Peaboy And His New Girl

[ooptec]

First show off of the year

[blackdove]

Beautiful!   

[niglefritz]

VERY gorgeous. My daughter (the newly christened earring maker) wants to know how much you would charge for any molted feathers...not just the long ones, but anything pretty. She is taken with the blue ones in particular.

She wanted to know if the tail would be heavy for the bird. I told her I am not sure because the feathers are hollow and they are built for it, but even so...

How did you get into peafowl? We would like to get some more exotic birds one day too. We are thinking mandarin ducks and possibly pheasants that are supposed to be good choices for beginners (that would be us). I like peafowl too, but we can only have so many birds, and my husband does this when I start talking about it:   

We were fortunate to have our own wild turkeys one year and were able to watch his show a few times. It was magnificent. Unfortunately they left after a while. I don't remember why they left. It might have been the dog, but again, I don't remember. We saw them and/or their offspring a couple of years later over a couple miles, but never had the treat of watching him show off again.

It was a sad day when they left as we would not be able to do the routine anymore. We could put down feed and the turkeys would come, then the llama, then the horse...eating all together...buddies.

[ooptec]

I can save her some this molt. if you send me a email I will save till he starts dropping. Even the big ones she can just cut the eyes out of. Been trading for hair cuts as the place weaves cut ones into hair.

The tails aren't heavy at all, they are hollow like you say and really is just colored whisps along the shaft till get to the eyes. Some are longer and some are shorter so looks full when he displays. When relaxed the longer ones sit on top of the shorter ones so have excellent support. (I think, have to check now lol) He mostly displays seems as intimidation more than any kinda mating thing seems to me. Likes to 'shake 'em' in front of the guinea's ..... who pay absolutely no attention.

Liked them so just bought a pair. They are extremely low maintenance and don't even need a coop. Will roost in a barn w/other animals as soon as a coop.

If I was to suggest starter birds I'd recommend geese, turkeys and/or chickens to start.

Pheasants need and enclosed roofed pen you can't let them out to free range. Don't have a clue about mandarin ducks. My ducks wander over to the dug out and stay there from thaw to freeze up and would never see them if they didn't waddle in for their feeding in front of the coop. Geese don't need a pond, as long as there is a full bucket where they can dunk their heads. Mine spend very very little time on the water even tho is real close. They like grazing and you won't have a dandilion in sight w/them.

'mission creep' lolololololol you'll laugh too in a couple years

cheers

[niglefritz]

We have 3 types of heritage chickens, partridge silkie bantams, muscovy & runner ducks and guinea fowl, so we are started on poultry. We have had wild turkey too, Your turkey is so nice (the girls were wowed too). Is he a Bronze? I have read the names, but never remember them long. That is the most I can recall at the moment. lol The heritage ones are all so nice. I hint sometimes that a heritage turkey or two might be a nice thing to have around. Maybe one day.

I like the look of the Toulouse goose, but I am thinking that we will be sticking with birds other than geese. I was scared by a whole lot of geese when I was young, and I don't have a real yearning to get them. We have a nice Canada on our piano, and I think that I will be satisfied with him/her. lol It is a nice goose.

We would need to cover any pen, unfortunately. We have a resident great horned owl that frequents here, and 2 foxes who we have seen a short ways south of here. We lost a whole lot of our free range birds to one fox last winter and spring, so the birds have been in enclosed quarters (unless we are right with them and not distracted) ever since. :(The fox(es) haven't been in to get any poultry this winter, as we had them all inside, safe from those wily guys. The owl, well, he hasn't seen them yet, and hopefully never will be able to make a meal of them if we can help it.

What we did last year is put hardware cloth around a bale feeder and put large boards on top with a heavy tarp on that. It was a heavy thing to move, but at least it made due. This is what our runners were in until our newest (rescue) dog (useless thing she is) got in and killed our black runner drake in the fall.    Needless to say, she will not be here much longer. I don't want her out by any new bird fences this summer. I don't trust her around the little animals or the little people. She is not doing her job, but instead making trouble for all.

What we will do this year is put more permanent fencing up. We are going to be using an old greenhouse frame for supporting one bunch of wire. I have yet to figure out what else we will do. We may re-use the bale feeder again, only more reinforced with wire dug into the ground. That may have discouraged her some, and will help guard against any curious foxes.

I will send you a pm with my contact information. Any other feathers that you think are beautiful, we would welcome too.

Our daughter makes earrings (feather and non), feather hair clips, pendants (non-feather so far) and horse mane clips to date. She is trying to figure out what else she might be able to do...considering resin next. She wants to keep things cowgirl/horse/nature oriented, and not dye her feathers...she wants them presented as they are. Her proceeds are going toward her first horse or some tack for the horse, and maybe a few new colorful birds.

She will start to display her wares for sale soon in the arts centre close by. We need to talk to some other businesses in the city to see if they would also be willing to sell them. She wants to focus on selling to the horse crowd if she can. Someone suggested seeing if she can have a table at the local small town fairs ("the milk run"), and depending on how much that is, it might be worth trying.

One local artisan lady received some from her as a thank you for taking her to art classes this past year. She says that she is always getting complements on them and so she wears them a lot and she also tells them who makes them. The artisan does some sculptures for the Stampede, so that could be a good opportunity for her in a round about way as well.

When I get a chance, I will upload some pictures in the crafts section, I suppose. I am not sure where else to put it. She needs to find more exposure for her work.

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