Peacocks ?

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desertrat - 1

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Mohave county , northern AZ
Anybody raise peacocks ? I did a google search and read up on them , but I would like to talk to people with real experiance with them .

Reason for getting a pair is I hear they are good snakers . Rattlers and other pests are always a problem up where I live in the summer. They supposedly kill them off and are kind of a "watchdog" if 4 or 2 legged critters come around .

Whats the down side ? I hear they are terrible noisy and I suppose they crap all over too. Coyotes could be a problem killing them I suppose . Or big dogs .

Any other suggestions ? ... have considered a pig , pot bellies , etc . Need some advice . Just lost a dog to a rattler a few months back .

I live outside of town on 4 acres so they would have plenty of run . And its fenced too although I guess they could get over that pretty easily .

Thanks , Bob
 
Peacocks... Oh you'll love them... Especially when they are roosting in a tree 20' from your bedroom and decide they"hear" something at 3:00 in the morning. It'll only take them an hour to settle back down. Find and hatch out some wild turkey eggs. Raise them around the house and turn them loose. I have a friend that does that down in deep south Texas. He's always got 20-30 birds that hang close to the house and barns. If they get excited you can bet there's a reason.Z
 
I know a lady who has some and when I go by her house they are sometimes on top of her car, which looks fairly new.

We had them when I was a kid and never had that problem though.
 
Do not get peacocks. Although they may kill snakes go with Guinea Fowl instead. They kill the Shi# out of the snakes and get all the ticks while they are at it. They pretty much take care of themselves as well. Plus if you dont like em you can always butcher them.

Peacocks are expensive, big, and can get pretty mean.
 
OK folks ,

I've been doing my homework tonight , and I think I'm giving the peacocks a miss ..... first one that gets up on my pickup and scratches it would wind up in the oven . Not to mention the racket and possible aggressivness of the males . Wild turkeys arent native to the area , and I dont think they would last in the heat , but I'll check into it .

Kansas , those Guinea Fowl look like maybe the way to go . They are snakers and would eat the other pests out here. They are dirt cheap too and apparently take to the heat and dryness well . They are made for Arizona ! LOL . They are good eating too , although I guess I'd get attached to them .

I'm going to do some more research later today . Thanks to everybody for their comments . And I'm still open to any other ideas .
 
I saw a lot of them around Tuscon when I lived in Az. so they should do fine where you are.

Not trying to steal the thread but how is the Alfalfa crop there this year? What are those undersized, three wire bales going for now? Lord I used to cringe when a load of them pulled in.Z
 
I have a neighbor a half mile off on about 50 acres who has peacocks. 1/2 mile is not far enough. Got another neighbor who is a bit closer and the peacocks wipe out his garden, come onto the front porch and gawk in his windows. Both are decent neighbors but I could lose them both, over these peacocks.

If you just have 4 acres, you don't have enough real estate to hold them. They'll roam 200 acres in a given day.

My dogs keep them away from my house. But I still hear them sounding off at all hours. Someone honks a horn calling cows somewhere, the peacocks start screaming. Someone drops a barrel onto the ground somewhere, the peacocks start screaming.
 
No Peacocks--the screaming Kinng-yweeow!!Kinngg-yeeoww The mess--The neighbors calling at all hours("Shut those $&%##&&* things up!!!!)---No Peacocks--Rattlers are at least quiet..
 
I feel about the same concerning guineas when it comes to noise. At least their crap is smaller, but you also don;t get near as much meat of of them. A friend of ours had a ranch up in the foothills of the Seirra and rather then eat turkey for holidays we ate peafowl.

dun
 
Peafowl roam all over and may or may not come back home. I bought a year old pair, kept them up for two months , let them out and off they went 1/2 mile down the road to the neighbor's farm. We caught them, brought them back, kept them up again, let them out again after an extended time. Back to the neighbors-finally gave up on them and let the neighbors keep them. I bought eggs, hatched them and raised them with a chicken hen. One year old, off to the neighbor's. That was my last attempt at peafowl.

Guineas will roam too but will usually come back home. If you get adults, make sure you keep them up a while too or they'll be gone. They will kill snakes and eat all of the ticks and mosquitoes. They do make alot of noise, especially when it's going to rain or if anything or anyone unusual comes into their area. I actually like them and don't mind their noise. The eggs are very good to eat, kind of have a sweet flavor, that is if you can find the eggs. You might be better off with pot bellies. Pigs will sure eat snakes.
 
