Fowl-play: Rogue peacocks escape farm to explore Brighton neighborhood

BRIGHTON — It was Tuesday, June 6, and the last thing Hacker Road resident Donald Starrs expected to see was a muster of five peacocks on his roof.

While locking up his chickens for the night, Starrs at first saw what he thought were his neighbor’s chickens.

“I said, ‘What are those?’ My neighbor came over and we were in amazement,” Starrs wrote in a message to The Daily.

Starrs went inside and grabbed his phone to snap pictures, sharing the unexpected visitors with the Brighton MI Happenings Group on Facebook.

“Is anybody missing their pet peacocks? I had five of them on the roof of my house tonight. (As) it was getting dark, they flew into our trees ... as far as I know (they're) still there,” the post read.

Turns out, the peacocks are residents of Legendary Acres Hobby Farm at 251 N. Hacker Road in Howell, on the border of Brighton.

The farm was founded during the COVID-19 pandemic by business partners Sandi Maki and Al Curtis when they adopted 80 koi fish, each two-decades old. They also rescued chickens, alpacas, potbellied pigs, goats, rabbits, emu, other birds and peacocks.

The two are the owners of Legendary Escapes Swimming Pools and Ask the Pool Guy. They say they unintentionally fell into owning a farm.

“I never had plans of having a farm,” Maki said. “In two years, we went from having no farm or animal plans (to having one). Luckily, the property is zoned for a farm, so we ended up just creating a crazy, eclectic group of animals.”

The muster of five peafowl, a mix of three peacocks (males) and two peahens (females), are named Indigo, Blue, Violet, Snow and White. On Thursday, June 1, the group turned one-year-old and apparently decided it was time to go out into the world and explore.

“Until they were six months old, they were raised in a pen, completely secure," Maki said. "Then, because we have a farm and other animals, we let them out and they hung around here. Then, all of a sudden last week, they decided to wander, so they left and they were gone for a couple of days.

“There's a lot of woods back behind where we are, so I'm sure that's where they're going and looking for interesting things to explore. Once they come home, I do think we'll try to reinforce a larger pen for them again.”

The group came home Monday, which Maki said was a huge relief, only to disappear again the next day, which is when they appeared on Starrs’ roof.

A post after the peafowl briefly returned home read:

"Peacock Updates: The peacocks and peahens turned one year old last week ... and they decided to wander away from home for the weekend. We think the Peacock Detective Agency was out on a case. They came home to refuel and give Al a case update Monday night, and went back out Tuesday evening. We have retained official lodgings on behalf of the Peacock Detective Agency and will be sequestering them for a lengthy debrief upon their next return to HQ."

Peafowl have a unique call, one that Maki compares to a cat. It’s also very loud, so even when the birds were missing, Maki could still hear them — she just had no way of knowing where they were or how far away.

While she couldn’t see them, Maki got updates on their whereabouts through Facebook.

“They're not tame, like they won't walk up to you and let you pet them or hold them, but they're tame enough around us that they're not going to be scared if you walk by them and they're used to other animals," Maki said. "So part of me is hoping that somebody sees them and appreciates them.

"They're beautiful and they're just wandering around, but then the other part of me is worried that if they land somewhere and somebody isn't happy to see them, that they could be alarmed."

Maki says there are some wild peacocks in the state.

“They're not native to Michigan, but you can see from time to time peacocks living in the wild, although they didn't start that way," she said. "I think it's like you would see any other animal in the wild — cranes or wild turkeys and things like that, it does happen on occasion.”

Peafowl are also capable of flight. They can often be seen roosting high up in trees to escape predators and, as Starrs learned, can roost on the roof of a house.

The birds have an average lifespan of 10-25 years in the wild and grow to be between eight and 13 pounds. However, domesticated peafowl can sometimes live 40-50 years, according to PBS.

Maki asks that her neighbors send a message to facebook.com/legendaryacreshobbyfarm if they spot the muster.

For anyone who wishes to visit Indigo, Blue, Violet, Snow and White, as well as the many other animals at the farm, Legendary Acres is open to visitors.

— Contact reporter Tess Ware at tware@livingstondaily.com.

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Fowl-play: Rogue peacocks escape farm to explore Brighton neighborhood