words of advice for a new owner of pea fowl?

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Does any one have any words of advice for a new owner of pea fowl? My wife was given 1 adult pea cock, and 3 babies (no idea what sex they are). I've stuck them in the chicken pen for now (no chickens! just guinea hens and they're free ranging now), and they seem to be doing OK, but I've heard that they can be nasty ol' critters. Will I be able to keep other birds with them, or should I consider the pen now theirs exclusively, and build another for the chickens (hopefully this spring, unless I rescue something before then - that's how I got the guineas)?

-- Eric in TN (ems@nac.net), September 24, 2000

Answers

I don't have any myself, but another horse dealer I go to shop at has a flock of chickens, ducks, pigeons,and peafowl all living in one large coop quite amicably. I think I even saw some guinea fowl in there one time. I think the goose (gander) doesn't go in there, but I'm not sure.

-- Julie Froelich (firefly1@nnex.net), September 25, 2000.

Well, we used to have pea fowl in a big pen with our chickens and guineas and had no problems. Everybody got along pretty well together. You are in for a suprise sooner or later though, if you have never heard a male peacock yell at 2:30 in the morning! Sounds like a woman screaming bloody murder. We had several that ran loose, and one just loved to roost on the roof right over our bedroom. Just about every morning at around 2:30 there would come this bloodcurdling scream. Finaly got him to move by blasting with with the garden hose a few times around 1:00 am or so. And that scream can carry for very long distances. Neighbors over a mile away would comment that they could hear our birds very plainly. These are very beautiful birds and can be very entertaining, but they can be a royal pain in the neck at times too.

-- Les (lvaughn@suntransformer.com), September 25, 2000.

Les, talk about rude awakenings! Ours did the same thing. Got rid of them quickly!!!! Amen.

-- Jane Gauch (sewbears4u@hotmail.com), September 25, 2000.

Relief! I thought that we had the peacocks from Hell! I,m glad to find out that they were just normal. In addition to screaming, they did a real job on our peaches, figs, plums and persimmons! I hope their current owners enjoy them!

-- john and pat james (jjames@n-jcenter.com), September 26, 2000.

Went out this morning to feed all the critters, and the 3 peafowl had one of my guineas pinned down and were pecking him pretty good and defeathering it. Did my best imitation of an irate farmer turned into superman to save the guinea, and the peacock and 1 of the peafowl escaped - pen door didn't close all the way behind me in my haste. My mistake.

And HOW the demeanor of the adult changed when it hit that ground running! Spread out the tail feathers and starting honking for all it was worth. Which got the dogs going, which got the neighbors dogs going, which got... well, you get the idea. At least the sherrif hasn't shown up yet today.

So I've spent a good 2 hours doing my best not to look too foolish trying to catch these things... Gave up, and decided to use my God given brain and build me a trap. Got one of those large dog crates, and have been baiting it all day with corn and greens. Later, I'll tie some string to the door so I can slam it shut, and then rebait it and wait... (having flashbacks of "Caddy Shack" now - "Oh Mr. Gopher...")

Worst part of it is, the guineas who are only 3 months old themselves used to stay fairly local, but they have voted the adult peacock as their leader and he has had them EVERYWHERE today, including too near the road for my liking! At least I have another plus going for me in that the 2 peafowl left in the pen start crying when the rest of the birds are out of site for too long, so they eventually come back to see why their crying...

-- Eric in TN (ems@nac.net), September 27, 2000.



We have two peahens (the male was lost in a snowstorm last winter) and like all our other birds, they roam free on our 5 acres. They mostly roost up high in the barn but they will join the chickens & guinea in the coop now & then. We really haven't had any trouble with them. The only animals they bully are the cats. The children can even catch them to hold them sometimes. One piece of advice, we do pen any new chickens or gamebirds until we feel they are used to their new surroundings enough to stick around. Good luck!

-- Jean (schiszik@tbcnet.com), September 28, 2000.

