Peafowl Care Tips
In response to a growing number of phone calls and our passion for Peafowl. We at Brow Farm have spent a great deal of time passing on our knowledge & experience via dedicated web pages. Although our contact details are posted, We would very much appreciate you taking the time to read all the information. Should you then have any further specific questions not already addressed, please do not hesitate to contact me, where I will do my best to deal with your query.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. (By the way sorry if some of the things on here are a little mixed up. I just think of something so put it in the page then hope to sort it all out one rainy Sunday afternoon.
I have put together some information and tips from my 30 years of raising peafowl. These come from my own experiences as well as from things I have heard or read and my good friend Harry Hunter who introduced me to these beautiful birds.

If you do choose to raise peafowl, please do not go only on the information we give you on this site, but also consult other sources to make sure you have the best and most complete information available. I am looking for a suitable book about Peafowl that gives good information about them, when I find a good book I'll let you know on the web site.

Peafowl do make a Noise and they know no boundaries

Before I start here I am going to say this "You should always ask your neighbours what they think about you getting peafowl before you even think about ordering any birds from me or anyone else". During the mating season peacocks do make a lot of noise. Early morning and late evening is a favorite time for this. I've found that most people either love the sounds they make of they hate them, but people never seem go grow to love it. Click here if you want to hear a peacock. I have this as the ring tone on my phone! (I've never missed a call since I started using it and everyone else knows my phone is ringing too!) If you have your birds penned up all the time then you can shield it from your neighbors this also stops them from roaming next day. If you have peafowl they will wonder a little and I have found that hens are more prone to it than cocks. But if they are free range you have no say were they will roam or roost. It could be in your neighbor's garden when he starts calling at 4.00am in the morning. On full moons this can go on all night. So please ask people around you how they feel about having the birds has a new neighbour and even a visitor at times.

When you do let your birds out they are not going to be like your chickens and just be happy to mess around in your garden. They will want to have a good look around. Peafowl aren't the brightest of birds. If something charges it can really spook them, but they are very inquisitive and soon have to see what's going on over the fence. So to this end you must remember they will go next door to see your neighbours. It doesn't matter how high the wall or fence is between you they will still be able to fly on to the top of it and over it. I know I've already said this but I'll repeat it again now. "You should always ask your neighbours what they think about you getting peafowl before you even think about ordering any birds from me or anyone else" If I lived right next door to someone I don't think I'd have peafowl. Not even in pens.

Housing

Peafowl can be kept in large pens as well as roaming free (free range). This choice will most likely depend on your circumstances, and each has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Leaving your peafowl the ability to free range can provide you with many enjoyable hours of watching them roam and interact with their surroundings. However, this is not always a good option. If you have many roads near where you plan to set the birds free, it's always a possibility that one may be hit by a car. (Peacocks like to stand in front of or on top of cars as they can see themselves in , which may cause you problems with some of your neighbors.)
Another thing to consider is what other animals are around. Natural predators such as foxes can prey on peafowl. Many Peahens are taken by foxes when they are incubating their eggs. You should also beware of dogs, even if they are your own pets and have never caused any problems. I know that dogs can and will go after peafowl even if it is only in play, so this should be considered before letting peafowl roam free.

