- Mar 18, 2017
- 53
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- 136
QUESTION: Will clipping a peacock's flight feathers and adding bird netting to the top of our cattle fencing for a total of 9 foot high fences keep my peacocks home? Is clipping the flight feathers safe? (I do NOT mean pinning -- just clipping one wing's flight feathers) Peafowl are 2 years old and never had wings clipped.
BACKGROUND/SPECIFIC SITUATION: We have had peafowl for 2 years. They come home at night and range in the day. They hang out on our roof, with our chickens and in our big pine tree most of the time. We have 16 acres. On our road, the houses are about 20 feet from the road, with the farming land being behind and to the sides of the houses (no long driveways off the main road). Unfortunately, a few times, they have gone across the street. The neighbor's adult daughter messaged us today that the 2 peacocks had been on the roof of their house and on her mom's car and she "has video and hopes they didn't do any damage to my mother's car." Everyone else on the street thinks they're great, loves them, and they rarely leave our property. In fact, I got the message today, but they've been locked up for the last week due to bad weather here (we didn't want them to get lost in the snow and fog). Keep in mind this entire area is zoned agricultural and we all receive tax credits as such, this is NOT a regular neighborhood. My husband wants to go over and talk to the actual people who live there (not the daughter) and see if THEY have a problem with the peacocks, but I just want to keep my peacocks home and be a good neighbor. The neighbor that lives there is very "different" and we've heard them having screaming fits in the front yard and such, so me, personally, I'd rather just find a way to make sure my peacocks won't go over there (I don't want them to poison or shoot my peacocks -- I'm not saying they would, but they're very strange and my daughter did say she'd be worried they might do something to the birds). We have the peacocks locked up now, and they have a very large indoor area and a screened in porch area (but not a flying run -- the screened in area is only 10 feet high and it's 10x10 so they can't really fly in there). We are locking them up now until we can get the fencing higher and wings clipped, but keeping them in fulltime is not an option since they don't have a flying run. We have coyotes and foxes because this area is rural. We free range our chickens, but they stay close to home and we have 2 donkeys and geese that protect them. Did I mention I have a broken ankle and care for my 83 year old dad full-time? Needed to have to trouble-shoot this like I needed a hole in my head! Trying to find a solution that lets peacocks roam IN MY FARM, but still keeps them reasonably safe from predators in which I can tell neighbors "we've done X, Y and Z and if they do happen to get out, please call us and we'll come bring them home." P.S. Their dog gets out and comes into our driveway a few times a month, we just watch to make sure it gets safely home and doesn't lay in the street. A few years ago, the man came over and said he wasn't sure if his dog got one of our chickens, but sometimes it gets out. I said, we'll keep an eye out for your dog, but I know you're trying to keep it in and if a chicken is roaming too far afield, that's a risk we have to assume."
BACKGROUND/SPECIFIC SITUATION: We have had peafowl for 2 years. They come home at night and range in the day. They hang out on our roof, with our chickens and in our big pine tree most of the time. We have 16 acres. On our road, the houses are about 20 feet from the road, with the farming land being behind and to the sides of the houses (no long driveways off the main road). Unfortunately, a few times, they have gone across the street. The neighbor's adult daughter messaged us today that the 2 peacocks had been on the roof of their house and on her mom's car and she "has video and hopes they didn't do any damage to my mother's car." Everyone else on the street thinks they're great, loves them, and they rarely leave our property. In fact, I got the message today, but they've been locked up for the last week due to bad weather here (we didn't want them to get lost in the snow and fog). Keep in mind this entire area is zoned agricultural and we all receive tax credits as such, this is NOT a regular neighborhood. My husband wants to go over and talk to the actual people who live there (not the daughter) and see if THEY have a problem with the peacocks, but I just want to keep my peacocks home and be a good neighbor. The neighbor that lives there is very "different" and we've heard them having screaming fits in the front yard and such, so me, personally, I'd rather just find a way to make sure my peacocks won't go over there (I don't want them to poison or shoot my peacocks -- I'm not saying they would, but they're very strange and my daughter did say she'd be worried they might do something to the birds). We have the peacocks locked up now, and they have a very large indoor area and a screened in porch area (but not a flying run -- the screened in area is only 10 feet high and it's 10x10 so they can't really fly in there). We are locking them up now until we can get the fencing higher and wings clipped, but keeping them in fulltime is not an option since they don't have a flying run. We have coyotes and foxes because this area is rural. We free range our chickens, but they stay close to home and we have 2 donkeys and geese that protect them. Did I mention I have a broken ankle and care for my 83 year old dad full-time? Needed to have to trouble-shoot this like I needed a hole in my head! Trying to find a solution that lets peacocks roam IN MY FARM, but still keeps them reasonably safe from predators in which I can tell neighbors "we've done X, Y and Z and if they do happen to get out, please call us and we'll come bring them home." P.S. Their dog gets out and comes into our driveway a few times a month, we just watch to make sure it gets safely home and doesn't lay in the street. A few years ago, the man came over and said he wasn't sure if his dog got one of our chickens, but sometimes it gets out. I said, we'll keep an eye out for your dog, but I know you're trying to keep it in and if a chicken is roaming too far afield, that's a risk we have to assume."
