Keeping Peafowl in the UK free range or in large aviaries

Keeping peafowl in the UK is rewarding and there are very few predators for peafowl. However a fox will take an adult peafowl, also they will kill a peahen while she is sitting on a clutch of eggs.

Peafowl do not have any road sense and are easily injured or killed by passing vehicles.

There is no law within the UK which makes it necessary to report an accident involving peafowl.  Consequently if you are planning on keeping peafowl free range, you need to provide natural protection for the birds.

If you are planning on keeping peafowl in the UK you will also need to provide appropriate high perches for the peafowl for when they are sleeping.  However providing perches alone will not guarantee protection of the peafowl. Sadly we have lost two peafowl to foxes.

How to introduce peafowl to their new home

When introducing Peafowl to your garden or land, they should be contained within an aviary for minimum of six weeks.

Putting the Peafowl into an enclosed shed or barn will not help the bird too acclimatise.  Ideally they should be able to see out of the building and see the area that they will live in.

If you have more than one new peafowl, let the birds out individually one at a time until they acclimatise to the new area.  Peafowl are very social birds and like to live in muster groups and rarely live alone.

Unless they are frightened peafowl rarely fly away from an area by themselves.  If you have a new pair of peafowl, let the peahen out first.  Peahens are the more social of the sexes and will stay around the other peafowl and are less likely to wander away.

Peafowl need shelter to protect them from the elements, they particularly dislike rain, wind and cold.

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