Help! Young peacock in tree in TERRIBLE snowstorm

[the Old Rebel]

Please help if you can. My 5-month-old peacock got frightened and flew high up in a tree when we were trying to put them in their pen this afternoon. It is COLD and we are in the middle of the worst snowstorm we've had in years. She has never seen rain hardly. I am soooooooooo worried about her.

Will she be ok up there tonight?? It is getting dark fast. She is too high up for us to even throw something at her. Besides, they WILL NOT land in this snow.

Her family is in a pen below her. She is lost calling to them, but I don't think they can hear her, because they aren't answering back. I don't know what to do. Does anyone have any suggestions???

Your prayers are welcomed.

 

[LCwilson]

im interested to know this too. we are expecting 2-6 inches of snow.

 

[duckncover]

Do you think if you cleared a nice sized patch of grass out she'd jump down? Or even a tarp? If you do that bring some kind of treats.

 

[cowman910]

maybe to his family its its a good thing... lol
i think she will eventually come down, they are actualy very hardy animals. they will naturally roost high in the trees and i think they will be fine up in the snow.....

i had a banty hen fly out of my coop during a blizzard (never on a sunny day!) she was gone for about a week. once the snow started to melt she showed up looking for food.

 

[the Old Rebel]

Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions. We tried laying a large piece of plywood on the snow for her to land on. It was covered with snow in no time at all.

She didn't come down last night. So she was out there in all that mess. We got over a foot of snow - extremely unusual for us. But she flew to the top of my guinea pen early this morning. When my DH went to catch her, she flew to the top of a small tree next to the pen. He was able to grab hold of the end of the branch she was on and let it go suddenly. She lost her balance. He kept shaking the tree, so she never could get hold again, so she fluttered to the ground and he nabbed her. She is now safe with her family in their pen.

I'll keep my eye on her. She seems to be ok. But if anyone has suggestions as to what I should do to take good care of her, please let me know. Also, if there are any signs of sickness I should watch for.

THANK GOD she is ok. What a nightmare that was!!! And thanks again for all your support!!

 

[deerman]

Most do ok here in northern winter, roosting in trees. The danger would be frostbite toes. Good reason for flat roost so they can set on their toes.

Now the greens would need heat..

Glad you got it home.

 

[Frosty]

I would worry about them spending the night in trees for one reason. I have seen plenty of wild turkeys that were nesting in trees and getting picked off by owls. The only reason that I found what was killing them was that they were roosting in an old elm tree that overhangs my house and one night I heard a loud crash on the roof. I went out to look thinking that a branch had fallen and the owl took of, leaving it's prey behind. The next day I locked up my domestic turkeys, they roosted in the tree with the wilds.

 

[the Old Rebel]

Thanks for that bit of info, Frosty. I had heard that a raccoon will bite the head off of a roosting turkey, but I didn't know about owls hitting a bird that size. I was worried about that though, because we've got a Great Horned Owl out here. He is BIG!! So THANKS for sharing that info with me.

 

[Wildsky]

Its always handy to have a treat call. When I hand out treats I yell "Chick chick chick" and they all come RUNNING from all corners.

Start doing that, even if you never need to call anyone out of a tree or dangerous place, its always fun to have them hungry beasts running at you at full speed!

 

[deerman]

Quote:
Yes a greathorned owl will take full grown peacocks.They take a lot of wild night predators ,also skunks,foxes,coons and even cats. If no easy prey they will go after the larger birds like peafowl,turkey and geese.