Growing Together: Open Forum

Hi, our school/school district decided to create a new garden space close to our grass field though for the last 7 years that I have organized our garden program, we had gardens by the classrooms.  So our neighborhood has peacocks that roam freely.  Apparently someone had peacocks a long time ago and let them loose and their numbers have grown dramatically.  One estimate was 50 but I have only ever seen up to 15 in the field at one time.  

I know it's a stretch but does anyone have experience with peacocks?  I tried to ask some neighbors who are also parents at the school, but one said the peacocks will eat some things and not others and the other said they put chicken wire over their garden bed (didn't check to see if the peacocks were an issue or not).  I asked on a reddit garden forum and someone basically said "good luck" and he didn't think there were any deterrents that worked on peacocks and he added that he hoped they don't decide to nest in the tree because they make a huge pile of poop underneath!

We have 19 large garden beds and I shudder to think about making cages or covers for all of them, but I also don't want to use temporary bird netting which is a nightmare (to me anyway). 

I was thinking I could wait and see and then if necessary, make some pvc and chicken wire removable cages at least for young gardens.  It would be hard to cage ones growing snap peas once they get bigger.  
We weren't able to plant anything in the fall except for some wildflower seeds due to delays with the construction company.  And then a tree fell on the fence!!  But we were finally given permission to go in anyway so now we have about 6 of the beds planted by classrooms and more to come.

Thanks for any help!
Pam

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Pamela Bond
Volunteer Garden Coordinator
Los Gatos, CA
16507933844
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I don't have specific experience with peafowl (we are in upstate NY!) but have neighborhood chickens and guinea fowl. If the peafowl are similar (and I believe their diets are), they are much happier foraging for the insects, worms, and grubs that might be in or near your gardens, versus eating the actual plants. They love to go in the garden especially as it's been freshly tilled/turned over and eat up the bugs. That's not a bad thing, as long as you turn over your gardens or add new soil and then wait a bit before transplanting seedlings or starting seeds. Otherwise in their search for stuff in the dirt, they will uproot your plants. We have had no issues once the plants are established; as long as there is plenty of other green material growing in the yards, they seem to leave the garden plants alone. Are your beds elevated a little? That might be a good natural deterrent. Not totally bird-proof, but will encourage them to look elsewhere. Lastly, all wild fowl can carry some diseases that can transmit to humans. If you find that they are foraging in your garden beds that can be something to consider.

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Sarah Fink
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Thank you for that information! I was wondering about the poop and disease factor.  I already found some poop on the watering cans so will get those in a storage room.  We are supposed to get a shed in there but a tree fell where the shed needs to go so delay after delay we will hopefully make this space work, peacocks and all.  I just saw the peacocks this morning about half way down the field and a few flew out of the redwood trees from a pretty high distance up.  I was surprised. But also hoping that is where their nests are rather than in our garden tree...
I hope they are similar to your experience. I'd be glad if they are eating the grubs.

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Pamela Bond
Los Gatos
16507933844
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-03-2023 11:19:27 AM
From: Sarah Fink
Subject: Peacocks in the garden!

I don't have specific experience with peafowl (we are in upstate NY!) but have neighborhood chickens and guinea fowl. If the peafowl are similar (and I believe their diets are), they are much happier foraging for the insects, worms, and grubs that might be in or near your gardens, versus eating the actual plants. They love to go in the garden especially as it's been freshly tilled/turned over and eat up the bugs. That's not a bad thing, as long as you turn over your gardens or add new soil and then wait a bit before transplanting seedlings or starting seeds. Otherwise in their search for stuff in the dirt, they will uproot your plants. We have had no issues once the plants are established; as long as there is plenty of other green material growing in the yards, they seem to leave the garden plants alone. Are your beds elevated a little? That might be a good natural deterrent. Not totally bird-proof, but will encourage them to look elsewhere. Lastly, all wild fowl can carry some diseases that can transmit to humans. If you find that they are foraging in your garden beds that can be something to consider.

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Sarah Fink
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Hi! 

We had pea fowl in an enclosure at our museum for many years. They will browse through the garden and eat most everything if allowed. Additionally, their poop might pose a salmonella risk (much as if you had free range chickens in the garden area. Chicken poop is a great fertilizer when cured, but not fresh). If the school decides to get chickens at some point, you'd also need to keep the two bird communities away from one another, if possible, because they share illnesses easily. Constructing some type of chicken wire hoop style cage is probably the safest bet in terms of protecting your beds and labor. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. 

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Franke Smith
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Thank you!  I will brace for this and gather supplies.  I have some leftover bird netting that maybe I can use in the short-term until we get a group together to make some removable hoop cages. 

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Pamela Bond
Los Gatos
16507933844
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-03-2023 11:25:00 AM
From: Franke Smith
Subject: Peacocks in the garden!

