AIBU to want a peacock?

[Velvetdarkness]

First post but I'm a long time lurker and know the etiquette is to explain if your first post is in Aibu, especially in the holidays.



I love peacocks (peafowl really I suppose). You only see them at stately homes or estates but I'd really like one.

I've been reading up on it and apparently they roam a bit hence not usually being in built up areas, but they come back home like cats do.

I think having a peacock would be amazing, and there are ways you can stop them screeching (not cruel ways). You can also buy a cock for £55, or £115 delivered. (Hens are more expensive.)

OH thinks I'm mostly joking and that next door's cats would kill it.

AIBU to be seriously considering this? I live in a town but it's a quiet road.

[Degustibusnonestdisputandem]

Oh, we never had a problem with the makes being aggressive, we used to chase them! (rufty tufty Aussie farm kids...)

[Degustibusnonestdisputandem]

Or males, even!

[SpecialAgentFreyPie]

Noise and mess aside, the big problems for me would be destroying someone else's garden, that's not fair. Plus can you afford to pay for your car/neighbours when they inevitably ruin it?
Not to mention dealing with frightened and angry people because the cunts peacocks I knew were forever chasing people, especially children and being aggressive.

Not to mention the bird itself. Peacocks are happier in groups, and need to be at least a pair. They need space and letting them roam around destroying people's gardens and scaring them would be breathtakingly selfish, as well as the huge risk of dog attacking them if they wandered into the wrong backyard. So you'd have to keep them cooped up which wouldn't be fair on the bird.

If you move to a farm you could raise peacocks by the army though! grin]

[NUFC69]

We had a visiting peacock (he wandered from his home when a fox killed his mate): he lived in our street for about ten years and roosted at night in one of my NDN's trees. Yes, he was sometimes noisy, but actually when they lose their tail feathers (July/August) their voice goes,too, and doesn't come back until their tail grows again (February). They do need a lot of garden space, Pip visited lots of gardens, but whilst not vulnerable to cats, foxes are another thing altogether, and a fox eventually caught him. He got away and a neighbour called a vet, but he couldn't be saved, unfortunately. I still miss him, but DH doesn't miss the damage he did to the garden.

[SpecialAgentFreyPie]

I'd be concerned someone would harm it, given how destructive they are. You see crazy people who bait dogs for barking in the news all the time, and the dogs aren't fucking up their stuff.

BTW whoever mentioned, yes white peacocks are probably the most beautiful looking sort of bird IMHO. At least large bird!

[PikachuSayBoo]

I think one peacock on its own would be cruel.


They don't return home like cats either.

Some have appeared in a village near me and no one knows how they got there. They've stayed for weeks now.

[Rainbowshine]

Do you have DCs? If so then no, peacocks can be very aggressive. I once went to view a house, it was perfect except for the peacocks in the garden that basically had taken the entire thing over. It was hot that day but the owner's kids were never allowed to play in the garden because of them. They were from a neighbours house. We saw the house on the market for a very long time, my guess because of the peacocks.

[VanillaSugar]

I want one. Especially if it destroys cars. I live opposite a hotel which has a perfectly good car park. Do guests park in the car park? No. They park outside my house because it is a MILLIMETRE closer to the hotel entrance. Peacocks will sort the lazy fxkers out gets onto google

[dizzyfeck]

We have peafowl. We have a cattle ranch in South America so plenty of space. Only neigbour is the head cowboy. They are noisy but I like the noise, especially when they call out at other times of the day. 5am in our farmyard is so noisy you don't notice any one over the other. We have cocks and Guinea fowl (they are 100% worse) plus the dairy cows are milked by the house and kick up a real din, so the peacock is mostly drowned out. Luckily due to school and my work logistics we don't sleep on the farm during the weekdays.
I don't think you need to worry about cats, I've seen our peahens steal meat from right under the cat's nose. But then our male cats are the soppiest excuses for fur on this planet. We have a female stray that adopted us and she doesn't bother any of the fowl, or their chicks either (we don't have peachicks, or peanuts as I want to call them if we ever do). Dogs are a big problem if they're not trained or accustomed to ground birds. Not ours, they're scared of him!
He (Julian Clery - that's going to out me) likes to sit on the roof of the stables and fly down into people's faces if they come to visit. He is frightening and will go for people like a goose. We have a car cover because some bird of prey was scratching the shit out of the car, but I can imagine a peacock picking a fight with itself in a car door. That would injure his pride somewhat
They do need company.

