24 Nov 2012

We've got peacocks!




Some of you already know, but we haven't really made it public yet. We've got peacocks!!! Real, beautiful Indian peacocks, which give a new mystical touch to our centre, Shree Peetha Nilaya.


After a first adaptation phase of several weeks our peacocks (4 cocks and 4 hens) are able to move around freely now. That's why we would like our guests to pay attention to the following:

  • The animals are quite trusting and let themselves be fed, but are jumpy if you move too quickly.
  • In the dark, they are completely blind - to protect themselves from foxes and other animals, they fly over to the trees at dawn and sleep on the branches (please never disturb them there).
During late summer, the male peacocks lose their beautiful feathers (about 150 per peacock) and during winter, new feathers grow, ready for mating season in spring. So in case you wonder, they are just growing :)





Here, you can read how we got the peacocks:

Some time ago in a conversation, Swamiji mentioned that he loves peacocks very much. Last summer we spontaneously had the idea that it would be nice to have some peacocks.

Mataji Drishti asked Guruji if she should take care of that and he immediately answered  "Yes, go for it".

Girikumarananda and Maksym built a shelter for them, because it was clear that they would have to be kept in a closed area for about 2-4 weeks before they could roam freely.




At the same time, we searched the internet and found a one year old hen (princess) and a cock of the same age.




This was a few days before Guru Purnima. On the morning of Guru Purnima, there was a big peacock egg laying in the straw! What a delight... (unfortunately the hen was too excited to breed in peace).



Later on, 6 more peacocks came (3 hens and 3 cocks) from an outdoor restaurant, all spoilt by cheese cake but also quite cool and trusting!





After 3 weeks, the first couple of them was set free and... one day later they had disappeared 
:-( So that had been too early!

Several weeks later, we heard about them grazing through the gardens in the next village and being fed by the residents there.

Swamiji said "Make sure to bring them back!" That was a real challenge - as it isn't very easy to catch peacocks in the nature!

To be continued...