Introducing New Peafowl to Your Home.
When introducing new peafowl to an area, after they are first purchased, don't let them out right away or they may well disappear down the road. The best way to acclimate them is to pen them where they can see the area where they'll be living in after they are released. No point in keeping them in a shed, cabin or anything they can't see out of for six weeks then wonder why they seem skittish when you go in with them for 2 minutes to check on food and water then leave them alone again for another 24 hours. I will start here by saying that if you are going to release your new birds you will not need so big a pen and you need to be able to take the pen down after you have finished with it or use some thing you already have. I have used a cabin, shed or stable and fitted a wire cage door in front or behind the main door so the birds can see out during the day. Then at night I can close the main door so I know nothing is doing to get at them at night. I have used the fence panels you see around building sites go make a quick run with a soft wire top tied to them. Don't make a pen with the idea that the birds will come back in every night to roost after you release them, THEY WON'T. If you do make a wire cage it will need at least one perch for them to roost on at a meter (36 inches) or more. So they will want to sleep off the ground in the pen has it makes them feel safer if your birds don't sleep off the ground then please don't let them out Or you'll end up looking for them at the edge of dark to no avail then to find a lot of feathers and no peafowl after the fox took them from under a bush in your garden. There should also be a covered shelter to protect them from bad weather and give them a little privacy. I cover the top to stop rain (they do not like rain) and the prevailing side to shelter against wind. Peafowl can fly, so the whole pen should have netting or some sort of cover on top of it so they can't fly out. (I use a soft net on the top so if the birds do fly up they will not be injured) When I put new birds in pens but I intend to release them I make sure they have fresh water and food they are used to eating. Then I do not disturb them for a week or so. After that time if I think they have settled in, I remove the food but NOT the water. Then when ever I walk past the pen or go in with the birds I give them some food. But only enough so they eat it all and none are left. This way they get to know that when you come around is when they get fed. I find this gets them used to you so you're a part of their life not just a spectator. I also like to give them a little white bread. I know it's not really that good for them but they do like it and will soon start to take it from your hand once they get a taste for it.
You don't have to have lots of birds a pair would be fine. I know a lot of people that don't even have a pair as in a male and female. They just have a couple of males. This is fine if you have room for the birds to show their tails and not be to near each other. But for now lets just say you have a peahen and a peacock to release. After they've been penned for at least 6 weeks or longer if it is a cock bird with a full tail, let a new hen out before the male as the hens are more social and will stay around the birds that are still penned up. So it will learn its way around its new home. After a few days, let another out to run with it. If they stay around it's usually safe to let the rest out soon thereafter. So it's a good idea to do this when you have a long weekend so you can keep an eye on them from a distance. When released peafowl like to sleep high in trees or in some cases on roof tops. I'm sleep in the frees in summer then move into the barns on the high beams in the winter months.
You can even have two males if they both have room to parade their tails away from each other or just one male would be ok if you like the thought of him being on his own all winter. Peafowl don't pair up for life or even for a season. I call peahens the tarts of the bird world! What I mean is they will go with who ever looks good that day. Cocks pick a place that they think is good to show off their tails to any pasting hens. They don't chaise hens, hens have to come to them. This makes sense when you hear a peacock from miles away. He is saying "I'm over here and I like it here so you are going to have to come to me" Then he uses this train to get the hen in close. He will not walk 3 feet to a hen she has to come right to him.

Keeping peafowl in pens is a safer option but you do miss seeing these beautiful birds wondering around your garden. So if you are going to pen your birds up all the time then a tall pen should be constructed (6-7 feet). Think of the male during mating season, those feathers get quite large and take up a lot of room! and you will need to go into the pen at time so no point having to scramble about on your hands and knees. Make sure that the birds have plenty of room to move around, how would you like to be cooped up in a small space?

About the Birds
Tail or Trains
Peacocks don't develop their long trains until they are 3 years old and they molt the train yearly. In the UK they begin the molt in late July or early August and are finished by September. The train is not actually the peacock's tail. The train itself is composed of 100-150 upper tail coverts (back feathers), which are supported by 20 retrices (true tail feathers). A group of peafowl is called a muster or an ostentation. Males are territorial and defend a small area called a lek. Females may look over several males before choosing a mate. Peahens lay 3-12 eggs in a depression that they have scratched in the ground and hidden in vegetation. They will incubate their eggs for about 30 days and care for the chicks on their own. Peachicks can run and defend themselves almost immediately after hatching.

Age
Peacocks can live to be 20 years old. But most live past 12 years. Peahens don't live has long, so around 10 years. Peahens should lay in their second year, but in the past couple of years this as not always been so. Peacocks will fertilise eggs in their second year before they have a full tail but this is not always guarantied. That is why it's a good idea the buy a pair of birds when the hen is one year old and the cocks are two years old. This way they have a year to settle in and more so for you to get to know what your birds like before they start breeding. Then next summer the cock will have a full tail. With a year old you'll have to wait two years for the tail.

