How far will peafowl roam?

[Mtnboomer]

I want peafowl but was concerned over their wandering. We have 28 acres 50/50 woods and fields with the house roughly in the middle. I would prefer them to free range. We have neighbors about 300yrds away. Im not concerned about the noise. Two of them have hounds that never shut up. But the point of having them is to have them around the house to be enjoyed.
How far will they roam? Will they return at night or just roost in the woods? How can you encourage them to stay close to home?

 

[nchls school]

The ones I used to have stayed fairly close to home; possibly a quarter square mile. The guinea fowl roamed much farther. And yes the peafowl and the guineas both came home at night The exceptions were birds that went broody-very difficult to find.

I'd recommend that you keep the peafowl penned for several weeks. As a child I remember there being a feral peacock in our WI woodlot. The owner lived several miles away and gave up on catching the bird. The bird lived in the woods for a couple years and then disappeared.

 

[Mtnboomer]

The ones I used to have stayed fairly close to home; possibly a quarter square mile. The guinea fowl roamed much farther. And yes the peafowl and the guineas both came home at night The exceptions were birds that went broody-very difficult to find.

I'd recommend that you keep the peafowl penned for several weeks. As a child I remember there being a feral peacock in our WI woodlot. The owner lived several miles away and gave up on catching the bird. The bird lived in the woods for a couple years and then disappeared.

Thats funny! When i was a kid, i came home from school and a peacock was roosted on our chimney. The owner was nearly 2mi away.
I didn't know if that was common to go that far or not.

 

[KsKingBee]

The first thing to do is to read the stickies at the top of the peafowl page for all kinds of good peafowl information. Then like Nchls said to be sure to pen them for a few weeks so they learn there is food and they reset their compass to their new home. We free-range about 10 atm and they do not stray but a hundred yards or so but there has also been occasions where they will run off a new bird we turned out. They returned after a few days but we worried ourselves sick about them roaming the countryside with the coyotes and bobcats.

 

[Mtnboomer]

The first thing to do is to read the stickies at the top of the peafowl page for all kinds of good peafowl information. Then like Nchls said to be sure to pen them for a few weeks so they learn there is food and they reset their compass to their new home. We free-range about 10 atm and they do not stray but a hundred yards or so but there has also been occasions where they will run off a new bird we turned out. They returned after a few days but we worried ourselves sick about them roaming the countryside with the coyotes and bobcats.

We have no shortage of predators either but so far we have managed to do a great job of protecting our free range chickens (but they get locked up at night).
Do you lock your peafowl up too or do they roost high enough on their own?
Thanks!

 

[KsKingBee]

We have 30 pens of peafowl but the free rangers are out day and night. They roost all over the place but not in the trees as many people report. Ours will roost on the deck, the shed porch, under the awning on the wood boiler and on top of pens. If we did not have our Great Pyrenees we could not do what we do let alone have any free-ranging birds.

 

[Dany12]

Your place is ideal ... if there are trees!
The fact that there are chickens is good ... peacocks love company!
In total freedom all year round ... problem! hens will lay eggs in the bushes ... very big risk! An aviary would be good for the lay eggs season!
I have 70 free peacocks all year round ... except when the peahens lay eggs!

 

[Mtnboomer]

Your place is ideal ... if there are trees!
The fact that there are chickens is good ... peacocks love company!
In total freedom all year round ... problem! hens will lay eggs in the bushes ... very big risk! An aviary would be good for the lay eggs season!
I have 70 free peacocks all year round ... except when the peahens lay eggs!

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Ok, good to know!