Update: Meet my new peafowl

LaurieLovesLearning
LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

I have a new pair of year old peas as of yesterday!

I have wanted some peafowl for years. It still doesn't seem real that there are two here. I hope we do well by them. In captivity, if all goes well, they could outlive us. They can live in captivity up to 50 years!

This pair is split to white, so they could give us fully white peachicks eventually as well as the standard India Blue color.

The male's call will travel up to 5 miles. We will certainly have area people, dogs & wildlife baffled for a while.

They need high protien to be at their best.

The male will grow a train next year and it will be year 3 when she will lay eggs. The male's train grows longer every year. Those beautiful feathers drop every fall.

You handle them only when absolutely necessary.


We have a lot to learn, but we are all looking forward to it.

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Comments

  • judsoncarroll4
    judsoncarroll4 Posts: 5,490 admin

    You won't get any sleep - they cry "help"!

  • RustBeltCowgirl
    RustBeltCowgirl Posts: 1,403 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Gorgeous. Now, your daughter will be able to add feather jewelry to her store.

  • shllnzl
    shllnzl Posts: 1,820 ✭✭✭✭✭

    They are known for being good "watchdogs".

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    Awesome!

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,934 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Very cool and they are beautiful!

  • COWLOVINGIRL
    COWLOVINGIRL Posts: 954 ✭✭✭✭

    Beautiful! I am so happy for you!

  • Monek Marie
    Monek Marie Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭✭✭

    My cousin had them for years. They are beautiful!

    Enjoy

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    Thanks, everyone! They have been very quiet so far. I know that won't last forever! I am looking forward to their noises.

    @RustBeltCowgirl She does have some feather jewelry, but now she will have more than my chickens to keep her in feathers! I told her to talk to someone who owned Phoenix chickens (long showy tails). Someone advertised those online recently. I won't ever own those because they are fighters.

    Maybe one day I will have some colorful pheasants. I would love Lady Amherst & Tragopan (not to mention mandarin ducks). These are available in Manitoba: http://www.tragopan.ca/2021-pheasant-price-list.php

    @shllnzl As far as watchdogs, we will have to keep them contained as we have pretty sly foxes that have helped themselves to more than they are welcome to in times past. We also have a great horned owl that has been know to hang around on occasion. Those will clip a head right off any perched bird.

    The peas are housed right beside the guineas.

  • shllnzl
    shllnzl Posts: 1,820 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @LaurieLovesLearning Good luck with all your varied living things. My husband is SOOO lucky we did not buy a country place! My house is set up to accommodate my plants, dog, cats and parrot. No pet door or we would have multiple wild creatures inside too.

    My husband and I do get space for ourselves as well.

    Expect the peafowl to be loud.

  • karenjanicki
    karenjanicki Posts: 989 ✭✭✭✭

    Beautiful birds! Congratulations on getting them ❤

  • JodieDownUnder
    JodieDownUnder Posts: 1,483 admin

    @LaurieLovesLearning what a great addition. They are very smart. We inherited our peacock “Harry Hooter” when we bought a farm in 2004. He was part of the “furniture”. We tried to hook him up with a mate but it never worked and he was a confirmed bachelor. He lived in a big old gum tree at night, away from predators and happily lived with our goats of a day. He used to keep our visitors to the farm entertained, they couldn’t help but feed him bread and Weet Bix on the verandah.

    We estimated he was 20+ yrs old when he died. A very sad day. We noticed he was not well and the next day found him dead. I buried him under “his tree” and we have very fond memories him. He used to show off his beautiful tail feathers to our hot water heater (maybe he had a crush, any port in a storm)

    We would love to have some more where we are now but they would probably end up living quite a bit in our outdoor area of the house and I’m not prepared to dodge and clean the large poo’s left behind. It is large and unique!!!!

  • blevinandwomba
    blevinandwomba Posts: 813 ✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2021

    They're already so beautiful!

    I love peacock feathers. There's always a stand selling peacock feathers at the PA farm show, and I've gotten some every time I go. I like to stick the big ones on vases and the teeny ones on hats and things.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    @shllnzl I am looking forward to them being very loud! 😄 I think right now, everytime the peafowl move, the guineas are sending out alarms. Little do they know that they are more funny looking. 😉

    @jodienancarrow I am looking forward to feeding them treats. We have mealworms & dog food (which are high protien), but think on occasion, I will get them grapes & such. They will certainly get raspberries in season! I hear that a cabbage in winter is good, but they are so expensive now!