I hate peacocks...I always thought the noise they make sounds like a little girl saying "Help Me"...used to scare me when I was a kid and I could hear them at night
 
I've had peacocks fpr 5 or 6 years --My nieghbours are all a mile away -So they dont complain about the noise, I dont mind the noise either ,as my dog barks at coyotes all night anyway.

carl
 
Leave the snakes alone! Get rid of the snakes and you're inviting rats and mice to move in. Most everybody lives their whole life without a snake doing any harm to them. Betcha can't say that about rats and mice! They'll get into your feed, wiring, pantry, dresser (had a mouse to ruin my longjohns one year). I hate mice. Even Mickey ought to be on a glue trap! Leave those snakes alone! I might add, the Plague in Europe was caused by fleas brought in on rats. Snakes have never caused that many deaths.
 
Howdy JT , ( and dont take this as a flame please )

Theres where we differ . I have no problem with 99% of the snakes ... in fact they are welcome here . Rattlers are another story . We have whats called Mohave Greens . They are nasty , agressive , very toxic , and not welcome on my place . I lost a dog to one 3 months ago and that was the last straw . War has been declared . Any rattler here will be killed . I dont buy the part about how beneficial they are . My place is overrun with mice and ground squirrels and all I got out of it was a dead dog and danger to any kid or pet out here . I've heard true stories of them killing goats ,horses , and even bulls with a bite .

I kill / shoot the rattlers and poison the mice / ground squirrels . Sorry if I offend any invironmentalists , thats just the way it is out here .

I cant be everywhere all the time , thats why I'm thinking about Guinea fowl or peacocks . They kill snakes and dont kill dogs , cats or kids .

You just have to do what you have to do in different areas of the country .
 
J. T.":1vom9916 said:
Leave the snakes alone! Get rid of the snakes and you're inviting rats and mice to move in. Most everybody lives their whole life without a snake doing any harm to them. Betcha can't say that about rats and mice! They'll get into your feed, wiring, pantry, dresser (had a mouse to ruin my longjohns one year). I hate mice. Even Mickey ought to be on a glue trap! Leave those snakes alone! I might add, the Plague in Europe was caused by fleas brought in on rats. Snakes have never caused that many deaths.

It would probably take a dozen snakes to keep up with what a pair of rats would produce.
 
There are plenty of snakes here. In fact, according to a report I read recently, Alabama has more snakes per square mile than any other state. BTW, one mouse eaten eliminates thousands more being born. The rattlesnake rodeo in Opp, AL has resulted in higher rodent populations by removing the Eastern Diamondback along with some other nonvenemous snakes.
I raise dogs, and I am truly sorry for your loss. I can empathize.
 
Try some fighting cocks. I put thirteen - free range - around the barn and they weren't any trouble at all. One day I went to get on a tractor and they were all circled up around a piece of flat iron acting funny. I looked and it was two timber rattlesnakes. Had the roosters not been there, I probably would have got bitten - again.
 
This is the first year in over 25 years that we do not have peafowl. We sold offspring or ate them. Real tough no matter how young you eat them - I boil them & make dumplings.
Yes, they are noisy, especially during spring. Male screams and sounds like a child or women yelling "help me" "help me". Can be heard for a mile around.
Yes, they will get on your truck, and they have LONG claws - deffinately will scratch especially if you "shoo' them off. The males LOVE to look at themselves in anything that will reflect. You ever hear of the expression "proud as a peacock" - well it's true. We always kept an old mirror propped up against a tree, he would spend hours prancing in front of it - or flogging it - thinking it was a competitor!
They LOVE colorfull things to eat - like your flowers & tomatoes. You can't FENCE them out, although mine would stay out of a string about 12 inches high. thought it was HOT.
Yes, they FLY. They don't like to really get up & fly, but they have been seen (all 5 foot tails & all) going over the top of the woods.
Yes, they roam a great distance - better have friendly neighbors within 1 mile.
Yes, they can be hard to teach "this is home". I sold many pairs that went wild with the turkeys.
Also, have had guineas - many of them. Very noisy as "watchdogs". Never was able to keep for long, coyotes would kill them pretty regular. Only time they would kill Peahens would be when they were nesting.
Peahens always raised their chicks. Guineas NEVER did. Chicks were way too fagile for our heavy dew each morning.
Can't say if they kill snakes - we have very few, although some. NEVER saw them after a snake (peafowl or guineas)
 

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