Last night, my son had let the dogs loose and they were chasing the peacocks around the yard. But on the brighter side, the baby is staying close to the guineas today, and the cracked corn I have set out. Will have to go try to catch him later today. The adult is gone - so if anybody hear's of a blue peacock causing traffic jams on I-40 near exits 355 or 356 - let me know!

-- Eric in TN (ems@nac.net), September 28, 2000.

Eric, have you noticed haow they always roost wrong end to on the deck railing, guaranteeing that you will be out there hosing it down? Here our neighbors have both blue and white Pea Fowl, we can hear them up and down the canyon, and seem to live with anything including a pot bellied pig in the pen in one case. Good luck and get out your video camera. Maureen Ravens Roost Farm in Alaska

-- Maureen Stevenson (maureen@mtaonline.net), September 28, 2000.

Our chickens and rooster share the hen house with a peacock. At times the rooster and peacock (named Blue) have "exchange of opinions" but for the most part get along just fine. We feed our peacock as well as the chickens turkey grower as there is more protein in it than chicken feed. It is more expensive but everyone has nicer feathers and our eggs are great--no chemicals. Also, peacocks like dried cat food--so do the chickens. Again it is extra protein that they need.

-- Delores & Fred Pfister (fred@prcn.org), June 11, 2001.

Peacocks can live with a diversified group of birds. My two peacocks live in a chicken house with 15 guinies, several ducks, and sometimes geese or chickens. They leave our 11 cats alone and don't peck or get in a fight with any other animals. The peacocks used to get into my mom's garden and trample her flowers down, but when we scared them out and followed that up by giving them bread, they learned to stay out. If the peacocks are in a location where you don't want them to be, I've learned that by honking a horn(car, truck, etc) will scare them off.But who knows where they will fly off too. After the three peachicks are a couple of months old you should be able to determine their sex. The ones who grow the biggest are the peacocks. The smaller ones are the peahens. If there are more peacocks than peahens you should obtain more peahens. If there is only one peahen they might fight over the hen. If their are more they probably won't hurt each other.You shouldn't have to get more peahens until the peacocks are a year and a half old.

-- Guess ("notsure@house.com"), June 13, 2001.


You guys' answers to Eric in TN are a wealth of info. We too have an adult male ( he just showed up here one evening) and have now been given 3 babies. We are keeping the babies penned in an old farrowing house til they are used to us. Can they survive an Iowa winter without being penned? There are plenty of buildings they can get into if they want to. We would like to get them out to forage for themselves because they love grasshoppers and hoppers are a pain to catch. How long do we need to keep them shut up? Thanks

-- Ellen (seawahls@netins.net), September 25, 2001.

We had peacocks here in Iowa for years and they survived fine. As long as they have a building to get into there's no problem. Our birds also just seemed to be noisey for a couple months in the spring during mating season. Otherwise they weren't too noisey. They seem to love cars and defy them to hit them but if your trees are on the side of the road where you want them to stay you don't have quite the problem. We have a big grove on the other side of the road and those fools fly right at windshield level so we kept them penned most of the time. They are easy to catch as they come to the ground as soon as it starts raining and I've never been pecked by one in all the years we had them. Once you get their wings corraled they're as tame as can be. One bit of advice NEVER try to catch a peacock with a hook like you do chickens. They're legs will pull right off.....won't go into how we know that.

-- Anna in Iowa (countryanna54@hotmail.com), September 25, 2001.

We had eight peafowl and were 3 years old when a racoon and a fisher cat finally got into the pen.Six were killed and 2 escaped and are roaming on 800 acres North in Hamilton Mass.It sounds like they would have been better loose than penned for their protection. I receive reports of the two being alive and well.One young girl received a digital new camera for her birthday and spotted the two outside their back door at a feeded.Another man reported the two pea fowl were gathered with 6 wild turkeys.Yes they are loud,messy and not easy to catch,but I like pain in my life and just ordered 8 more.I am also going to donate or loan them to our local zoo for the season. Enjoy, Mark

-- MARK AN IOWAN INBOSTON (BIPCG@HOTMAIL.COM), April 24, 2002.

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