Diet

Wild peafowl have an omnivorous diet, and peafowl that are allowed to roam will scavenge for many things on their own. They should, however, be supplied with food at all times. Different types of bird pellets and grains are some of the options, but check around locally to see what is available. I provide my birds with a pellet mix I have made up game bird feed like which they seem to enjoy. Peafowl also need at least 20% protein to be healthy and reproduce well. (This number is debatable. I have seen some peafowl enthusiasts suggest as high as 32% protein, while some get by with lower. Twenty percent seems to be a safely agreed upon middle ground.) Dry cat food is a great source of it, but dry dog food also works, however it has less protein. During the summer, free ranging fowl and ones that have large pens with lots of vegetation can get most of their necessary protein from insects and other bugs that they eat. However, in winter, some type of protein supplement is especially necessary. I used to feed my Peafowl on Turkey starter, grower and breeder pellets and did for many years, but now we have a higher protein mix made and pelleted. Peafowl will also eat a number of other treats and table scraps, you can experiment in small amounts to see what your birds like. My peafowl like occasional treats of sweet corn, apples, and lettuce. If peafowl are on raised pens, you should provide them with vegetation as well as grain. Clean water should also be provided at all times, and special medication can be added to it to prevent different diseases.

What to do when your birds are lost or you find a peacock, peahen.

1. Call around the area and ask who lost or has peafowl or if anyone has seen your bird.

2. Call local RSPCA or animal rescue to see if they have had anyone report any lost or found birds. But don't bother asking for help in the capture or placement of the birds. (Don't seem to be part of the image they want people to see)

3. Find a local poultry person to help you find your bird or place the lost bird in a new home. Or ask them if they might take the lost bird for you.

4. If you live in an urban area or in a city, call local animal rescue centre and ask about displaced birds or ask them if they will help you find your bird.

5. Place an ad in your local newspaper. Some do free ads for lost pets. Or call the local Radio or TV station to help find the home of the lost bird remember it may make a good end of news item for them.

6. If all else fails, contact us here at Brow Farm. We have helped many private individuals in re-homing unwanted birds here at the farm. Humane and sensible solutions can be found to solve most peafowl problems without harming or killing any peafowl. We never turn away peafowl that arrive at the farm. We are unable to send anyone out to catch birds any more due to the time this can take with no guarantee of catching the bird in the end.

You can contact Martin by phone or email to see if we are able to assist you. We do not charge for our conversation as we want to see if we can help you with your problem. But please remember peafowl don't pay the bills so please read this page before contacting us.(If you get Martin on an off day he has been known to quiz people to see if they have read the web site or just the phone number!!)

