# Peacocks as Pets - Any Info?



## Cleo38 (Jan 22, 2010)

Does anyone keep peacocks as pets? I just wondered how easy they were to care for, how far they roam, how loud they are (very I suspect!), how they interact with other animals, etc

There is a house we pass on our walk that has some & they are stunning. We have quite a big garden & a field out the back but am not sure it's really a possibility. I would love to have a pair but obviously want to make sure we could look after them properly before really considering this


----------



## DoggieBag (Jan 20, 2012)

If you have had them from when really young (or even hatched) they will stay fairly close to home.

The males are more vocal than females, the call is fairly loud.

[youtube_browser]Ie8TrwY1nHA[/youtube_browser]

See here for some useful info - How to Care for Peacocks: 5 steps (with pictures) - wikiHow


----------



## Cleo38 (Jan 22, 2010)

LOL, I was just playing the call from another website I found!  We have a house on one of our walks that has a couple & I realise they are loud but we don't have really close neighbours.


----------



## newfiesmum (Apr 21, 2010)

Cleo38 said:


> Does anyone keep peacocks as pets? I just wondered how easy they were to care for, how far they roam, how loud they are (very I suspect!), how they interact with other animals, etc
> 
> There is a house we pass on our walk that has some & they are stunning. We have quite a big garden & a field out the back but am not sure it's really a possibility. I would love to have a pair but obviously want to make sure we could look after them properly before really considering this


I shan't be visiting you, then

There used to be one I saw a lot in a place called Little Hadham on the way to Bishop's Stortford, which would wait at the traffic lights for the traffic to stop at the red light before it crossed the road. Quite fascinating, really, but needless to say I had my windows firmly closed


----------



## Cleo38 (Jan 22, 2010)

newfiesmum said:


> I shan't be visiting you, then
> 
> There used to be one I saw a lot in a place called Little Hadham on the way to Bishop's Stortford, which would wait at the traffic lights for the traffic to stop at the red light before it crossed the road. Quite fascinating, really, but needless to say I had my windows firmly closed


Do you not like them then? I think they are beautiful, which I know isn't the reason to get an animal but .....


----------



## simplysardonic (Sep 1, 2009)

I absolutely love peafowl & would definitely have them if I had the space!
We had a feral peacock 'adopt' us a few years back, we named him Percy & he stayed in our cul-de-sac for about 6 months (nobody knows exactly what happened to him as he disappeared along with 3 females he'd managed to attract, the police were involved at one point but other people said he'd been caught & taken to Great Witchingham). We used to feed him & he became quite tame & he used to be a great guard dog (hollering whenever anyone came in the garden!).
They like to roost high up so if you have trees they would be happier I think, & they do tend to wander if not penned in- Percy would disappear for several days & then return. We fed him wild bird food, chicken feed & scraps.
I really miss him, but I know of several local feral populations & there are also some where I volunteer, so I can get my peafowl fix


----------



## DoggieBag (Jan 20, 2012)

Ideally you are wanting to have a group of them or a "lek" which is 1 male and about 4 females. Never 2 males or they will fight alot during the breeding season.

To lessen the chances of them roaming too far, you should keep them penned for about 1-2 months. This will get them used to their "patch", thus not tempting them to go off exploring too far.

You can keep noise down if needed by making their house/pen dark inside. This will make them think it's still night and they will not set off calling at 4am in the morning. 

ETA: you can also put their perch high up in their house/enclosure this will stop them extending their neck skywards to call.


----------



## Cleo38 (Jan 22, 2010)

simplysardonic said:


> I absolutely love peafowl & would definitely have them if I had the space!
> We had a feral peacock 'adopt' us a few years back, we named him Percy & he stayed in our cul-de-sac for about 6 months (nobody knows exactly what happened to him as he disappeared along with 3 females he'd managed to attract, the police were involved at one point but other people said he'd been caught & taken to Great Witchingham). We used to feed him & he became quite tame & he used to be a great guard dog (hollering whenever anyone came in the garden!).
> They like to roost high up so if you have trees they would be happier I think, & they do tend to wander if not penned in- Percy would disappear for several days & then return. We fed him wild bird food, chicken feed & scraps.
> I really miss him, but I know of several local feral populations & there are also some where I volunteer, so I can get my peafowl fix


See that's the problem, I would worry so much if they wandered that I would probably end up getting stressed about it 

We have quite a few trees for them, the fields out the back, the river bank at the front so they would have room to wander. In think the dogs would be fine with them, they are ok with the chickens now.

Are there feral populations around? How lovely, they are such stunning birds. The pub we go to occassionally has white ones which I had never seen before


----------



## newfiesmum (Apr 21, 2010)

Cleo38 said:


> Do you not like them then? I think they are beautiful, which I know isn't the reason to get an animal but .....


