First time peafowl owner! (Taming/relocating)

[Guinea fowl person]

Today after years of wanting to I finally bought myself a peacock. His name is Apollo and he is a yearling india blue. We're planning on getting him 2-3 hens by the end of the week, because unfortunately I couldn't find anyone who could sell both genders.
Anyways, I'm trying to figure out how to keep these birds around. Currently, I'm planning on keeping the peafowl locked up for 4-6 weeks until they seem calm. Then I think I want to try trimming a wing on all of them before releasing the calmest bird out into our (uncovered) chicken/guinea pen. Let that bird stay out for about a half day before returning her to the rest of the locked up peafowl. Then, we'll slowly repeat this until everyone has been let out. I think we'll also start letting them out at night and let them roost in our barn rafters with the guinea hens. Once that is established, I'd like the birds to live with the guineas and chickens in the bird pen and eventually move to being free range in the afternoons like my guineas.
My question is, is this a good plan for keeping the peafowl around? Since their yearlings, I'm guessing this will be easier than if they're 2-3 years old. Also, I've read that peafowl are great fliers and live to roam---I've raised guinea fowl all my life so I'm expecting something similar to them. I have a big enough property that wandering onto the neighbors' land shouldn't be an issue (it rarely is for the guineas). Are there any other tips on keeping peafowl around and not having them run away? Thank you for your help!

 

[peafowl_Lover]

They like to roam a lot, the general rule is to not free range a bird you aren't prepared to lose. I free range my only adult, she is an Indian blue peahen called Sweetpea but I'm going to put her in an aviary soon. I think she only stays around because she likes the chickens.
Peafowl are very beautiful
Enjoy your birds!
(That's Sweetpea)

 

[Waterfaery]

It sounds like you have a good long term plan but the short term plan is not ideal. Wing clipping is dangerous because it leaves them vulnerable to predator attacks since their response to threat is to fly.

They need access to a covered aviary or some other roofed outdoor area in the place where you confine them from the start. A flexible top netting is best because they can't injure themselves if they do try to fly. Maybe it would be possible to add one to your existing pen?

I would keep them in for as long as you can and then only release the peacock, not the peahens. Let him out in the later part of the day and he should come back to roost. You can gradually release him earlier each day once he has a routine of returning. Also, only ever feed them in the pen or barn.

I would do some more research about free ranging peahens before attempting it. Not only are they far more at risk of predator attack but if it is breeding season, they will nest in some hidden place on the ground somewhere and you may not find them.

 

[Guinea fowl person]

@Waterfaery, thank you for all of your help! It makes sense to let the peacock out first.
I guess I will rethink the wing clipping then. I know my family doesn't want to do that to ruin their looks anyways lol.
My biggest issue with a net is that my guineas are idiots. We used to keep a net, and no matter how tight or loose it was, I would consistently lose birds because they flew up in it and broke their necks. We'd even hang stuff from it to make the net more visible and they would keep killing themselves. I'll have to figure something else with that.
With the free ranging, I'm definitely worried about predator attacks, which is making me rethink the free range. The peafowl are a bit more valuable than my guineas lol
Luckily about the eggs I trained my dog to find guinea fowl nests for me. Hopefully that could translate for peahen nests as well?
Overall, thank you for your help! You've definitely helped clarify a few points and I think I'm going to have to improve my plan a bit. Thank you!

 

[Waterfaery]

If you have a trained dog that will probably help things a lot if you plan to free range. I don't have a dog so I can't advise about that but I have read of lots of others here having success with them.

That sounds strange about them breaking their necks on the top netting. Are you sure you had the correct type of net?

 

[TonysMom]

They like to roam a lot, the general rule is to not free range a bird you aren't prepared to lose. I free range my only adult, she is an Indian blue peahen called Sweetpea but I'm going to put her in an aviary soon. I think she only stays around because she likes the chickens.
Peafowl are very beautiful
Enjoy your birds!
(That's Sweetpea)
View attachment 3774756

She is beautiful. How old is Sweetpea?

 

[peafowl_Lover]

She will be 2 the 4th of August

 

[RIMO]

One of the best ways you can keep them home and/or make sure they return home is their feeding schedule and treat time. Develop a routine for breakfast and dinner and my advice even if you have them free roam is that you close them in a safe structure at night. Sometimes they still won't go where you want them, especially during breeding and chick season- but at least the rest of the year they're a little more wise. In our horse barn we converted the last stall into the peafowl cage and completely wired in after a raccoon came in and snatched one of the 6 month old chicks. Normally they wouldn't come in, but our daughter had the horses with her. So we decided to completely close it in/put heat tape on the beams with carpeting over them to keep their feet warm in the winter since we can have -25 and worse with the windchill. But they would always get their special treats in the Peafowl cage at about sundown with an automatic open/closing door. **You can never miss treat time that is what brings them home every night**

 

[Guinea fowl person]

So I thought I might update this thread with what's happened! We ended up keeping the peafowl in a cage for two months with the other birds all around. Then, we released the male into the barn area, and then into the chicken area. Once he was good, both girls were released and they quickly started free ranging. We did lose one hen for two days, so when she returned both hens got their wings cut (the male doesn't really know how to fly so he did not lose his feathers). The peafowl put themselves to bed in the rafters every night around 5:00, no urging from us. They fly down, free range the property for the day and I usually throw out some treats for them or return them to the chicken pen for food. Other than that, all three are doing really good (this has gone on for about a month now)! I don't want to jinx it but releasing these peafowl has been way easier than I expected. Thank you everyone for your help!

 

[Midnightman14]

Today after years of wanting to I finally bought myself a peacock. His name is Apollo and he is a yearling india blue. We're planning on getting him 2-3 hens by the end of the week, because unfortunately I couldn't find anyone who could sell both genders.
Anyways, I'm trying to figure out how to keep these birds around. Currently, I'm planning on keeping the peafowl locked up for 4-6 weeks until they seem calm. Then I think I want to try trimming a wing on all of them before releasing the calmest bird out into our (uncovered) chicken/guinea pen. Let that bird stay out for about a half day before returning her to the rest of the locked up peafowl. Then, we'll slowly repeat this until everyone has been let out. I think we'll also start letting them out at night and let them roost in our barn rafters with the guinea hens. Once that is established, I'd like the birds to live with the guineas and chickens in the bird pen and eventually move to being free range in the afternoons like my guineas.
My question is, is this a good plan for keeping the peafowl around? Since their yearlings, I'm guessing this will be easier than if they're 2-3 years old. Also, I've read that peafowl are great fliers and live to roam---I've raised guinea fowl all my life so I'm expecting something similar to them. I have a big enough property that wandering onto the neighbors' land shouldn't be an issue (it rarely is for the guineas). Are there any other tips on keeping peafowl around and not having them run away? Thank you for your help!

NEVER trim a peafowl's wings, there is no uncovered pen they cannot get out of even with wings trimmed, never free range a bird you aren't prepared to lose and you WILL lose some. They will go as they please property size means nothing especially if your neighbor has gardens.