What do you guys think?
An idea doesn't have to be a good one in order to be an idea, but it still might be. This has been something that I've thought about for a while, and I was wondering what you all thought. Are peacocks (peafowl) a good idea for an animal to have on the homestead?
ARE YOU SERIOUS?
Yup, I sure am. You see, recently we traded our pot-bellied pigs for some goats, and the place that we traded them to had some peacocks running around. They plan to hatch some babies out in the spring, and we could pick some up for our homestead. The opportunity is at least there, but would such a thing actually be a "good idea?"
FOR WHAT PURPOSE?
Here is where the big picture comes into play. I don't mind having mouths to feed, but I kind of need a reason to feed those mouths. On the homestead, we believe that animals should have a purpose, so most are used for milk, eggs, or meat, or a combination of those purposes. Others may also help trim the yard or be used to pull heavy loads, but a purpose is still a purpose. For example, since we aren't going to eat a dog, since it doesn't lay eggs, and since we aren't going to milk a dog, none of those particular purposes for us to have a dog. A dog could be a shepherd for our herd or flock, or perhaps be a guard dog though, so other options do exist.
Then the question is raised, would we eat a peacock? That seems a little drastic to kill sich a beautiful creature just to make a sandwich. I guess the same would go for their eggs, since they could hatch out cute little babies. Do people eat peafowl or their eggs anywhere else in the world? The internet says that people do... I don't suppose that anyone milks them, do they?
On the flip side, they could just be eye candy on the homestead, but then again, so can flowers. Flowers don't make noise, don't fly, and don't poop on your truck either, so I'd go with flowers over peafowl if having something pretty to look at was the only option for finding a purpose.
If you saw my recent macrophotography photo shoot with a peacock feather then you already know how beautiful they are. Since we don't live that far from Cotter, AR (AKA "Trout Capital USA") we could potentially sell the feathers to some of the fly fishing shops in the area as material to make flies for fly fishing out of.
Another option would be to use the peafowl as a "cash crop" by raising and breeding them to sell the offspring. I just did a quick search of the "going rate" for peafowl, and several sites get about $50 each for them. Selling little peafowl for $50 could be pretty profitable. Since the peahens will lay up to 12 eggs per clutch, a female peafowl would bring in about $600 a with each brood she hatched out, which isn't that bad. Since they can lay up to three cycles during a breeding season, by collecting the fertilized eggs things could become even more profitable. Also, each peacock can successfully mate with up to about four peahens...
Obviously, money isn't everything, but an animal should still serve a purpose on the homestead in my opinion. What do you think, could this actually be a good idea, or is this a foolish 
As always, I'm and here's the proof:
proof-of-peacocks
Until next time…
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