Peacocks?

[Sonya]

Hi - do any of you have peacocks? Can you tell me about them - feed, housing requirements, etc...I've been searching the net and can't find any good sites.

Thanks in advance

 

[Happy Valley]

I don't have any now, but used to. They were escape artists! They roost, so they need something with a roof and secure wire walls, and something to roost on, of course. Plenty of ventilation. Ours ate what the chickens and guineas ate, and we let them out in the yard during the day and put them in at night. They escaped and something that likes to eat peafowl had a nice meal. I really miss hearing their hollering, and would love to have some more. Probably will one of these days.

 

[justaboutgeese]

None currently but have owned several pairs over the years. I kept the hens confined and let the males run loose except in the winter months. They used to make the flock of wild turkeys look really funny as cars stopped to let them cross the road. All the turkeys would cross then the Pea fowl would follow. If you have Pea fowl around they will discourage alot of critters. They will shriek like a baby crying when anything strange shows up on their turf. If you have any other birds, Chickens etc the pea fowl will tend to drive them off. My turkeys were the dominate birds but most places the peas are king of the roost.

 

[CMR]

At one of the farms that my dad farms there used to be around 10-20 peacocks for around ten years. Sadly, in the last year or two they all died out. Gorgeous birds, they lost their tail feathers regularly(don't know if they're supposed to, but they did

: ) They all just ran around loose, and had three or four tobacco barns and an old milking barn to run around in(they liked to get on the roofs and shriek). They did sometimes have babies, but none of them survived, because a coyote or fox always ate them(which is why they died out.) If you have close neighbors, I wouldn't get any. Their scream is loud, can probably be heard for quite a distance. As far as feeding goes, I'm not sure if my dad fed them or not. I know he did occasionaly throw some stuff out, but as far as that I think they found their own food. If he did feed them, he just fed them corn or ground corn. Make sure handle them regularly, they can run fast :bgrin

 

[runamuk]

Well hmmm .....I have never "owned" peafowl......however I have been part of peafowl habitat/home.....peafowl suffer wanderlust in my experience...they go where they want when they want and really do not give a rip if you are interested in them or not :bgrin :bgrin :bgrin I liked our peafowl even if they weren't mine....apparently they lived about 4 properties down..not that you could tell as they were almost NEVER there they had an entire neighborhood that they lived in and lucky for them the neighborhood liked them

:

: :bgrin :bgrin

 

[CyndiM]

I have a hen and her three daughters. My peacock died last year, but I bought a young one this fall. So I'm looking forward to a lot of babies. I will probably get another peacock this spring from a different person to keep them from being inbred.

And yes they molt (shed) their tail feathers every year.

We keep them pinned up now because the hubby didn't like them roosting on the vehicles. He would get VERY upset. We live in a timber and they have hundreds of trees to roost in but for some reason they liked the vehicles (at least during the day) the trees were only used at night.

 

[Secret22]

I dont have a peacock but I have a Pukeko :bgrin :bgrin

 

[minimule]

One of my friends has started getting into peacocks. He has some unusual colored ones.

One of my aunts had them when I was growing up. They lived in the middle of a HUGE pecan orhard. There were several times the neighbors would call the police because they kept hearing a woman screaming for help

:

: :bgrin

 

[Sonya]

Thanks for all the replies, after further researching it along with your advice, I've decided a peacock is not a good thing right now (the noise)...maybe when we have more land - don't want to tick off the neighbors - who aren't really that close, but I guess these things can really scream.

 

[MInx]

:bgrin Hee he, yes Sonja they are really loud. My daughter's husband has them, at least he did. They scream and it will rock you off your feetLOL

I have some tail feathers though from them. Old ones now. Pretty in dried flower arrangements.

Like oyu said maybe when you get your bigger place. Maxine

 

[Sun Runner Stables]

We also have a few peahens, though thankfully no peacocks. I Can't Stand the noise the males make... (Shudder!) We were also adopted by our two peahens, it started out as a mommy peahen (Momma P) and she then had three little peachicks, all but one got eaten by something :no: , I think a hawk, so the last remaining chick was named Lucky. :lol: She just kinda showed up one day and never left.

:

Turns out she's also a girl, (thank heavens!) and they just kinda hang out at our farm all day. They like to mak rounds in the Am and Pm by horses grain buckets that are feed outside to see what's left, and they also pick through poo.

: They like to sit on in our indoor washracks when it's raining out, and I did collect them during last years hurricane and bring them into the barn.

: I know I am a sucker.

I really like them hanging out, as Geese said, they are very good about letting me know whats going on, and I think they are just neat.

The best is when they go into my nursery paddocks though, the foals always hunt and chase them, and try to jump on them, it's great!

 

[aBreeze]

we used to have 7... but coyotes left us with 2... and Stumpy died the other day... so were down to 1.

When we bought our farm it came with 3 boys... and I can tell you, at first they drove me crazy. But I dont notice the sound anymore. The one thing I couldnt get used to was those freaking Guinea hens!!!!

Heres some pics...

this is Stumpy... he was a great peacock...

 

[Sonya]

Bria - Wow - Stumpy was beautiful - now that makes me want one! So sorry about you losing him - he was very very pretty!