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Neighbors & Peafowl

This is a very important topic to think about and consider especially before you get peafowl. Something you must keep in mind is that peacocks can be loud. Since you are interested in peafowl, you probably like or accept the sound that an adult peacock makes. Other people may not appreciate the noise. While I find the call of a peacock an exotic sound that makes me think of the jungle, some people equate the call of a peacock to a dying animal, a woman screaming for help, etc.

To prevent having a war with your neighbor(s), go to them first before you get your first peafowl. Some people have wrong opinions about peafowl and think all they are is a nuisance. While this is not totally true, sometimes they can be. It is up to you to control your peafowl so that they do not become a nuisance. Explain to your neighbor that while peafowl do make loud noises, they only make loud calls during the breeding season (Spring-Summer) and the rest of the year they are quiet. You could even make the deal sweet for your neighbor by offering them some peacock feathers when your peacock sheds his train. Maybe even offer them a few of the eggs your peahen lays to eat (don't offer them too many as you probably want to do some hatching, but you could offer them the first few eggs of the season).


Free-Range Peafowl

If you have neighbors and you plan on free-ranging your peafowl, more things can go wrong than if you kept them penned. This is not to say that free-range peafowl and neighbors do not mix. In fact in my situation it worked.

I free-ranged my first peafowl pair for around a month (more about this venture on the About page). In that month they always roosted in a big oak tree right on the property line next to the fence. Some days they would fly down from the tree and land in the neighbor's yard. We know the neighbors very well, they are family friends, and they actually enjoyed having the peafowl in their yard. They said one day someone came to visit them and the peafowl greeted the guests as they drove up. They said the peacock was displaying. This is a great example of a good situation.

Not every situation works out this way, unfortunately, so here are the pros and cons of free-ranging when you have neighbors:

Pros Cons
Your neighbors get to share in enjoying these beautiful birds. Your neighbors might not like birds at all.
The peafowl can give your neighbors something fun to show guests. Peafowl sometimes like to perch on vehicles, and could scratch and poop on the neighbor's nice car.
Your neighbors can help promote your peafowl. If your neighbor has a nice garden, the peafowl could get in there and eat plants or take a dust bath in their garden.
Your neighbors might become inspired to get into bird keeping. If your neighbor has a dog, the dog could hurt or kill a peafowl.
Your neighbors might enjoy the noise the peafowl make. Your neighbors might not appreciate the noise, especially if the peafowl roost near their house and call at night.
The neighbors might enjoy the peafowl eating up bugs in their yard. The neighbors might not appreciate finding piles of peafowl poo in their yard.

Of course if you keep the peafowl penned, the only complaint neighbors would have is the noise. Also remember that the more peacocks, the more noise so keep your number of peacocks down. Peahens normally don't make any loud noises unless if alarmed or nesting/getting ready to lay an egg.


Neighbor Horror Stories

If you don't talk to your neighbors and make sure they are fine with you getting peafowl, some bad things can happen. The whole reason I am writing this article is because of a recent topic I saw about someone having issues with their neighbor complaining about the peafowl making noise.

Here are some horror stories that unfortunately, really happened to peafowl owners:

1. One peafowl owner has a neighbor who hates their dogs and also complained about the peafowl. They reported the peafowl owner, and it turns out they are not zoned for keeping peafowl so they must find a new home for their peafowl or move to where they can keep them.

2. A different peafowl owner had a neighbor sneak over to their yard at night and feed their peafowl poison. Most of their peafowl ended up dying (just a few were in a barn and didn't come into contact with poison). The peafowl owner was understandably devastated and wasn't sure about even continuing to raise peafowl after such a loss.

3. This other peafowl keeper had to quit free-ranging their peafowl. The neighbor shot and killed one for being on his property. They then had to keep all of their peafowl penned even though they really enjoyed watching them be free.

These examples show you that not everyone is an animal lover, bird lover, or friendly neighbor. Now moving on to how to deal with the un-friendly neighbors...


Dealing/Avoiding Neighbors who DO NOT Like Peafowl

So you didn't ask your neighbors if they were okay with you keeping peafowl, some new neighbors moved in and started complaining and making your once peaceful life with your peas a living nightmare, or some neighbors went from accepting of your peafowl at first to hating them. What are you to do???

1. Well, if they trespass to poison your birds like real life example 2, you might want to take legal action or tell the police, ASPCA, etc.

2. If you can afford it, you should try moving to a secluded area where there are no neighbors for miles, or if their are neighbors, make sure they are animal people like horse owners. Basically people who understand the love for keeping animals. Another good idea is to get a lot of land, fence it, and keep your house and/or the peafowl in the very center of all that land in a clearing. That way people can't see the birds, and can't hear them as well especially if the area is surrounded by trees.

3. If you cannot afford to move or you love it where you currently live, you can keep your peafowl at a nearby friend's or relatives yard that does not have neighbors. This is actually what I do. I currently keep all of my peafowl at my Grandma's because she has more land and less neighbors. Every day I drive 2 miles to her house to feed the peafowl and make sure they are doing good. I spend 30 min to an hour spending time with them and then I go back home.

4. Find a nearby bird keeper and give your peafowl to them. You can visit your peafowl regularly and maybe offer to pay for their feed so that taking them in isn't too much of a burden for the person.

5. See if the local zoo will take your peafowl. I am not sure if they would take them, but it is worth trying. Then many people can enjoy your birds.

6. Consider finding a different bird to keep and raise. Perhaps peafowl just are not for you. Peafowl are in the pheasant family. There are many other beautiful birds in the pheasant family that you can choose to keep instead and I am sure there are ones that don't make as much noise. If you still are stuck on wanting peafowl, you could go for some pheasants that look similar to peafowl but are not peafowl like the grey peacock pheasant, Palawan peacock pheasant, Bornean peacock pheasant, and the Rothschild peacock pheasant. OR for something that rivals or even out-rivals the peacock in color you could raise the Himalayan Monal also known as the impeyan monal.


I really do hope you never have any issues with neighbors complaining about your peafowl, but I also hope that you learn before you get your peafowl if your neighbors will allow it. It is better to have have your hopes of getting peafowl crushed and waiting to live some place where you can have them, then to have them and then have to hand over the birds you so dearly love to someone else.