Hermon poultry breeder DJ McClung prepared for the spring hatching season like he usually does, offering fertilized eggs and chicks from numerous varieties of chickens, ducks, a few quail and some geese.
But this year, he’s also offering something more unusual: young peacocks and peahens, known together as peafowl, that he raises in a converted ice fishing shack he bought from someone on Facebook.
Though peacocks may be associated with tropical climates, the birds can thrive in Maine — even enjoying the snow. They’re raised mostly as companion birds or guardians, and despite their tendency to wander, peafowl are becoming sought-after pets.
While there isn’t formal data about how much the demand is growing, new breeders are starting to raise them locally and seeing lots of interest. For at least one small farm, the birds are also valuable bartering currency.
“Who doesn’t want to look out the window and see a peacock?” McClung said.
He got his start several years ago breeding and selling chickens under the name Penobscot Poultry, which soon expanded into a full-time job. McClung sees his birds as pets that offer therapeutic company.
Raising peafowl was a pipe dream for him; he even experimented with turkeys one year as a substitute. Then, he saw an online ad for peafowl eggs available to hatch.
Over the past three years, he has raised up to 30 at a time and eventually narrowed down to a breeding trio of the black shoulder variety, which has slightly different coloring than the familiar India Blue types.
He chose them in part because they’re cold-hardy, often choosing to spend the night outside in their run.
“I still, three years later, go out to their aviary and go, ‘I can’t believe I have these,’” he said.
Peafowl mature slowly, and this is the first big breeding year for Jack, Jill and Diane.
This will also be the first big breeding year for the peafowl at Bald Mountain Farm in Dedham, where Madeline and Douglas Wright have been experimenting with the birds.
They moved to the farm property in 2022 from suburban New Hampshire, seeking space to garden, raise animals and start an agritourism business. The family soon became part of a local bartering culture. Friends and neighbors helped them with work, shared resources and traded materials.
Along the way, the Wrights acquired different birds from people who needed to find them good homes, and expanded their farm to include chickens, geese, turkeys and ducks.
They’ve experimented with hatching peafowl eggs, though they found the process difficult and the eggs delicate. The Wrights also took in some adults that needed rehoming, one for wandering off and eating the insulation from a neighbor’s home.
With a few successful breeding pairs reaching maturity, the farm is ready to sell hatching eggs this year, and Wright said the interest was immediate once she posted them online.
Overall, the family tries to raise interesting heritage breeds that can be self-sufficient and locally bred.
“They’re curious birds,” Madeline Wright said. “They like to hang out with you and see what you’re doing.”
People don’t raise them for egg production, as peafowl only lay a few each year, but the eggs are a bit larger than a chicken’s and taste similar, with a gamey note. The meat is reportedly dry and tough. There’s also a market for tail feathers from the male birds.
McClung said peafowl are less domesticated than some other birds, but spending lots of time with them when they’re young helps make them friendly. Their wildness makes them good guardian birds too, he said, raising the alarm when predators approach.
He recommends keeping them contained or training them to return home at night, as they’re powerful fliers and can quickly reach the treetops.
The birds have found an audience around Hancock county. A pair of escapees wandered Hancock County for months last year, the Ellsworth American reported, and they’re also a favorite of seasonal MDI resident Martha Stewart.