to visit you if you aren't too busy just to learn from you and see your pens. I like meeting other bird people and I feel pretty bad missing out on the UPA conventions. I always thought it would be cool to do a bird trade. So the birds do help support the farm? I read that peafowl might pay for themselves but nothing much extra...I guess it might depend on how many you hatch, what varieties you have, etc.

I have to say that there was a time that incubator chores got dreary and I was the only one participating. After we cut back some last year and diversified the colors and patterns, all three of us got to the point that we could not wait for hatching. It got exciting again. Thats the way I want to keep it.

Sometimes I want to hatch the eggs, sometimes I don't. I have to say once I pair my white with the pied I am going to be very excited to see what chicks I get. I want a nice pied bird so bad...

AugeredIN,weekly hatch-a-longs here gets monatenous about August mainly for me,it's too late to change breeding pairs around,ect. But each spring I cannot wait for the first egg,and then the first chick.I make personal side bets as to what pen and what chick will hatch out first and it's interesting to me the new beauty I see each spring as my Peacocks gets one year older.Impressive,magnificant,and sheer beauty not seen in many wild animals that have been domesticated.
I do 99% of the work and chores for all my peas and hire help once inawhile like when I have pens to build. I keep telling myself "no more buying-no more pen building" but once again come this spring,more pens must be made.

I like your idea of making bets! Just today I had my boyfriend helping me work on new pens and fixing a roost in the current pen. He ended up doing most of the work. I am not so good with a hammer (I always end up bending the nail) and so when I asked if I could help he said no, so for now I am still not getting much experience with the hammer. The only thing I did was lift stuff, fill in dirt around the posts, and hold up the netting.

My boyfriend hit his knee on the tractor loader and was hurting and I saw him hit is finger a few times with the hammer. I got off easy compared to him.

The peafowl are so beautiful. Sometimes I just stand and stare at their colors. I like looking at all the detail on peafowl like the little hairs on their crest feathers and the tiny "tick" feathers on their heads. So cool! I have a collection of those little tick feathers on their head. They catch my eye when I am in the pen and I sometimes pick them up and put them in my collection.

It's an addiction thats very rewarding once you get over the obstacles of Pea raising-hatching and rearing and pen building. Somerimes labor intensive,taking a step or two backwards before moving forwards,but the self gratification of owning-caring for these birds I get isn't matched by many other things I've already done in life.

I agree about the obstacles...I gave a speech on Friday and it could be anything about yourself so I talked about peafowl. One of my three main points was that taking care of peafowl teaches you great responsibility, and I definitely agree with the self gratification. When you see them out there displaying you feel so happy especially if they are a bird you hand raised and you feel good to know you raised that bird up to the beautiful peacock, or peahen it is today.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Minx,,the first peacocks-peahens I hatched will be on their third laying season this spring so I've been raising them for my 5th year coming this spring.About my side bets,,I'll put a bottle of cold Blackberry Merlot on the table now and predict my first eggs will be laid and hatched by my Black Shoulder Silver Pied pen.Roadtrip is a fantastic,proud Peacock when he's coming into his full glory in March. He is already getting very vocal when I come out to feed at night,it's no longer dead silence out there like it has been since their trains dropped last August. Just a suggestion,,instead of using a hammer and nails,start using a rechargable drill and drywall screws instead of nails and a hammer. No more hurt fingertips,and the screws can be taken back out much easier with less damage to the boards,so they can be reused again,compared to them splitting when trying to pull a nail back out.I too find myself many summertime evenings spending a few hours in Pea Palace east side aviary in the diffrent pens with some bread to feed while I make observations. I like listening to their vocalizations used for diffrent reasons. I didn't notice until this summer that Peacocks will call hens to feed much as roosters will cluck when they find a new food source,calling the hens in.Throw some bread pieces on the ground and then listen to the Peacock.He calls the peahens in,just like a rooster does but much less volume
I suppose what gives me the most sense of trust between me and my peas(EXCEPT THANG) is when it's breeding time,and I'm in the breeding pens some of the males refuse to move and I actually have to move their trains out of the way to get to the food or water bowls. They acknowldege me but still hold their trains high and wide but do not try to flee away from me.I don't pose a threat to them evidently,,and I don't make pets out of my peas per say.They are very used to me and I very seldom handle them but even this fall when we moved them inside they seemed much calmer than last year.

 

[AugeredIn]

.......You must drool over that Spalding pied Sid has, I love how tall that bird is. Do you have green peafowl? I am asking because you said you want to increase the green blood. I like everything you have said here. During the summer time I would love to visit you if you aren't too busy just to learn from you and see your pens. I like meeting other bird people and I feel pretty bad missing out on the UPA conventions. I always thought it would be cool to do a bird trade. So the birds do help support the farm? I read that peafowl might pay for themselves but nothing much extra...I guess it might depend on how many you hatch, what varieties you have, etc. ......

Yes, I do admire Sid's work on the bronze birds. They are spectacular. We sold the green peafowl that we had as we were unsure of their lineage. As soon as we can rearrange some pens we are bringing in a pair to be used only in breeding into other colors. We are not going to breed green birds for sale. You are pretty much welcome to come by anytime during the spring or summer when we are there. We have only been to the UPA convention that was here and only for the tour. Beginning this year we are going to make the convention as well as a trip to at least Brad's and maybe Sid's place. We decided last year that even though the farm was a hobby and our stress relief that we either had to significantly limit our spending or let the hobby pay for itself. Adding rare breed chickens to the mix last year as well as selling certain birds allowed us to break even last year. This year the goal is to pay for the farm expenses and then be able to pay for several sets of birds that we are particularly interested in. While I admire anyone making a living on peafowl or poultry in general, it is not difficult to have the hobby pay for itself and expansion. It does take a commitment to doing it right including some upfront construction and purchase of equipment and a little self control.

