Peafowl
After having had them for 13 years, in the spring of 2019, we made the hard decision to rehome our entire peafowl flock. Decided it was time to let others enjoy them.
So, effective April 2019, we no longer have any peafowl left.
Although we originally had no interest in having peacocks (and nor would they technically be considered to be part of our "heritage" poultry program), one day in 2005, a couple beautiful male peacocks just walked onto our property and "crashed" our Canada BBQ. They never left.
Later that same year, we felt sorry for the two peacock batchelors and got them a couple hens to keep them company. We still have those original hens to this day.
So that is how we ended up getting into peacocks - they actually adopted us!
These peafowl roam loose around loose and at large on our property. In the warmer months, at night they roost up in the trees. In the winter, they roost in a three sided machine shed.
Despite being such exotic, delicate looking birds, they are actually remarkably hardy and require little care and attention. They wander around at large cleaning up bugs (they love grasshoppers!) and just require a bit of supplemental game bird feed, and the odd handful of cracked corn or dry cat food (which they love!).
One adage about them. When people are inquring about having peacocks, they always ask us "how do you keep them there?". We don't actually - our peacocks roam at large and stay here of their own chosing. They have get used to, and like where they are staying, otherwise they will just leave. This is apparently how we ended up with ours - someone in our area bought them and they didn't like where they were living. They wandered around loose in our area for three months before they "decided" they liked our place and moved in permanently.
If you are thinking about having peacocks, in order to keep them safe from predation, you either need tall trees that they can roost in, or be prepared to keep them in large covered runs. Despite supposedly being "flightless" they do in fact fly remarkable well!
If you live in a very bald, treeless area, this would not be ideal for them to live at large as they would be very vulnerable to predators and dogs.
And yes, they can indeed be noisy!
We find that this is most problematic in the breeding months (eg April to June). So if you are in a very densely populated area, having peacocks may not be the best idea if you want to keep peace in your neighbourhood...
When we were raising them, our peachicks would hatch in late spring/early summer and were ready to go as sexed young peafowl in late summer or fall.