The Peacocks - The Rest of the Story

Jim’s older brother John, who lived in Georgia, had raised peafowl as a hobby for years. Their peafowl were kept in a huge covered pen. Jim had helped John build the massive pen years back when he started his peafowl adventure. John had attempted to breed the birds, though was never successful. I remember his commenting about different issues that hindered their attempts. One year the nest and eggs were covered in ants, one year all eggs were found broken. The one and only time a chick hatched, they took it in the house to raise and the poor little guy got his head stuck in the refrigerator door and broke his neck.
John died in 2006 from a long battle with cancer. He left his flock of peafowl to Jim. In the Georgia flock of 8 that came to the farm were 2 white peahens, 3 black shoulder peacocks, 1 Cameo peahen, and a mating pair of Indigo Blues.
Unfortunately we lost the 2 whites and Cameo hens. One white ventured off to another farm and was fatally wounded by a dog. They brought her back, though she did not live long after I treated her wounds. The second white was killed while roosting when an ice covered tree limb plummeted to the ground during the January 2007 ice storm. The Cameo died unexpectedly of an unknown cause. We have lost a couple of the original males, they wander off and never come home.
Sparky would walk a mile up our drive across the gravel country road and follow behind the tractor while one neighbor cut his hay fields. He also would annoy the snot out of our other neighbors at times on his return walk home. They enjoyed his visiting until he decided he didn’t like their grandchildren. Other neighbors have commented that can hear and enjoy the calls and sounds of the peacocks from a distance.
Each year Olive our first peahen and one other female have given us new chicks. The mortality rate is high here. Since the birds free range, they are easy prey to predators. It is survival of the fittest and normally 2 out of 4 peachicks survive. I have read that they lay 2-6 eggs to a nest. The girls are so protective of their young, if you attempt to get too close they will rush the babies away. I have never gone looking for their nests, but occasionally while out in the bottom pasture I can spot the girls setting in the dense underbrush.

A few facts about peafowl –

They can live 30+ years.
They do not begin mating nor do females lay eggs until approx. 2 years of age.
Males shed their feathers once a year.
The longer the train of feathers normally is an indication of an older bird.
They can fly, but not far.
They roost in trees at night.
They do roam a mile from the farm and have gone as far as 3 miles. Most return, some don’t.
They will eat baby chicks (chickens).
Ours do not fight with other farm animals, the males do spar back and forth between themselves. The peahens will sometimes flog a chicken if they are too close to their feed.
They enjoy walking on the roof.
They leave their calling cards on all they roost on...fences, decks, porches, cars and banisters.
Their colors are more brilliant if free ranging versus caged.
They are not quiet birds, they honk, scream and caw. (Just ask our neighbors)


Oh and yes we sell their feathers. We have eye feathers, sword feathers and trimmed or natural length. They make beautiful arrangements, crafts, ornaments and jewelry.

The Peacocks – Part 1

A Black Shoulder Peacock

The peacocks fascinate most visitors to the farm. Surprising how many people ooh and aah over them, always ask about them and want them. We enjoy watching the peafowl, consider them more of a pleasure than anything. Like our other birds, they free range, are not tame and are very leery of humans.
Our raising peafowl was one of those accidental things, we just happened upon it. Here’s how the story begins…

In 2000 a family friend fell ill, an older gentleman who raised poultry and horses. His health was such that he could no longer care for them. He asks if we would take his birds. All he asked is that we pick them up. Which was not a problem.
One weekend we gathered up Jim’s nephews, met up with my Dad and went to pick up the chickens. Thinking that the chickens were caged we assumed it would be quick work, just loading cages on the truck. The one thing I have learned over the years…never assume.
The chickens were not caged; they were loose in a barn. They were wilder than March hares and there were more chickens than we had ever imagined. Jim and I went into the barn closed both doors and proceeded to catch chickens. Then in turn handed them out to the boys who were putting them in cages. We had successfully gathered up a handful, realizing that attempting to catch one at a time would take the entire weekend or kill us. The next step was a blanket thrown over groups of birds (covering them gives them a false sense of security, the idea it is night, they sit still). A couple of hours later, we emerge from the barn, covered in chicken dropping, worn down, gasping for breath, but managed to have the last of the wild birds caught.
These birds were not your normal chickens. These birds were Bantam game birds. His son showed these birds in his youth so they were of excellent stock. I do believe the little details (being Banty’s, loose in a barn, 60-80 birds) were left out so we would not turn the birds down. We really didn’t need or want Banty’s.
While loading the last cage, we were informed we had to take the Peacocks also. 3 more wild birds. What the heck. I didn’t have the desire or strength at that point to argue. So home with us came 3 Indigo Blue peafowl, Sparky, Sweet Pea and Olive, 2 cocks and one hen.
Sparky had been incubated as an egg, hand raised and our friends pet. He was the tamest of the birds and as a treat was fed a piece of bread daily. Sweet Pea flew onto their farm one night during a severe storm and never left again. As for Olive, I am not sure of her story.

As far as the Bantam’s go, they were not much use to us. Their eggs are small, sure they would do in a pinch, but would take 3 of their eggs to equal one normal size egg. There seemed to be more roosters than hens also.
We were not keen on the idea of mixing our layers with Banty’s so we decided to keep the small birds separate from the main flock. We confined them for a couple of weeks gave a few to friends and neighbors, then released the remaining birds on the farm to free range.

You can barely see their heads, a Indigo Blue mating pair on top of a roost.