 

[MinxFox]

Minx,,the first peacocks-peahens I hatched will be on their third laying season this spring so I've been raising them for my 5th year coming this spring.About my side bets,,I'll put a bottle of cold Blackberry Merlot on the table now and predict my first eggs will be laid and hatched by my Black Shoulder Silver Pied pen.Roadtrip is a fantastic,proud Peacock when he's coming into his full glory in March. He is already getting very vocal when I come out to feed at night,it's no longer dead silence out there like it has been since their trains dropped last August. Just a suggestion,,instead of using a hammer and nails,start using a rechargable drill and drywall screws instead of nails and a hammer. No more hurt fingertips,and the screws can be taken back out much easier with less damage to the boards,so they can be reused again,compared to them splitting when trying to pull a nail back out.I too find myself many summertime evenings spending a few hours in Pea Palace east side aviary in the diffrent pens with some bread to feed while I make observations. I like listening to their vocalizations used for diffrent reasons. I didn't notice until this summer that Peacocks will call hens to feed much as roosters will cluck when they find a new food source,calling the hens in.Throw some bread pieces on the ground and then listen to the Peacock.He calls the peahens in,just like a rooster does but much less volume
I suppose what gives me the most sense of trust between me and my peas(EXCEPT THANG) is when it's breeding time,and I'm in the breeding pens some of the males refuse to move and I actually have to move their trains out of the way to get to the food or water bowls. They acknowldege me but still hold their trains high and wide but do not try to flee away from me.I don't pose a threat to them evidently,,and I don't make pets out of my peas per say.They are very used to me and I very seldom handle them but even this fall when we moved them inside they seemed much calmer than last year.

Okay I started raising peafowl October 11, 2009 so around the same amount of time as you just a lot fewer birds.
Some of my boys are making a little noise now. I should see if we have a good drill and some screws I can use. My dad's father owned his own trim shop and was a great craftsmen but he didn't teach my dad much so my mom is more of the handy man of the house. My dad told me he used the wrong kind of wood for some of my aviary because it wasn't treated so I am still learning new things to put on my check list of things a long lasting aviary needs - Thicker netting than what I have, treated wood, something to cover wooden posts so they don't tear the netting, etc. I don't hear my peafowl calling the others in much with bread, but they mainly call the others when they find a bug. They start making that happy squeaking noise and everyone comes running. They really get to making that noise when I have dried mealworms for them. I forget just how much the peafowl are used to me until someone new visits them and they are shy (except Peep). I have a metal pole that was the top to an old fence I tore down that divides the pen. The peafowl like to perch up there and I can walk back and forth ducking right underneath them and they don't care. They have gotten used to photo-shoot days too and sometimes I feel like a few of them strike a pose for me.

Yes, I do admire Sid's work on the bronze birds. They are spectacular. We sold the green peafowl that we had as we were unsure of their lineage. As soon as we can rearrange some pens we are bringing in a pair to be used only in breeding into other colors. We are not going to breed green birds for sale. You are pretty much welcome to come by anytime during the spring or summer when we are there. We have only been to the UPA convention that was here and only for the tour. Beginning this year we are going to make the convention as well as a trip to at least Brad's and maybe Sid's place. We decided last year that even though the farm was a hobby and our stress relief that we either had to significantly limit our spending or let the hobby pay for itself. Adding rare breed chickens to the mix last year as well as selling certain birds allowed us to break even last year. This year the goal is to pay for the farm expenses and then be able to pay for several sets of birds that we are particularly interested in. While I admire anyone making a living on peafowl or poultry in general, it is not difficult to have the hobby pay for itself and expansion. It does take a commitment to doing it right including some upfront construction and purchase of equipment and a little self control.

You have to take lots of photos if you go to Brad's and/or Sid's. Sid put up new photos of his aviaries and the landscaping around the aviaries. It is so beautiful! I wish I was really good at landscaping like that. The peafowl do get expensive especially everything that goes into the aviaries, but I am sure having some sort of rare bird that others really want helps. I guess sometimes you have to keep a few varieties you don't want just because even if it isn't a variety you want, that is what sells?

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Brad won't allow any pictures at his place,,hopefully Sid is more understanding.

 

[MinxFox]

Really? Is that because of the colors he is working on are top secret? Haha are sketch books allowed?

Sid would probably let you take photos. If you do see Sid get lots of good photos of his aviaries and plants in and around the aviaries.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Someone took pics at Brads once then posted those pics on the internet without permission,,don't know if they claimed the birds as their own or not but still taking pics is one thing but taking pics and then posting on the world wide web without permission or knowledge of the person that owned the birds is not right.

 

[BYC-user-174785]

I have already gotten permission to take pictures and post them online for when I go to PA and get my Bronze BS. I hope to get nice pictures of Taupes and Hazels! Regarding the actual topic of this thread, here are my figures:

1) 5 (will be different soon)
2) 0
3) 12 (all of them except one are colors I have never had so I would love to keep them all, but time will tell...)

 

[jaudon77]

3
11
0

Those are my numbers. First time posting in Peafowl.
This will be my first year hatching. Just bought a brand new incubator. Super excited.