# Peafowl



## PhilK (Feb 10, 2011)

Hey all.

Anybody keep peacocks or peahens? Are there any permits etc required? Easy to keep?

Also I assume Indian peafowl are the most common, but can you also get the green peafowl? Javanese ones?

Cheers


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## harley0402 (Feb 10, 2011)

i dont think you can but i read, just now, that they are an introduced animal but are not delcleard a pest but an exotic wildlife, if that helps and they dont like water.......


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## pyrodarknessanny (Feb 10, 2011)

you can keep them with out permit, just like chickens,
the green peafowl are apparently quite rare, ive never seen then in the flesh only photos, 

peafowl are kind of frail thou and spook very esaly,


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## solar 17 (Feb 11, 2011)

There are plenty around and MANY varieties, l incubate eggs for a couple of very private people but there are quite a few around "the golden" is my personal pick, the wierd bit about the eggs or most of them, have to be incubated @39.0c......they love "turkey crumble" it looks like Milo [the drink powder] and forriage


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## Jen (Feb 11, 2011)

My family has kept peacocks for years, at one stage we had a white male and now have pieds from him breeding. I would hardly call them 'fragile'. They make excellent 'watchdogs' but are not something that should be kept in the average backyard as they do make a lot of noise. The pen we have them in allows them to get up high into a tree where they roost at night, but is totally enclosed so they cannot fly out from the top of the tree.


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## kat2005dodi (Feb 11, 2011)

Hi, I have the Blue Peacocks, over the years the numbers have increased. Mine roam free, sleeping high in the trees of a night time. I live in the bush by the way. If they don't like where you live they will wander. My first peacock was actually my nieghbours, he locked it up for a month and it came straight over here when he finally let it out (I live about a km away and and it never left  So being me I bought it a mate, you can guess the outcome to that. They can be pretty noisy and sometimes not real bright, but they are certainly entertaining and vain. I have been told the green peacocks rarely hang around and take off, more flighty than the blues, just what I have been told though.


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## PhilK (Feb 11, 2011)

Wow very cool.. does anyone have photos of theirs to post?

Where would I find them if ever I was looking (I'm not just yet as we will be ending our lease at the end of the year and who knows where I will be later!)


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## waruikazi (Feb 11, 2011)

Can you eat them?


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## Jen (Feb 11, 2011)

Of course you can.


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## waruikazi (Feb 11, 2011)

Jen said:


> Of course you can.



Are they delicious?


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## Jen (Feb 11, 2011)

No idea, but they were a very popular part of medieval feasts


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## Jay84 (Feb 11, 2011)

I would love to have peacocks, but as many people have said they are VERY noisy, the males call is a lot louder than a roosters crow. 

The Blue Peacock as said is most common, although get in contact with a fowl/game bird club and i am sure you can source some other varieties. They are impressive fliers, i have always been fascinated at the males flying with their long trailing tail.


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## waruikazi (Feb 11, 2011)

You guys do realise that they are a snake predator right? They kill snakes very very efficiently.


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## Jen (Feb 11, 2011)

Really? There is a large RRBS hanging around the peacock pen at home apparently, there are often snakes around because of the rats, but we have never found a dead one in the pen, or a mangled one outside it. Maybe ours are just wusses


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## waruikazi (Feb 11, 2011)

Yeah, i first heard about it when i was doing removals and then i saw a doco with footage of a cobra getting stomped and pecked to death. I'm sure if you googled it you could either confirm or deny it.


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## Jen (Feb 11, 2011)

Oh, I believe you, just never seen any evidence around our particular group. Peacocks are great, I used to sell the tail feathers for a dollar a pop to a craft shop, great money for a little kid lol


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## waruikazi (Feb 11, 2011)

Jen said:


> Oh, I believe you, just never seen any evidence around our particular group. Peacocks are great, I used to sell the tail feathers for a dollar a pop to a craft shop, great money for a little kid lol



Sorry wasn't arguing that you didn't beleive me, just meant maybe it was just an old wives tale or something.


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## Jay84 (Feb 11, 2011)

I have heard they kill snakes, i have also heard this is the case with Guinea Fowl too! Never looked it up properly though.....


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## dihsmaj (Feb 11, 2011)

Jay84 said:


> I would love to have peacocks, but as many people have said they are VERY noisy, the males call is a lot louder than a roosters crow.


That's not true.
Maybe I was just used to it, but when I lived in India, we always had peacocks outside our flat, calling every day, and I didn't mind it -- it was soothing.


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