Tigers are beautiful, but I am not about to get one as a pet! You know, I am terrified of birds, all birds, even budgies or something as small as a zebra finch, so no, I don't like peacocks.


----------



## simplysardonic (Sep 1, 2009)

DoggieBag said:


> Ideally you are wanting to have a group of them or a "lek" which is 1 male and about 4 females.* Never 2 males or they will fight alot during the breeding season.*
> 
> To lessen the chances of them roaming too far, you should keep them penned for about 1-2 months. This will get them used to their "patch", thus not tempting them to go off exploring too far.
> 
> ...


Not always, I watch the males at work (there are about 10 males & a couple of females) & they seem to spend more time trying to outdo each other with their plumage than much else, they are quite aggressive with the cats however



Cleo38 said:


> See that's the problem, I would worry so much if they wandered that I would probably end up getting stressed about it
> 
> We have quite a few trees for them, the fields out the back, the river bank at the front so they would have room to wander. In think the dogs would be fine with them, they are ok with the chickens now.
> 
> *Are there feral populations around?* How lovely, they are such stunning birds. The pub we go to occassionally has white ones which I had never seen before


I've heard of several in various locations & there is a substantial group in some woods about 5 or 6 miles from where I live, lots of them have traces of white in their plumage too


----------



## Cleo38 (Jan 22, 2010)

newfiesmum said:


> Tigers are beautiful, but I am not about to get one as a pet! You know, I am terrified of birds, all birds, even budgies or something as small as a zebra finch, so no, I don't like peacocks.


I didn't know. You would hate Sally our parrot then, she actually is quite scary! Luckily she loves me but hate my poor OH. She's quite a stroppy madam at times & I've never been worried about any animal .... apart from her. That beak could really do some damage!!


----------



## newfiesmum (Apr 21, 2010)

Cleo38 said:


> I didn't know. You would hate Sally our parrot then, she actually is quite scary! Luckily she loves me but hate my poor OH. She's quite a stroppy madam at times & I've never been worried about any animal .... apart from her. That beak could really do some damage!!


Parrots give me the shivers as well! We went to a whale and dolphin show in Florida once, but nobody told me they were going to let out 30 parrots and a vulture at the end. I was under the seat, just wanting to be let out!


----------



## DoggieBag (Jan 20, 2012)

simplysardonic said:


> Not always, I watch the males at work (there are about 10 males & a couple of females) & they seem to spend more time trying to outdo each other with their plumage than much else, they are quite aggressive with the cats however
> 
> I've heard of several in various locations & there is a substantial group in some woods about 5 or 6 miles from where I live, lots of them have traces of white in their plumage too


I would never have 2 males living in the same pen. The risk is far too great. You may fair better with 2 related males, compared to 2 unrelated ones, but the risk still remains. They fight to the death as well, it is for this reason not many breeders will sell you 2 males together.


----------



## Cleo38 (Jan 22, 2010)

newfiesmum said:


> Parrots give me the shivers as well! We went to a whale and dolphin show in Florida once, but nobody told me they were going to let out 30 parrots and a vulture at the end. I was under the seat, just wanting to be let out!


Oh dear! My poor mum must suffer when she comes here .... she's quite scared of dogs, especially GSD's, doesn't like birds, is wary of cats .... she does so well in coping though.

She's fine with the chickens so maybe peacocks would be ok aswell. Am wondering how the cats would be with them, they don't bother with the chickens (they are quite scared of them) so would probably be ok with a couple of pea fowl


----------



## newfiesmum (Apr 21, 2010)

Cleo38 said:


> Oh dear! My poor mum must suffer when she comes here .... she's quite scared of dogs, especially GSD's, doesn't like birds, is wary of cats .... she does so well in coping though.
> 
> She's fine with the chickens so maybe peacocks would be ok aswell. Am wondering how the cats would be with them, they don't bother with the chickens (they are quite scared of them) so would probably be ok with a couple of pea fowl


The thing with me is I am not just scared of them, it is a phobia. I could no more be in the room with a bird than fly to the moon. I would be wary of something like a reptile, but I could tolerate it, but not a bird.

When my daughter first had horses, I used to go to this farm to collect the hay, leave the money outside his door under a stone, and away. Went on for weeks, till one day I found a peacock perching on the haystack! I never went there again; he had to deliver after that.


----------



## Cleo38 (Jan 22, 2010)

simplysardonic said:


> Not always, I watch the males at work (there are about 10 males & a couple of females) & they seem to spend more time trying to outdo each other with their plumage than much else, they are quite aggressive with the cats however
> 
> I've heard of several in various locations & there is a substantial group in some woods about 5 or 6 miles from where I live, lots of them have traces of white in their plumage too


There is a house we pass on one of our walks that had two males (I haven't seen any females), maybe I will ask them if I see someone around. It's quite a posh house ... if we has peacocks it would look like they were slumming it!!!


