are peacocks aggressive???? PLEASE ANSWER ME!!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! - Page 3

Tell your grandpa you will get him one so he can see for himself how nice they are.

Better yet, once yours are old enough for breeding, he can have one of your chicks!

I have both hand raised and non hand raised peafowl, 4 males and about 9 hens. Never had a problem with any of them being aggressive. They are so friendly I wish they would leave me alone... LOL

We have had peacocks on & off for 20 years.  Never had an aggressive one until this past fall.  Our India Blue 3 y.o male flogged my wife out of the blue.  He has never attacked me or our 10 y.o. daughter.  After much consideration I thought he may have done it because she was moving the kennel tractor with 3 mos old BLR wyndottes - I was right.  Since then if she tries to move any cage with babies in it - he gets defensive.  Whether it is the goslings, ducks or chickens!! It is really kind of funny that he will protect all manner of poultry from a perceived threat.  He will not flog me when moving cages or young poultry - guess I am alpha male? But the wife, the dogs or if the guineas are picking on anyone - he will get riled!  Generally - other than the above - he is a friendly & curious bird.  When working in the yard or pastures - he will find us & jump up o whatever gives him the best veiw of what we are doing!  Enjoy your babies & prepare to laugh at their antics as they grow!

Barry Natchitoches

It sounds like he.... was going to mate with your wife.   Peacocks let out a "special shriek" while they are doing a "mating rush" at the peahens.  It is done to let the peahens know his intentions, that is, he wishes to mate her..  the peahen either accepts by squatting down to be bred, but if she is not in the mood or does not want to mate with him, she simply remains standing and moves out of the way.  And that's the end of it. He backs up and continues strutting.  It happens very suddenly and can be startling if not expected.

The horrible scream getting closer really matches this mating rush behavior. He's the lone male and he was excited by seeing something crouching.  He didn't mean to attack her.

Not to discount what happened to your wife..  it can and does seem very scary when one doesn't know what is happening, and that mating rush call is very weird and loud but it likely is case of misunderstanding of his intentions in that incident.

When peafowl mean to attack.. usually they are quiet and approach you sideways..  maybe flicking wings once/twice- this is meant to intimidate/warn and if not back off they FLY up  at you.  It's extremely clear. I have ever seen fighting or aggressive peafowl scream or shriek exactly the same time they go to beat each other.   Sometimes they will honk/yell during a fight session but it has always been during a break when both are standing a little bit apart.

My aunt had peacocks on her farm when I was growing up.  They were very docile while my aunt and uncle were around.  But if you happened to be playing somewhere out of their line of vision, those peacocks would sneak up behind you and give you h-e-doubble hockey sticks.  I  can remember playing in the sandbox and getting attacked from behind on MANY occaisions.  The bad thing was the attacks were completely unprovoked.  My cousins and I still laugh about how awful those peacocks were and crazy stories of running for our lives!  They wanted to kill us, and a 6 or 7 year old is no match for a full grown peacock!

I have never been attacked by an aggressive peacock (or peahen for that matter) but I have been attacked by an aggressive rooster. The only thing missing from these "attack" stories is injuries. I assume that if you were really attacked by a full grown peacock, you'd be hurting. A rooster can cause some damamge if is really attacking... not just trying to intimidate.
So... was the peacock really attacking, or just bullying?

I have a male and female peafowl.  The boy attacks my two young children and myself with little or no provication.  He is 14months old and does not yet have his full tail feathers.  Is there anything I can do to stop my free ranging peacock from attacking me whn I am just standing around, or my children he they are playing the garden?

It is probably the time of year and he still has his hormones going.  If you want to be gentle get a spray bottle and fill it with water.  Shoot the jet at him to shoo him away. You could also get a net to keep him away (Fishing net)  If he comes at you bring it down to catch him and he should begin to get the picture that attacking ain't so good.  If he does get to you or the kids, give them a boot if they are in the attack.  Not hard enough to purposely injure, just knock back to show dominance.  A spur or claw to the eye of a child could be bad so protect yourself and them.  Good luck.

I have a dozen free rangers and have never had an incident with any of them.