(Breeding) Laying & Hatching

Well I'm now adding this item because when I wrote this it was the middle of June and I'd had 5 emails and 4 people phone me to ask what was wrong with their Peahens and how long their eggs will take to hatch and many other questions. It was nice chatting with you by the way if you were one of the who phoned. So here goes from the start.
Peahens has a rule don't lay in their first year, but having said this if she was a very early hatched chick then she may lay one or two eggs late in her second summer. (Her first summer being when she was a chick.)
I only use a Peacock to trade hens when he is three or more years old and I've used some cocks in to their teens. (By trade I mean mate with hens it's a term I was brought with and sounds better than some words that are used!!) But I have used two year old cocks when I've been short of older birds. Sometimes they do the job and sometimes they don't. Now the cock does not have to trade the hen every time she is going to lay. I once had a Black Shouldered hen that got in with a trio of Indian Blues for a day. After moving her back to the right pen she laid a clutch of 6 eggs of which 4 hatched, 3 where Indian Blues and one was a Black Shoulder. Your Hen needs to have been with a cock and I don't mean at Christmas for the eggs to stand any chance of being fertile. Hens don't need a cock around to make them lay or to make her want to hatch them by going broody and sitting on the eggs 24/7. If you know your hen has not been near a cock then do her a favor and maybe save her life. Have the eggs away from her and do away with the nest. There is nothing more sickening than coming out one morning to see that charlie the fox has been killed and taken the hen but first eaten the eggs that weren't even fertile. So she died for nothing!
Peahens lay every other day. You can tell when she is coming into a laying cycle by how her wings start to hang very low by her sides and she looks to almost walk with a stoop. This is when many people think she is ill. when you see the size of the egg she is going to lay then I think I would walk like that to! She will lay anything from 2 to 10 eggs. With her only laying every other day this could take 20 days. How she will only lay in the evening. I've been in to check for eggs after 9:00pm and there as been non but when I've looked again at 7:00am I've picked up one cold egg so she laid between 9:00pm and dark the night before. They do not sit on the egg after it has been laid. She will leave the nest and only come back in two days to lay another egg. Only when she has laid the last egg will she start to sit on all the eggs at the same time. When she lays an egg it is warm then it cools down in the nest. The egg is still OK after it cools down. For the chick to start to develop (strike) she has to keep them warm for at least 12 hours. So if you think about it if she started to sit on the first egg right after she laid it then in 20 day after she laid the last egg the first would be only 10 days from hatching. So she would not be able to leave the nest to find feed without letting the last egg laid go cold and the chick die. So by waiting till the last egg is laid and then sitting on them all from the same date all the chicks hatch on the same day and she can take all the chicks to find food together.
Eggs take 28 days from the time she starts sitting on the eggs. If I get the chance I candle the eggs and remove any that are not fertile or have died in the shell I try to do this at two weeks it's easier to see any colour change then if its daylight when you do it. If I have any eggs in the incubator then I candle them in the dark at 8 days. But I'll come back to eggs in incubators another time.
Candling
You need to candle the eggs to find out what is going on. If the eggs are fertile or not. You can also check
how the embryos are growing.
Eggs that are not fertilized ("yolkers"), or have embryos that have quit growing ("quitters"), need to be taken
out of your incubator. These eggs rot if left in an incubator! They will make your incubator and room smell.
We take the eggs we think might be over due and candle them. A hooded light socket with a flood light in it, and
a piece of cardboard with a small hole (about 1" x 1”) in the center. We use a flood light with a piece of light
cardboard (cereal box will do)
We have the floodlight (Like an outside floodlight, I think it's 150w) in a portable socket with a shade. I lay the cardboard over the light and hold the eggs to it. Place the cardboard over the light and hold the eggs to the
light. If the eggs are over 10 days old and clear. They are most likely unfertile. At 7 days you should start getting blood vessels.
An egg that is close to hatching will have an uneven air pocket and you might see a dark object sticking in it
(a beak). Also you can hold the egg to your ear, you can hear the peachicks cheeping and / or a pecking noise.
It is real faint. Once you get a pecked (the shells open) egg it can take 24 hrs or more before they hatch.
Don't help the peachicks hatch unless it appears it's going nowhere fast. They take awhile to hatch.
For candling, the brighter the light, the better. The light will not hurt the embryo, however do not leave it in the
light for a long period of time, as the heat may. Be careful the the light is not hot enough to start the cardboard
on fire.
If blood appears where you break pieces of the shell off, stop and wait several hours. The reason this happened is the chick is not ready to hatch because it is still letting blood flow through it's umbilical core that goes to the yolk sack for food and the membrane so keep it safe. If the chick gets stuck after it has started to break a circle around the egg, it can usually be helped without a problem. But if they are progressing on their own, do not help them. Keep in mind that occasionally ducklings hatch during darkness. Please remember peachicks have clores on their feet so they need a surface they can grip on to walk around on. DONT use newspaper its very slippy for a chick to walk on and once they slip and do the splits its hard for them to stand again. So use an old piece of carpet for the first couple of days if your not using the wire floor system.