[kungfupannda]

No! Don't do it! We have wild ones living in our garden (small village) and we and our neighbours are permanently at war with the bloody things. They're noisy (although not as bad as some I've heard in other places) and the destroy plants and damage the paintwork on cars. They also wander about on the road and do massive poos everywhere. You will be spectacularly unpopular.

[SpecialAgentFreyPie]

Get some wraparound shades for them Vanilla, and they can casually sit on the bonnet waiting to See A Man About A Dog

[Glitteryfrog]

A peacock pecked my cake when I was small. I do not trust them!
But they are pretty...

[LunaLoveg00d]

They are beautiful, no denying it. But really more suited to living in extensive parkland than a garden. I wouldn't.

[WinterIsHereJon]

I'd say it would depend on the neighbours! Ours have them and the DCs and I adore them. They are often in our garden/perched on our fence/sat on the shed roof. We feed them now and again - they are quite friendly and eat from your hand. I can't say I've noticed any destruction and I the noise doesn't bother me a bit. I think I'm a crazy bird lady too though

[livelyredjellybean]

They are extremely noisy. All year round. And they scratch cars! (When they see their reflections on shiny cars, they attack it as they see 'another peacock'!) I worked with them for 6 years and would happily never see another again as long as I live!
I would also worry about a single peafowl getting lonely.

[CatherineDeB]

Only if you are rich enough to keep forking out for the damage they cause, a friend has some on about 50 acres, lives at the 'big' house.

Despite having plenty of room they often make it into the village and have caused quite a bit of car damage over the years.

Their babies are incredibly cute though.

So, no from me. Noise wise I hear the more than half a mile away.

[ComputerUserNotTrained]

We have loads living a couple of streets away. They're based at the stately home type thing, but they wander. As mentioned already they're pretty big so don't tend to get run over.

Yes they're noisy, but I love them. To be fair, they don't venture quite as far as mine so they don't pose a risk to my car's bodywork.

[0hCrepe]

I adore peacocks and would love one. My house is full of peacock things and colours and loads of my clothes have peacock feathers on. Get one!

[MermaidTears]

Indian runner ducks are beautiful and I would think not as noisy

[TondelayaDellaVentamiglia]

i have always wanted Peacocks too, i adore them!

i might buy some eggs and see if the elderly chicken ladies would raise them...do you think the neighbours would believe it to be a miracle of nature?

There seem to be quite a lot of feral Peacocks about the country or do all the MNtters with marauding Peafowl live near each other!

[JaimeLannister]

l would love a few in my street! My neighbour has a small holding so I am used to chicken, duck, rooster, pigs and sheep noises.

[AlfrescoBalconyWanker]

I used to work somewhere that had them - old manor house turned into offices, they were supposed to wander around the lake looking majestic but my they were nasty fuckers. Used to randomly attack people onsite all the time.

[specialsubject]

it is all true.

the screeching.
the attacking cars; the male will peck and scratch at his reflection for hours.
the mess.
they need a friend or two.
they can't fly in the rain so need somewhere to perch safely. If you've got foxes nearby, your prized avian possession is on borrowed time.

alfresco I wonder if we worked at the same place? Happy memories of one of the management legging it round the lake being chased by a peacock!

don't do it, OP. Go visit your nearest stately home in the mating season to admire the display.

[SpecialAgentFreyPie]

I have quite a few pets, DH and I are animal mad. Our next thought is a bird of some kind.

I can't actually give examples because I'm too fearful of outing, but you'd be surprised just how aggressive a peafowl can be. DH is a police officer and some of the stories make me roar in a 'it wasn't me' kind of way.

[AnchorDownDeepBreath]

If you have a coop they don't call when in there overnight as they don't call in the dark apparently.

That's not true - it's wishful thinking, like people who say you can housetrain Meerkats. You can, but they'll still territorially mark everywhere and everyone, repeatedly, with really strong and smelly urine...

I live near a castle with peafowl. They call a lot, despite the castle paying for a big state-of-the-art peafowl shelter, in complete darkness, so they wouldn't disturb the local area. They don't care at all. They escape often and get stuck in stupid places, a lot get run over - they have no road safety sense at all, and often attack cars. They also really rile up the swans, and plenty meet their end through fights with the geese and swans (although they cause a fair bit of damage too, they are aggressive!).

When they stay in their little castle area, where they have friends and perches of various heights and are safe and looked after, they are beautiful to watch, if a bit destructive. Outside of that area, they are a pain, although still beautiful! In a garden they'd be horrendous. And you'd have to hope that they decided they really liked your garden enough to want to come back, and to be able too.

All this said, I have sponsored a male and female at the castle and I go to see them often. My female is lovely and pet-able, the male is a git and shows off to lure people close before fighting them.