Hi! 

We had pea fowl in an enclosure at our museum for many years. They will browse through the garden and eat most everything if allowed. Additionally, their poop might pose a salmonella risk (much as if you had free range chickens in the garden area. Chicken poop is a great fertilizer when cured, but not fresh). If the school decides to get chickens at some point, you'd also need to keep the two bird communities away from one another, if possible, because they share illnesses easily. Constructing some type of chicken wire hoop style cage is probably the safest bet in terms of protecting your beds and labor. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. 

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Franke Smith
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We have had peafowl on our school farm for over 20 years.  We keep the hens penned and the peacock usually roams free all summer. Yes, they will eat all the yummy tender greens - lettuce, peas, broccoli and cabbage plants, etc especially when small. If our peacock finds the greens, we pen him for the season.  As you probably know, peafowl are excellent fliers, so covering the beds with tender greens is your best bet (as opposed to portable electric fencing often used to keep free ranging chickens out of the garden). One fairly cost effective idea is to make hoops over the beds from PVC pipe (1" diameter) and lay chicken wire over that. Good luck!

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Julia Birtolo
Sweetser
Saco ME
207-294-4740
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Ok, I was really hoping for some kumbaya messages but I was thinking this might be a big problem.  I will try to gather a group to make some cages before they swoop in and munch up the sprouts that will be coming up soon. 
Any tips on cleaning veggies in case of bacterial contamination?  We used to just do a final rinse with some vinegar in the water but that was when the gardens were elsewhere and the peacocks didn't bother them. 

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Pamela Bond
Los Gatos
16507933844
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-03-2023 12:13:46 PM
From: Julia Birtolo
Subject: Peacocks in the garden!

We have had peafowl on our school farm for over 20 years.  We keep the hens penned and the peacock usually roams free all summer. Yes, they will eat all the yummy tender greens - lettuce, peas, broccoli and cabbage plants, etc especially when small. If our peacock finds the greens, we pen him for the season.  As you probably know, peafowl are excellent fliers, so covering the beds with tender greens is your best bet (as opposed to portable electric fencing often used to keep free ranging chickens out of the garden). One fairly cost effective idea is to make hoops over the beds from PVC pipe (1" diameter) and lay chicken wire over that. Good luck!

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Julia Birtolo
Sweetser
Saco ME
207-294-4740
------------------------------

Please be careful re: "cleaning". And please check out these resources to develop a peacock-proof food safety plan:

https://kidsgardening.org/resources/gardening-basics-safe-harvesting/
 https://cns.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk416/files/inline-files/4.foodsafetytipsforschoolgardensusda.pdf

There are a few key steps/issues to keep in mind:
~ do a pre-harvest inspection of the site and physically FLAG areas with bird poop so that those products are NOT harvested;
~ anything contaminated with poop should NOT be washed and eaten, especially by vulnerable populations and especially if it is something usually eaten raw (for example, how thoroughly can we really scrub a piece of lettuce, if our hands are supposed to take two cycles of the Birthday song to get clean?); and
~ cooking can provide the "kill step" needed to mitigate salmonella risk (ie, eggs are not usually eaten raw) but again, this is NOT a risk you want to take with school garden produce.

In this case, peacocks are kind of like deer and other wildlife: beautiful from a distance, but NOT something I want in a garden(s). If nothing else, maybe playing "Kumbaya" in the garden will keep them away, lol. Good luck!   :-)

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Carole Palmer
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-04-2023 08:43:33 PM
From: Pamela Bond
Subject: Peacocks in the garden!

Ok, I was really hoping for some kumbaya messages but I was thinking this might be a big problem.  I will try to gather a group to make some cages before they swoop in and munch up the sprouts that will be coming up soon. 
Any tips on cleaning veggies in case of bacterial contamination?  We used to just do a final rinse with some vinegar in the water but that was when the gardens were elsewhere and the peacocks didn't bother them. 

------------------------------
Pamela Bond
Los Gatos
16507933844
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 04-03-2023 12:13:46 PM
From: Julia Birtolo
Subject: Peacocks in the garden!

We have had peafowl on our school farm for over 20 years.  We keep the hens penned and the peacock usually roams free all summer. Yes, they will eat all the yummy tender greens - lettuce, peas, broccoli and cabbage plants, etc especially when small. If our peacock finds the greens, we pen him for the season.  As you probably know, peafowl are excellent fliers, so covering the beds with tender greens is your best bet (as opposed to portable electric fencing often used to keep free ranging chickens out of the garden). One fairly cost effective idea is to make hoops over the beds from PVC pipe (1" diameter) and lay chicken wire over that. Good luck!

------------------------------
Julia Birtolo
Sweetser
Saco ME
207-294-4740