Catching and Transporting Birds
First off don't even go to pickup a bird unless he as already rounded up and enclosed. Or your just wasting your time. If the birds are free range you'll need someone to feed the bird around a garage, shed or even dog pen with top on it. Then put some food inside so he'll get used to going in. I'd put a perch in there also, he may use it so not be in a rush to come out when he goes in to feed. Now when he is used to going in he will relax a little. Don't rush him if you try to close the door while he is still on edge he may beat you to the door and you'll never get him to go back in again. Once enclosed before you catch the bird to put him in the box I would say you must be very careful he thinks your going to hurt his so he is not going to let you just walk over and pick him up. Having said this he isn't going to attack you. Just react to what ever you do to him. The best way to get hold of the bird is to through a large coat or thick blanket over him or better still use a net like a fish landing net. Then drop down on him so he can't move. Remember these birds aren't used to being picked up so the first thing you need to do while he is still on the floor is get hold of both legs in one hand. These are what he uses to protect himself and he can badly scratch you or even take out your eye if he starts to strudel to free himself and you don't have a good grip on his legs. You notice I said both legs if you only have one the bird can spin using his wings. This can end up with you breaking his leg because you wont react quick enough to shop him and your instinct is to grip tighter not let go so he ends up with a broken leg! When you have both legs pick him up by them and let him hang by his feet if you want to check him over before boxing him up then place your hand under his chest and lift him up still keeping a good grip on him feet at all times. Beware of the spares on cock birds even I have draw brood when I have gripped the feet and felt them go into my hand. To transport birds I use a cardboard box not much bigger than the birds body. Put a piece of carpet or hard board in the bottom to stop him from wetting it and going through the bottom of the box when you pick him up then put some saw dust or shavings in to help keep him clean while on the move. If he still as a tail then cut a hole in one end of the box just big enough for the tail and about 3 inches off the bottom. So his legs hit the back if he tries to back out. Keep the bird cool and make air holes in the sides and top. I use a box and not a crate for part wild birds because it's darker and this helps stop them from stressing, and I don't give them any room to move around for the same reason and also so they don't hurt themselves trying to get out. Remember birds don't move in the dark they think it's night and if they cant see anything then they feel safe. If the bird is kept cool then he's good for 24hrs. We've shipped hundreds of Peafowl around the UK like this in the last 30 years and only had 2 die when the van they where in was in a road accident and a vet was called in to put them down. Beware when letting birds out into their new pen. Don't just open the box or they may fly straight up to the top of the pen and hurt or even kill himself. I know someone who this happened to so this is why I'm telling you to roll the box on it's side then open the top so the bird is thinking more about getting upright more than it is about escaping. Now you leave the pen and the box in it. By the time he's up on his feet he should walk out looking at what is new home is like. Have water and food already in the pen so you can let them settle in without you disturbing they for a day or so. If you get back home late at night with the birds then keep them in the box until morning then let them out. Just check on them once in a while to see they have settled after their trip.

How to Sex Peachicks

For India blues, It's easy.. after the chicks are a day old or so, you can look at their tiny little primary feathers.. males will have evenly colored reddish brown feathers, female will have darker brown/less red, with a few flecks of dark color in it.

Same rule applies with cameo peafowl, except there are no true reds or black in the feathers, but overall, the color in males will be more uniform and lighter than females.

Green peafowl, you have to wait until their a few months old. Same with Spauldings and whites.

Black Shoulders, you can sex when they are a few weeks old. Males will begin to show emergence of green and blue in their neck and chest, as well as their back and tail coverts. The females will stay overall white with black stippling, and perhaps a bit of brown or green on the UPPER neck.

Peafowl Care

Floor: I use woodshavings on the floor. Thinner in the summer and thicker in the winter. I clean out the coop completely of all litter a few times a year. Before I put down wood shavings, I sprinkle lime on the floor to help neutralize odors . For lice and mite control, I use Diatomaceous Earth on the floor, on the roost shelves, and in the nestingboxes. I even put it on the woodshavings on the floor because I know that when I let the birds back in they'll start to dry bath in all the new woodshaves. Diatomaceous Earth is a natural, non-chemical insecticide that is safe for pets and people. You should still use a face mask if you are in a inclosed biulding when spreading it around. But if you have a problem of lice and mites that requires the chemical insecticides,

Nesting boxes: I put large woodshavings or choped straw in their nesting boxes. I change it whenever it looks like it's getting dirty. I put in a good amount, they always rearrange it into a nice nest. When I have hens that are starting to lay, I put fake eggs or in the nests. They seem to get the idea that's where they should lay their eggs. But I still have a couple of young hens that like to lay in the corner on the floor.

