Dun dun dunnnn!!!!
As the sun goes down and your peafowl fly up to roost, hungry little beasts come out of the woodwork looking for easy pickings. You might think your birds are safe, and I thought mine were too, until one day all of that changed...
I had been wanting a pair of pied peafowl for a while and finally I got a pied peafowl pair. The peacock's name was Dragon and I loved him dearly. Then one day when I went to feed the peafowl, I didn't see Dragon. I soon found him near the corner of the pen. His head was gone and his body had been chewed on. Feathers were all over the place. I cried. What could have done such a thing?! What could kill a fully grown peacock? Soon I found out that raccoons could kill a fully grown peacock. It was two large boar raccoons to be exact. Since that day they killed Dragon, they have killed two other peafowl (both peahens).
- Different trapping methods.
- Using outside dogs to scare away predators.
- Hot wire around the pen.
While I have only really had issues with raccoons, everyone's situation is different. Know what types of predators are in your area. Some people have to worry about weasels. While I have seen coyotes here, I have not had an issue with them and my birds, but some people do have issues with canines. Just keep an eye out.
Set up a trail camera in your pen and also in other areas of your yard to get an idea of what you have visiting at night.
Some people have a skunk issue. A skunk issue is really not so bad. They will not kill your birds, but they will eat eggs. In this case you might want to trap the skunk and just re-locate it, although that is probably not an easy thing to do without getting skunked, so maybe you will just have to live with it!
I love dogs, and dogs love birds. Not every dog is trained to be nice to birds and some dogs will not only chase birds, but kill them. If you have free-range peafowl you really have to watch out for dogs. I saw a video of a dog grabbing a free-range peacock's train (luckily the peacock got away). Also, just because your peafowl are penned does not mean they are safe from dogs. I read a story this year (2014) about a couple that decided instead of giving some green peafowl to a peafowl breeder that they were holding the birds for temporarily, they wanted to keep the birds because they were soo pretty. Well, some neighborhood pit bulls got lose, broke into the pen, and killed both birds. I am not picking on pit bulls I am just giving a real example that even neighborhood dogs should be kept under close watch around your birds.
I hope you are one of the lucky people who doesn't have predator issues. Some people hardly ever have issues with predators, but unfortunately raising a prey item such as peafowl means that sometimes you do enter the pen to find one of your favorite birds dead, and that is a horrible feeling and something that I wish didn't happen in the world of raising peafowl.
Keep your birds safe!
