Here is a link to a very short youtube of a guy in China using some sort of peafowl horn to call peas down from mountains. I definitely need to find this guy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy_A3Tt8tcI
I looked online for one of these horn things but the one I thought would be good turned out to be an antique ornament and not a real one and, since then, I have given up because one of my blog friends suggested I imitate the call myself, so I have been doing that but now I’ve lost my voice!
Okay, so for anyone who needs a recap of the situation, it is mating season and a few of our adolescent peas are experiencing wanderlust and adventuring off to forbidden territories (the neighbours’ roof). This has caused a fair bit of high drama:
Email from neighbours:
FOR SOME TIME NOW YOUR 3 PEACOCKS AND 20 ODD PEAHENS HAVE BEEN SPENDING MOST DAYS AND NIGHTS OVER HERE AND HAVE BEEN MAKING AN AWFUL MESS EVERYWHERE. THEY HAVE BEEN FLYING ON THE ROOF AND MESSING IN OUR DRINKING WATER. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!!!
PLEASE CONTAIN THE BIRDS ON YOUR SIDE OF THE FARM. SURELY, IF YOU KEEP EXOTIC BIRDS YOU SHOULD LOOK AFTER THEM PROPERLY. UNLESS YOU WANT THEM IMPOUNDED BY THE RANGER, I SUGGEST YOU KEEP THEM PENNED.
My response:
Don’t stress. Except for King and Queenie (the adult couple), this is their first mating season, so they’re experiencing a bit of wanderlust. It won’t last long. We only have a total of 15 peafowl (12 blues and 3 whites), so I have no idea where the others are coming from. I feed ours at around 5pm and they roost in the wattle trees at the back every night.
A further comforting response from me:
I think all of the peafowl are back here now. If they return to your place again, simply point a hose at them and shoo them away in our direction. You can hose them off the roof or out of the tree this way. If you do this to a peahen, the peacock will follow … As I said in my previous email, this wanderlust is a seasonal thing and will not last. However the girls may be looking for nesting spots so you will need to persevere with the above methods. I’ve rung and left a message with two peafowl-savvy friends who will come and get them if the‘problem’ persists. Some of them may need to be re-homed.
So sorry but, again, this is a passing phase and I have spoken to the ranger and he’ll alert me if you alert him. Much better, though, if you simply ring me.
Email from neighbours:
CONSIDERATION IS THE OPERATIVE WORD!!! Your Peafowl are over here all the time and it has gone far enough! They are making such a mess (as Ming saw), the worst thing is that they have polluted our drinking water by defecating on the roof and everywhere else. Advice from the Ranger and the Shire (Clause 480 of the local Govt. Act) is that we are to give you 7 days notice to remove your birds or we will dispose of them ourselves, one way or the other. It is a week since we notified you of this problem and has made no difference.
My response:
I’ve come to the conclusion that you actually like fighting with people – so sad. I don’t understand why you are so angry and miserable; it must be exhausting. Ah yes, the frolicking peafowl: I will take the seven days notice as of today, and make some phone-calls. There is a waiting list for peafowl so it shouldn’t be a problem to re-home some of them. Have you tried hosing them away, as I suggested, or even shooting the gun into the air? The latter is bound to work …. As I said before, this is a passing phase, due to mating season, and may require a bit of latitude on your part. Do you not have a water filter for your tank?
……
Now obviously I have omitted names from the above cut/paste, but you get the gist. Since then (due to reports to the ranger and his emails to interested parties), I have had several people ringing me who want the peas and I have finally decided the guy up the road with a more isolated property, and with a great sense of humour, is the one who I will give a few males to. Now we just have to catch them!
I sat outside tonight, as usual, and did the bread ritual and I counted 12 peafowl zooming up into the trees, so 3 are missing and I guess they are on the neighbours’ roof again – argh! I got Ming to ring and leave a message that all is in hand now. But somehow I feel this drama isn’t over!
Prince: What the hell is going on now?
I think Julie is in trouble again
jmgoyder 
Maybe you could hose the neighbours down! Sounds like they need it 😉
Giggle!
the white one is beautiful! I’m sorry your neighbours are such grumps..
Lovely guy coming on Monday to take a few of the males – phew! I don’t need this neighbour angst!
hope all goes well tomorrow 🙂
crappy neighbours (yes, I know this is a pun!)
Punny!
ha ha
Why don’t you record the peafowls call?
Good idea and I’ve tried that but it doesn’t work – they are in a mating frenzy -ha!
Tell them to get a life or shove it… they’ll blame you for a bad rainy season next… who collects rain water and drinks it without a filter… only idiots…
Can you drop by tomorrow and give me a bit of help?
Oh I wish I could… your neighbours would be walking around with peacock feathers sticking out of their rear ends…
Oh now I have an unfortunate image – hahahahaha!