Back Ground Information About Wild Indian Peafowl
The male Indian Peafowl, commonly known as the peacock, is one of the most recognizable birds in the world. These large, brightly coloured birds have a distinctive crest and an unmistakable ornamental train. The train (1.4-1.6 meters in length) accounts for more than 60% of their total body length (2.3 meters). Combined with a large wingspan (1.4-1.6 meters), this train makes the male peafowl one of the largest flying birds in the world. The train is formed by 100-150 highly specialized upper tail-coverts. Each of these feathers sports an ornamental ocellus, or eye-spot, and has long disintegrated barbs, giving the feathers a loose, fluffy appearance. When displaying to a female, the peacock erects this train into a spectacular fan, displaying the ocelli to their best advantage. The more subtly coloured female Peafowl is mostly brown above with a white belly. Her ornamentation is limited to a prominent crest and green neck feathers. Though females (2.75-4.0 kg) weigh nearly as much as the males (4.0-6.0 kg), they rarely exceed 1.0 meter in total body length. National Insignia The Indian peacock, Pavo cristatus (Linnaeus), the national bird of India, is a colourful, swan-sized bird, with a fan-shaped crest of feathers, a white patch under the eye and a long, slender neck. The peacock is widely found in the Indian sub-continent from the south and east of the Indus river, Jammu and Kashmir, east Assam, south Mizoram and the whole of the Indian peninsula. The peacock enjoys immense protection. It is fully protected under the Indian Wildlife Protection) Act, 1972. Distribution and Habitat The Indian Peafowl occurs from eastern Pakistan through India, south from the Himalayas to Sri Lanka. Though once common in Bangladesh, it may now be extinct in that country. It's highly ornamental appearance motivated early seafarers to transplant the peafowl to their homelands in other parts of the western world. Phoenician traders in the time of King Solomon (1000 B.C.) introduced the birds to present-day Syria and the Egyptian Pharaohs. In its native India, the peafowl is a creature of the open forests and riparian undergrowth. In southern India, it also prefers stream-side forests but may also be found in orchards and other cultivated areas.
Diet
Indian Peafowl do most of their foraging in the early morning and shortly before sunset. They retreat to the shade and security of the forest for the hottest portion of the day. Foods include grains, insects, small reptiles, small mammals, berries, drupes, wild figs, and some cultivated crops.

Folklore & History
Conservation and History of Relationship with Man The great beauty and popularity of the Indian Peafowl has guaranteed its protection throughout most of its native and introduced ranges. It is the national bird of India. The peafowl is prominent in the mythology and folklore of the Indian people. The Hindus consider the bird to be sacred because the god Kartikeya (son of the Lord Shiva and Parvati and brother to the god Ganesh) rides on its back. Legends hold that the peafowl can charm snakes and addle their eggs. Greek mythology describes how the peacock acquired the many eyes in his ornamental train. The goddess Hera had a beautiful priestess named Io. Io was greatly admired by Zeus. To protect her from Hera's jealousy Zeus transformed Io into a heifer. Hera tricked Zeus into giving the heifer to her as a gift and set her faithful servant Argus to watch over her. Argus had numerous eyes all over his body, making him a natural choice for the assignment. Zeus sent the god Hermes to free Io from Hera's watchman. Hermes charmed Argus to sleep until all of his eyes were closed and then killed him. To honor her faithful watchman, Hera took Argus' eyes and placed them on the tail of the peacock. This long and close association with humans has proven the peafowl's adaptability to human-altered landscapes. This species does not appear to need any additional legal protection or conservation attention.

More tips coming soon. If you have a tip you would like me to add, please e-mail me from this page
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You may use this article at your web site, or in your newsletter. The only requirement is inclusion of the following sentence: Article by Martin Caunce of www.BrowFarmPeafowl.co.uk- Rearing & Selling Peafowl in the UK.