I have one peacock, acquired as a stray that showed up at a neighbor’s house. He currently lives in a room in my barn that is about 11‘ by 13’ feet. Right now Maurice is my only bird—I have had chickens, geese, and turkeys that free ranged in the past, in secure housing at night, but there are plenty of predators where I live, to the point that even the big geese were eventually killed. Because he is in the barn and I never trusted him to free range, he’s stayed safe. But I want to give him more room, and possibly a peahen or two for company in the future.
Last fall, some wonderful friends helped me start the outside pen. A couple days ago, they were able to come over and do more work. (Proper social distancing was observed!
). We made a lot of progress, although it’s not ready yet!
The pen is 12‘ by 12’, and 8’ tall. The window you can see leads to the peacock’s room (he often perches on the sill and looks out, probably hoping to see some fine peahens...
). The plan is to remove the big window fan and replace it with a sort of “doggy door” for him to enter/exit the pen (with a perch outside near the window so he can transition from the window to the ground and back). (In case you’re wondering, the person who owned the property before us did some furniture-making, and used the room in the barn as a paint/varnish room, hence the big industrial fan).
A few questions. What about the top of the pen? We’ve got 2x4’s to support whatever we put up there. I think I’ve read that putting solid fencing up is a problem because the peas can fly up and break their necks. I do have some flight netting to use (although are those 2x4‘s a danger?) BUT given my previous problems with predators, I also feel like a raccoon could easily climb to the top and chew through the flight netting, and get into the pen. Which is the greater danger?
I am planning to do more predator-proofing of the pen. I know the rules for making chicken pens predator-resistant (my coop was actually good, it was losses from free ranging during the day that did my birds in before). The fencing we used for the pea pen is roll fencing, what they call “no climb” style (obviously not thinking of raccoons there!), with a 2” x 4” mesh size. I do have most of a big roll of 1/2” hardware cloth, which I used on openings to my chicken coop. Do I need to reinforce the pea pen with something as secure as the hardware cloth? Or another type of fencing with a smaller mesh size than the 2” x 4” that’s up now?
We buried the fencing probably about 6” deep all the way around, except on one side where big tree roots made it impossible—on that side the extra fencing is aproned out horizontally. But I know that a determined digger could get under that, so I’m planning to attach maybe 12” of fencing out as a horizontal apron on all 3 sides.
Any comments or improvements anyone would care to suggest at this point would be appreciated! I am really trying to improve this guy’s life, but I don’t want him to end up killed like my other birds, which were very happy... until they weren’t
Oh, and speaking of improving his life... this pen will about double his living space. Would there be room for a peahen to join him? Room for a couple peahens?
Thanks in advance for any thoughts you may have!
Last fall, some wonderful friends helped me start the outside pen. A couple days ago, they were able to come over and do more work. (Proper social distancing was observed!
). We made a lot of progress, although it’s not ready yet!The pen is 12‘ by 12’, and 8’ tall. The window you can see leads to the peacock’s room (he often perches on the sill and looks out, probably hoping to see some fine peahens...
). The plan is to remove the big window fan and replace it with a sort of “doggy door” for him to enter/exit the pen (with a perch outside near the window so he can transition from the window to the ground and back). (In case you’re wondering, the person who owned the property before us did some furniture-making, and used the room in the barn as a paint/varnish room, hence the big industrial fan).A few questions. What about the top of the pen? We’ve got 2x4’s to support whatever we put up there. I think I’ve read that putting solid fencing up is a problem because the peas can fly up and break their necks. I do have some flight netting to use (although are those 2x4‘s a danger?) BUT given my previous problems with predators, I also feel like a raccoon could easily climb to the top and chew through the flight netting, and get into the pen. Which is the greater danger?
I am planning to do more predator-proofing of the pen. I know the rules for making chicken pens predator-resistant (my coop was actually good, it was losses from free ranging during the day that did my birds in before). The fencing we used for the pea pen is roll fencing, what they call “no climb” style (obviously not thinking of raccoons there!), with a 2” x 4” mesh size. I do have most of a big roll of 1/2” hardware cloth, which I used on openings to my chicken coop. Do I need to reinforce the pea pen with something as secure as the hardware cloth? Or another type of fencing with a smaller mesh size than the 2” x 4” that’s up now?
We buried the fencing probably about 6” deep all the way around, except on one side where big tree roots made it impossible—on that side the extra fencing is aproned out horizontally. But I know that a determined digger could get under that, so I’m planning to attach maybe 12” of fencing out as a horizontal apron on all 3 sides.
Any comments or improvements anyone would care to suggest at this point would be appreciated! I am really trying to improve this guy’s life, but I don’t want him to end up killed like my other birds, which were very happy... until they weren’t
Oh, and speaking of improving his life... this pen will about double his living space. Would there be room for a peahen to join him? Room for a couple peahens?
Thanks in advance for any thoughts you may have!
Last edited:
