An Unexpected Visitor

This afternoon I threw some rice out to the chickens and something didn't quite seem right with our flock.  All the normal cast of characters were there - with one large addition.  A peacock.  Let me rephrase that - a peafowl hen.  When I threw another handful of rice, the hen flew over the fence.  We all just watched her in amazement since we've not seen peafowl on our property before.

I threw her some rice and it scared her and she flew over the perimeter fence toward the patch of woods directly south of our property, so I threw her some rice to eat on near the fence.  She must've escaped from someone's farm.  I didn't see a band on her legs.  She was real timid, though and wouldn't let me get near her.  It was getting dark, so the pictures below aren't very good.

A visiting peahen

When I got back indoors I did some research on peafowl since we've never owned any and know nothing about them.  First, in looking through the pictures I'm almost positive that the bird is what's called an India Blue Pea hen.  This bird is the national bird of India.  These birds are quite expensive.  Murray McMurray Hatchery sells these peafowl chicks at a price of 8 for $392 - That's roughly $50 per bird!

On the lam!

So that's why I'm a bit concerned about the fugitive on the loose.  One of my neighbors spent quite a bit of money on this bird and there are dogs and other predators in the neighborhood that could make a $50 investment go away in no time flat.  There is no way I could catch the bird, but I'll continue to try and feed it until I can get close enough to try to catch her with a net.

Goodnight Mrs. Pea Hen

At least the pea hen cleared up a mystery.  We've been hearing the strangest noises in the late evening.  A sound that sounds remarkably like a very loud cat's MEOW. When I looked up the sound that a peacock makes and listened to it, well, now we know where the sound originated from!