Controlling Peacocks in the Garden
Nearly anyone can agree that peacocks are magnificent birds. However, they have a tendency to become nuisance animals in domestic situations. Tales abound of birds digging up garden beds and making dust hollows in them, ripping screen doors with their talons and pecking at their own image when seen on expensive shiny cars. Often simply getting after them with a good blast of the garden hose will get rid of peacocks. However, if your landscape is hospitable and has lots of good thing to eat, peacocks eating plants may become a way of life for you without serious intervention.
How to Deter a Peacock
Males can be very aggressive, especially around nesting season. They attack other males or even the image of another peacock and do damage to cars, windows, skylights and any reflective surface. Prevention is the best medicine.
Do not feed peacocks and hit them when you can with water. You can protect garden beds with wire fencing and run fluttering brightly colored streamers over any planting spaces. The fowl can fly over a fence, but the streamers may scare them away if they dare try. If you haven’t already got one, get a dog. Dogs will chase the birds but likely cannot catch them and hurt them. Use netting for controlling peacocks in the garden and prevent them from eating all your produce.
Persistence and noise are the best methods on how to deter a peacock that wants to live in your garden.
Serious, Non-lethal Peacock Control
Ok, so you’ve had enough and don’t just want deterrence, but you want to get rid of peacocks for good. If you don’t want to do traps, BB guns, or wrist rockets to remove the critters, try some modern warfare.
There is a sprinkler system that has a motion sensor and will spray the birds when it detects them. It is activated by their movements and simply attaches to a garden hose. You can also use red pepper flakes around the fruits and vegetables in the garden. Not very sporting, but the animals peck and scratch at soil and will find the flakes a little too hot for their taste. It will prevent peacocks eating plants, at the very least. Staking a garden bed is useful to prevent their entry. Simply insert poles that will prevent them from landing in the soil. They won’t attempt entry for fear of getting staked.
If all else fails, try your local animal control and see if they will trap and remove the birds to a safe, non-domestic location to live out their noisy lives where it won’t bother you and your plants.