Hahaha – what a fantastic image!
Julie, when it is all said and done, you need to take all or your coorespondence and some imagination and write a book. Maybe call it Peacock Place, or For Whom the Peacock Tolls, then again maybe call it The Peacock Cage. It would infact be a best seller, and that would solve all manner of problems. LOL LOL. Have a most pleasant day. Bill
You are brilliant!
this is a delicate situation for sure. i understand your side and the neighbors side, but it is not a permanent problem. it sounds like the neighbors are more afraid of their drinking water than the beautiful birds. i so hate to see you having to give part of them to new homes. you better not see one of their pets or creatures on your property, or there will be a quick turn a round on them!!!
It’s okay. I got most of them as unsexed chicks so didn’t know back then that we would have too many males (you only need one male per a few females) so re-homing a few males isn’t a problem – just wish the neighbours could be a little more civil but I, too, understand their pov!
i hope it all works out my friend
Really enjoyed your piece. Your narrative is extremely engrossing.>KB
Thanks!
Let me guess: these miserable people are your husband’s family? The ones that feel incomprehensibly entitled to his half of the farm? I understand their desire for you to corral your birds, but really? They drink roof run-off without filtering it? That’s just nuts.
They’ve calmed down now that I’ve found someone to take a few of the peas – phew!
I’m getting mixed up between peahen, peacocks & peafowl – are peafowl baby ones?
Do they fly as high as a roof? Incredible! The hose sounds easy to use, anyhow – & I love how the peacocks follow 🙂
Hope your troubles resolve… without a ranger visit. I love seeing the photos!
Ha – peafowl is term for both sexes, peacock is male and peahen is female. That’s why I have begun to call them all peas!! Oh yes they fly right up to the top of the wattle trees to sleep.
Oh how gorgeous, sleeping in wattle trees. I can imagine. I’d love a photo of that at dawn, just waking up, all the peas in their pods.
Are they territorial, as in, know your yard is theirs… hang on, I guess they wouldn’t know your neighbours’ is not theirs because they haven’t cocked either a gun or a hose in their direction. I really, REALLY hope it sorts out.
I’ve tried to get photos of them in the trees but it’s always too dark!
Like you needed one more stressful thing to deal with! Egads – I hope things calm down for you soon.
The guy from up the road is coming tomorrow so hopefully that will resolve things.
Here’s hoping!
Too bad your neighbors are so unpleasant. Perhaps bring them a fruitcake for Christmas to make amends? Or perhaps a filter for their water and a hose?
I think they’ve calmed down a bit now that a solution has been found.
As if you didn’t have enough stress already, Julia! I do hope the situation resolves itself soon and you can settle down to enjoying your remaining peas.
The guy from up the road is coming over tomorrow to collect a few so that’s a great solution.
Glad to hear it.
I think your neighbours are just annoying trouble makers………….who like to complain……….hope
the peafowls like their new home………
The guy taking them has 100 acres too so let’s hope they stay put.
I can send you a few cane toads – I’m sure your neighbours would have something genuine to complain about then 🙂
Seriously though – what kind of people don’t like beautiful peacocks? Weirdos….
I look forward to the arrival of the toads – hahahaha!
What awful neighbours. My guess is that once the peacock problem is solved they’ll find something else to complain about. Sure hope, for their sake, that they never have a problem where they have to call on you for help. This is what neighbours usually do – help (not harass) each other.
Trouble is I can perfectly understand their annoyance but it’s not as if I am sending the peas over!
Oh my. I do think you are being very nice to some very frustrated neighbors. Good luck. I do hope the wonderlust calms soon. Maybe they should try getting married, that works for many.
I’ll suggest this to them haha!
Oh dear! That first email from you neighbour was so aggressive. You would think you would start with the ‘softly softly’ approach. What grief! I think it’s good you’ve found some new homes for some of your birds because I worry what these neighbours would do to them. But, I have a friend living in a suburban area who has a neighbour with peacocks and they are constantly jumping the fence and coming over to her house and making a huge mess all over her outdoor entertaining area. They’re fed up with it but they’ve NEVER said a word to the neighbours! xx
Oh yes they do make a mess and it’s not so noticeable on a farm but in a suburban yard it would be very annoying. I didn’t think peacocks would be allowed in built up areas!
Wow. What a nightmare. I keep waiting for our neighbors to ask us to rehome Wonderbutt, but so far they have been very kind about his barking at unusual times. They seem much more relaxed about it than I am!
They probably adore Wonderbutt – who wouldn’t!
Oh to be the bird crap rolling down the roof into their water! Sigh…I never get to have any fun!
This kind of stress you don’t need… Hope it gets resolved soon and then you can rest. Oy vey!
What grumps! I’m glad you’ve found someone to re-home a few at least. I sure hope that will solve the problem!!
Oh dear!