    A hot water heater! 🤔 I wonder if it reflected some nice noises back when he showed off.

    Unique poop. Hmm. So far it has been similar to ducks & chickens, somewhere in between, and goopy. I wonder if feed makes it different.

    I think you should get more.

  • kbmbillups1
    kbmbillups1 Posts: 1,390 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Wow! They are beautiful!

  • flowerpower *
    flowerpower * Posts: 258 ✭✭✭

    So beautiful. I have always wanted peacocks too. The eyes are so expressive, I guess everything is a bit new and strange to them.

  • JennyT Upstate South Carolina
    JennyT Upstate South Carolina Posts: 1,273 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Very pretty indeed. They remind me of a mix between a peacock and a turkey.😊

  • shllnzl
    shllnzl Posts: 1,820 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Peacocks are so beautiful. However, I have enough loud noises and unique poop with my parrot.

    Be sure to post lots of pretty pictures so I can live vicariously.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    @shllnzl I'll try. If not, remind me!

  • Tave
    Tave Posts: 952 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Congratulations! I'm also looking forward to more pictures. I love pheasant and guineas, too.

  • flowerpower *
    flowerpower * Posts: 258 ✭✭✭

    @shllnzl LOL, parrots can be so noisy. Your name is very unique too.

  • shllnzl
    shllnzl Posts: 1,820 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @flowerpower * Luckily my parrot is not the screaming type species, although the Greys can learn to scream if listening to another bird. She does, however, enjoy making loud hammering sounds that can drown out the TV. I am trying to train her to not make that sound when she is out watching TV with us. I am making some progress, but at the cost of sharing sneezing sounds, or spelling her name or... I am trying to match her sounds with quieter versions. My husband tries to tune us both out.

  • MissPatricia
    MissPatricia Posts: 318 ✭✭✭

    So beautiful! Are they difficult to Keep?

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    @MissPatricia I think they are beautiful! So far, they are not at all difficult.

    They are more delicate within their first year, white colored are more so, I've been told. After that, they are very hardy even in our deeply cold winters.

    They are susceptible to certain things, like certain diseases & mites & the like, but so is any bird, really.

    They need high protien feed (30% is good, but you can do layer/turkey feed + supplementation) and love a variety of healthy foods. If you give them any meat (which I haven't done), it should be raw.

    We, unfortunately, will need to keep these cooped, since we have so many foxes & coyotes who would not hesitate to snag one if the birds strayed farther than the dog. At their price per bird, I am not willing to hand a predator a gourmet meal on a platter. It's not worth the risk.

    They lose their long tails (which make the bird require a 6 1/2'-7' perch) every fall and so can be kept in a smaller space with a lower perch in winter. These grew up with chickens and the parent birds go back & forth with the guineas a little when treats are given, but they seemed to get along well at the original owners' place.

  • nicksamanda11
    nicksamanda11 Posts: 755 ✭✭✭✭

    Cool

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    Haha. Maybe they just needed to throw him some treats to get him to move. 😉

  • bcabrobin
    bcabrobin Posts: 251 ✭✭✭

    Love to watch them! Beautiful! Enjoy!

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    I was just offered a laying peahen for an excellent price. That will give me a trio...two pied (can give me pure white or India blue), and the new hen is India blue.

    Hopefully all get along and she doesn't try to escape right away (I've heard those surprise horror stories).

    I'll post a picture once she's here.

  • water2world
    water2world Posts: 1,177 ✭✭✭✭

    @LaurieLovesLearning Congratulations on the beautiful pair---and already a third is coming--WOW!

    I did not know that they lost their long tails every fall! I look forward to learning more.


    @flowerpower * My parrot makes the sound of the teapot! He starts out very low, then the full whistle! Before I knew he was making the sound, he had me heading for the stove!! Now, I stop and think, "Is it the bird, or do I have my teapot going?" lol

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    @water2world It wasn't planned, bit the price was too good to pass up. We'll see how everything goes.