----------



## FourFerrets (Oct 10, 2009)

There is one that wanders around the village I live in.
You can hear him call sometimes. I personally don't mind it at all 








He pops in and out of the gardens when he wants too. Hubby has hand fed him but he is a little shy (the Peacock, not my OH  )

When he's calling at 7am I guess he doesn't earn many friends though :s. He doesn't tend to do that at our end of the village at that time though.

There used to be several, but foxes and the road have done for the others.


----------



## chrisd (Aug 25, 2011)

Coincidentally check this:

Peafowl in Scarva, County Down | Other Pets for Sale | Gumtree.com


----------



## M.R Drake (Sep 1, 2010)

Peacocks roam far greatly than chickens or even turkeys and guinea fowls!! A male peacock like any bossy rooster will try hard to assert himself in his flock he will even pick fights with a male turkey or a rooster, and it's not fun at all to wake up one day to see your pet cat beaten up:crazy:... So yes, a peacock will sometimes be aggressive:glare: as for their voice, I don't think that it can get any worst than guinea fowls'...I mean, have you ever heard those things (ouch!! My eyes almost tear!!) a male peacock cry will sound pretty much like this "Lee-YAW".

But in general I think they are like a big sized chicken that requires space!!


----------



## Mese (Jun 5, 2008)

Someone around here has 4 of them ... a few months ago I was watching all 4 as they walked along the roof from house to house , flying/jumping any gaps they came across

It was a very strange sight to see such big birds just ambling along the houses on my street 
wish id had the forethought to grab the camera , lol


----------



## AlexArt (Apr 25, 2010)

Don't is all I can say!!! They are beautiful to look at if they are someone elses birds!! I had loads of them at one point - white ones too, they multiplied like rabbits, one minute the hens would dissapear then 4 weeks later come trotting home with 8 chicks or so in tow and their nests are very hard to find, they then need to be kept in a pen with the chicks if you want them to live as they are snack sized and have the brain capacity of a tadpole!!! 
They do roam considerable distances, one of mine frequented a farm over a mile away and decided to nest in their hay loft one summer, I had to go and retrieve her, some of mine visited farms in every direction for over a mile if they thought someones veg patch was not fortified! They also trashed my neighbors veg patches and gardens - I have no near neighbors but they wandered far enough, my veg patch looks like fort knox with 6ft fence and a mesh roof, forget flowers too as they love them! 
The males will start to call at anytime of day if they hear a loud noise so be prepared to have a bunch shouting for an hour or more at 3am, breeding season ie. spring and summer, you can forget getting any sleep - 1 cock bird used to sit on the garden wall everyday and shout for hours!!! 
I've lost the odd cockerel from the cock birds killing them, I also had 3 of mine hit by a neighbor on our track with a quad bike, 2 lived one was lunch - they have no road sense at all and can cause accidents if you live near any kind of well used road as they are pretty big birds! 
They are also very inquisitive - I woke up one morning to find my main blue male called Beetle standing on the end of my bed - i jumped he jumped and he flew straight through my window - he was fine but the window wasn't!! I came in from feeding the chooks to find 8 in the kitchen trying to raid the fruit bowl - you can imagine the mess 8 panicking large birds can make trying to get out!!!

Forget trying to make them roost in a shed etc, I had mine shut in yto start with for 2 months in a large barn to get them used to us, when I let them out one legged it and I never saw her again, the rest decided to roost on the barn roof that night and then the trees ever after, if there are trees around they will roost in those even in the worst of weather - one year after a very bad storm I had to spend a whole day looking for them as they had been blown away and not being very waterproof they were totally water logged so couldn't fly and I had to dry 6 of them off in a spare room!! In the end I took some to a poultry sale - an adventure in itself as 2 cocks got loose in the back of my landy and proceded to fight while I was stuck in traffic all through carlisle - I got some very strange looks!! They then screamed bloody murder as I took them through the sales pens and it sounded like i was pulling their legs off or something!, and one escaped!! 
I just have one peahen left now that I have never been able to catch except via a shotgun!, so she has been on her own for 2yrs now and I see her every morning as she waits in the top of a tree for me to put out the chicken food!!!
They are pretty but really suited to large estates where there is nowhere to go!!
Here is one of my white ones -


----------



## Cleo38 (Jan 22, 2010)

Thanks for the advice/warning!!! I have decided against this, mainly for my own peace of mind. Realistically I would be constantly worrying about them wandering off & getting hurt - I do enough of this for one of my dogs so don't want to add any more!!! 

We only have a couple of neighbours & I have since found out that one who lives further down our road has a couple of peacocks (one white one aswell) so we may see theirs around which would be lovely.

Your pic is stunning, they are such beautiful birds although I wouldn't fancy them fighting in my car ... especially as I only have a mini


----------

