# Anybody raise Peafowl?



## ShireRidgeFarm (Sep 24, 2015)

We're thinking about getting some peafowls and having them live in the field with the bucks. What I'm hoping someone knows is, what do peafowl need to eat? More specifically, could the 'main course' in the their meal be goat feed?


----------



## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

A 12 foot fence is a good start :lol:


----------



## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

With a roof^^ :lol: 

They eat a lot of grass and grains. I feed mine whatever livestock grain I have. They eat the grain out of the hay and eat all kinds of grass too.


----------



## ShireRidgeFarm (Sep 24, 2015)

Ok, thanks for the info.  So, I guess them flying away is a problem?


----------



## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

They stay pretty close to home usually, although there is a group of wild turkeys here that have a male Peacock with them out in woods. I see them occasionally. 

They like to sun themselves up high, like on the roof of your house or barn. You can always tell where they are though, just follow the really really loud "HELP, HELP, MEOW" noises :lol:


----------



## billiejw89 (May 7, 2014)

Our neighbor across the road has them. We find their feathers all the time on our property. We have even found them roosting in our huge maple tree a few times. I love to see them.


----------



## ShireRidgeFarm (Sep 24, 2015)

I wouldn't have thought of turkeys and a peacock living in the wild together. That's pretty neat!

We think it would be fun to see the peacocks walking around in the field, but I don't want to have to feed them something my goats can't eat (cause it's very difficult keep goats out of any food with their reach ).


----------



## luvmyherd (Apr 9, 2011)

>>>So, I guess them flying away is a problem?<<<
The last we saw of our beautiful male he was soaring off into the wild blue yonder.


----------



## Steampunked (Mar 23, 2015)

Peafowl should be kept in an enclosure on the property for 3-6 months to make sure they'll know that it is 'home' - even then, they will wander, but they should come home to roost.

Turkeys and Peacocks together can be problematic - they're the same size, and have some of the same aggressive displays, which means that the cocks on both sides can really attack one another. That would not be a problem, but they have a language issue...

In turkeys, leaning down and extending the neck signifies: I'm beat, I give up, I'm your subordinate!

In peacocks, doing that means: I'm about to jump up and kick the stuffing out of you!

So you can end up with a situation where the poor turkey is desperately signifying defeat while the peacock kills him for refusing to give in. Sounds like that might have happened amongst the wild turkeys...peacocks are headstrong and pretty tough!


----------



## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Yes, I didn't see a Tom in the group but, the cock has about 8 or 9 hens travelling with him. Luckily, they are really common here so the unproductive group won't be missed much. One year we had a wild hen show up out of the blue and stay with our horses on our lease land for 2 years. We thought something must have picked off the rest of the group and she figured out that she was safer with the horses.


----------



## Goatzrule (Feb 7, 2013)

I was looking into them as a school project beautiful but kinda a lot of work.


----------



## ShireRidgeFarm (Sep 24, 2015)

They're really neat, and it'd just be fun to see them walking around. But I don't know if it'd really work with them flying all over the place - our donkey does not like to share his space with other animals.  Anyway, we'll see what happens. 

Thanks for the info, everyone!


----------

