[Sca-cooks] Re: Peacocks

[Lora Weems.Leofwynn atte Gos]

Hi guys, here I am back again!
 
On or about the 15th, there was a thread about serving and eating Peacocks at a feast.  I have raised peacocks for several years, and my husband has raised them for even longer.  I want to put out to the list the following information, from a husbandry standpoint:
 
1. Peachicks are subject to fall over dead, for no apparant reason, at any time prior to 3 years old; (at which point it takes an atom bomb, shotgun, or hatchet to kill them; I had one of my 8 year old cocks get hit by a semi- it did $900 damage to the truck, broke the bird's wing).  We refuse to sell them before 3 years, as we have a guarantee that the birds will live at least a month after purchase, and we have had to buy back too many peachicks and poults;
 
(I think that they are equal in this respect to sheep and turkeys)
 
2. The birds don't become sexually mature till 3 years old, and the cocks don't get really pretty for a couple more years;
 
3.  The part that most people think of a the peacock's 'tail' isn't; it is called the 'train' and grows from the back, about 3/4 of the wail from the shoulders to the rump.
 
4. They moult after breeding season.  It is very unusual to see a peacock in full train from about mid-July to December or so (at least here in Texas, the dates may be different in other areas)
 
5.  The hatching eggs sold on WWW.EGGBID.COM  this year for roughly $10 per egg; the babies (less than a year old) run $15 -$20; and poults (a year to adult) $20 and up.  (and remember about the infant mortality).  This is for India Blues, the kind that is most common and what most folks think of when they think of a peacock.  They come in a multitude of species (For example the Java Green, starting at $200 per pair if you are lucky) and colors.  (a neat place to look for a lot of these is www.feathersite.com) .  So if it is, for example, white, expect to pay $75 for a cock and more for a hen, at least from me.
 
What this boils down to, is if you want a really fancy presentation, you will be paying out a lot of money for an old bird. And as we all know, old probably = tough and stringy.  That is, if you can get someone to skin it as if you were going to have it stuffed by a taxidermist. (Tough to do.  Have you ever tried to skin out a bird's head?  Peacocks have a really pretty crest.)
 
I think that what would be easiest is to talk to a taxidermist or someone else who may have a stuffed peacock, show it around, then take it to the kitchen and serve something out something that will taste better; chicken, turkey, or guinea (which is period, and available, tho pricy at gourmet groceries).  Who will know?
 
I bet that's what was done in period...
 
See you
 
Leofwynn (no longer lurking)
 


 


If it's Tourist Season, why can't you shoot them?

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