Enclosing a peacock yard

debbieo4914 · **Posted:** Wed Apr 02, 2008 8:56 am

Hi everyone,

Well, now we have our two peakids at home here, we would like to get them a roomier enclosure until we move to bigger acreage.

We have a stable and attached post and rail yard which isn't used by our horses (and we can kick the goat out! :shock:

) which we would like to enclose.

The stable part is colourbond, approx 2m x 3m with a sloping roof which is about 3m high at its highest. The post and rail yard is about 8m x 8m, but only about 1.5m high.

We are planning to attach some timber poles to the posts around the yard to increase the height, then enclose the whole thing with mesh/wire of some kind.

What is the easiest mesh/wire to handle (and most economical, I guess) for enclosing such a large area?

If we had wire around the outside say to 2m high, and had a wing clipped (remember this is only a temporary measure for the next 12 months or less) could the peafowl still fly/jump out - ie. would it still have to be roofed?

Any suggestions would really be appreciated.

Thanks!

Deb :-D

Tahir · **Posted:** Wed Apr 02, 2008 11:21 am

you will have to fully enclose the pen. If buy use bird netting for top it should prevent them from escaping. you can just use the normal chicken wire for the outside. it's better to make sure nothing can get in and out and they will be happy and safe until you move

debbieo4914 · **Posted:** Wed Apr 02, 2008 7:53 pm

Thanks Tahir. I thought we might still have to do the top.

I will start looking at netting.

Deb :-D

Tahir · **Posted:** Wed Apr 02, 2008 7:54 pm

it's fairly cheep at something like $4 at Bunnings for a 4x4m packet

Peacocks Australia · **Joined:** Wed Jan 02, 2002 9:14 am **Posts:** 310755

debbieo4914 wrote:

Hi everyone,

Well, now we have our two peakids at home here, we would like to get them a roomier enclosure until we move to bigger acreage.

We have a stable and attached post and rail yard which isn't used by our horses (and we can kick the goat out! :shock:

) which we would like to enclose.

The stable part is colourbond, approx 2m x 3m with a sloping roof which is about 3m high at its highest. The post and rail yard is about 8m x 8m, but only about 1.5m high.

We are planning to attach some timber poles to the posts around the yard to increase the height, then enclose the whole thing with mesh/wire of some kind.

What is the easiest mesh/wire to handle (and most economical, I guess) for enclosing such a large area?

If we had wire around the outside say to 2m high, and had a wing clipped (remember this is only a temporary measure for the next 12 months or less) could the peafowl still fly/jump out - ie. would it still have to be roofed?

Any suggestions would really be appreciated.

Thanks!

Deb :-D

Hi Deb, firstly congrats on the Peachicks, the pen sounds fine but yes you will defiantly need to roof it as Tahir wrote you should use soft nylon mesh and you can buy it from any Bunning’s store. They will need low roost perches and high perches but not too close to the roof leave at least 600- 900mm from the roof. You can use Chicken wire for the rest of the pen also from Bunning’s and it's quite cheap but we would recommend smaller wire (inch) around the bottom say 900 high. This will help keep their heads inside the pen and unwanted pests out like Doves ECT...

Good luck and please keep us up to date.

Thanks
P.A :lol:

debbieo4914 · **Posted:** Wed Apr 02, 2008 8:40 pm

Thanks PA. The soft mesh sounds much easier than struggling to drag sheets of rigid wire mesh over the top of such a large area. Is this the same soft bird netting that people put over fruit trees?

Should an average of 2m height over the yard part be okay (the roosting part is at least 3m high for good roosting)?

I hope to find time to post some photos of them soon - they are very sweet, funny little things - real stickybeaks! I'm just trying to find some treats they like to be handfed with at the moment - they are not too keen on sultanas yet!

Deb :-D

Deans' Poultry · **Posted:** Wed Apr 02, 2008 8:51 pm

Hi Deb, PA and Tahir. Do you use the soft nylon netting for the roof because it is a softer and more giving material than wire for when they fly and hit the netting roof?

Tahir · **Posted:** Wed Apr 02, 2008 8:57 pm

yes darren, they are extremely strong fliers and the netting gives it the extra bounce so they don't hurt them selves

Deans' Poultry · **Posted:** Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:10 pm

thanks mate

Peacocks Australia · **Joined:** Wed Jan 02, 2002 9:14 am **Posts:** 310755

debbieo4914 wrote:

Thanks PA. The soft mesh sounds much easier than struggling to drag sheets of rigid wire mesh over the top of such a large area. Is this the same soft bird netting that people put over fruit trees?

Should an average of 2m height over the yard part be okay (the roosting part is at least 3m high for good roosting)?

I hope to find time to post some photos of them soon - they are very sweet, funny little things - real stickybeaks! I'm just trying to find some treats they like to be handfed with at the moment - they are not too keen on sultanas yet!

Deb :-D

Hi Deb, yes 2m is good and 3m roost is also good, sounds like you have it all under control. Yes its quite often referred to as anti bird net, we used this in Mackay with great success but this time round we used heavy gauge custom made nylon mesh (very similar to volley ball net) only because of the size and distance it spans.

Thanks
P.A :lol:

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