Often strutting about in open ground, peacocks are majestic fowls to look at, especially as they fan out their tails. But for budding peafowl owners, it may come as a surprise that they will fly away if they’re untrained or left out of the pen at night. So, how can you keep peacocks from flying away?
To keep peacocks from flying away, you should provide them with a safe living area. A large pen will keep them contained. Free-range peafowl should also stay in a pen until they feel at home. You’ll need some patience to train them and try your best to keep predators away.
In this article, we’ll explore more of these key steps to keep your peafowl from flying away and explain why they may try to take flight.
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Why Do Peafowl Fly Away?
Keeping your peacocks or peahens from flying away may be as simple as providing them with a safe home. As they are territorial animals, they will regularly feel at home when they are provided with the necessities like food, water, and a safe space away from predators.
Below are some reasons why peafowl may fly away and how you can avoid that.
1. They Are Feeling Lost
Peafowl – especially new fowls may feel lost when they’re brought into a new environment. This sparks their need to return to where they’ve come from, even if they aren’t aware of where that may be. Generally, this this will change when they have had time to adjust to their new home.
However, while your peafowl are still feeling lost, they may have the urge to fly away. Thus, it’s always best to keep your new birds in the pen for two months when you first bring them back. Be sure to spend some time with it, so it knows to trust you and be comfortable in its new home.
2. The Pen Is Overcrowded
If you have an overcrowded open pen, your peafowl will fly away in search of a better home. It’s important to remember that they need some personal space, and that comfort makes a big part of their life’s priorities.
To avoid driving your peafowl away, you’ll want to ensure their pen isn’t overcrowded with other birds – be it peafowl, chickens, or other poultry. When building a pen, do keep in mind that your peacock will enjoy jumping about and have the freedom to fan out their tails.
3. There Are Predators in the Area
Despite their temper, peafowl are generally birds that need a lot of comfort in their daily lives. When they are feeling unsafe or if they notice predators around their living areas, then it’s very likely that they’ll try to escape their new environment.
Four Ways to Keep Peafowl from Flying Away
If you’re a first-time peafowl owner or you’re finding it difficult to keep your birds grounded, here are the 4 ways to help them from flying away.
1. Prepare a Large Pen
Before bringing home a peacock or peahen, you need to prepare a large pen. This will allow them to stretch comfortably without having the urge to take flight each time you open the doors to its pen.
Peacocks will grow to 8 feet or longer, so they need to be free to jump or fan out their tails about without feeling overly constricted. Because peacocks are generally very territorial, it’s recommended to have separate pens if you’re looking to have several peacocks live together.
While you can purchase a pen, some owners prefer to build one from scratch instead. To do this, you should use strong mesh to create the walls and roof of the pen. You’ll want to prepare solid fencing to prevent predators from entering the pen.
The roosts should be placed as high off-ground as possible. Peafowl prefer to sit high and have a good view over the area.
2. Train Them to Stay Home
One of the best ways to keep your peafowl from flying away is to train them from a time when they are young. If you’re looking to adopt a new peacock, it’s always best to find a young adult – approximately 1 year of age.
These yearlings are usually easier to train, making them a better choice if you’re planning to free-range your peacock and wish to ensure they will stay safely with you by the end of the day. It’s necessary to train your young peacocks for several weeks, so they learn your intentions gradually.
To train them, can clip the wings of your young peafowl before releasing them from their pen. Clipped wings will deter it from flying, and eventually, they will think that they can’t fly very high and stop attempting altogether.
3. Shower Them with Love and Care
If you’re unable to adopt a yearling, you will have to spend some extra time and effort to keep them from flying away. Training a fully grown peafowl is still possible but will require more patience than when you’re training a yearling.
When adopting a grown peafowl, you’ll want to try bringing home a bird that has been pre-trained or has been raised in a closed pen. Shower your new addition to the flock with love and care to show them how much you value their companionship in their new environment.
As your peafowl learn that there is no benefit for them to leave you, you will soon have no worries about your peafowl flying away when you release them from your pen. Be sure to feed them with enough food and water, and occasionally slip in some snacks to keep them grounded and close to you.
4. Keep Predators Away from Your Peafowl
One of the reasons why peafowl take flight is because they sense the presence of predators. Foxes, snakes, or even household dogs can be predators they fear (and for good reason). Hence, you’ll want to try your best to keep predators away – mainly to keep them alive but also to deter them from flying away.
While your birds may eventually warm up to your dogs after a long time, it’s recommended to keep the two apart until your peafowl has gotten accustomed to its new surroundings. You’ll want to ensure your dogs won’t chase your peafowl around, as this will drive them to fly away at every opportunity.
Setting up boundaries is a great way for both your peafowl and dogs to learn where they can or cannot reach, while fences will help keep predators away at night.
Thus, ensuring that their pen is safe from any predators like foxes or even playful puppies is key in helping your peafowl calm down. You may do this by putting up fences around their pens. If you’re looking to have your dogs coexist with your peafowl, you’ll want to be sure they won’t chase after your fowls as that too will irk your them into flying away.
