Anyone ever raised an imprinted/hand-raised Java? How did it turn out?

[SunBaked]

Good morning guys. I am incubating some Java eggs for a friend and will hand-raise/imprint them for him. When they are raised this way are they as tame as the India Blues when grown who will eat out of your hand or are they still wild?

 

[Pfauenfreund]

Nobody can tell you exactly how it will end up, but for green peafowl the risk is much higher to get an aggressive adult bird. Hens are still able to control but roosters can be really dangerous.
I have one hand raised 15 month old male here, he is already attacking everybody who is entering the aviary. Without a broom or long stick it is not possible to go in and you can never show him the back. I don’t know actually how to deal with him during the next winter in the pen, but one thing is for sure, it will not be a pleasure.

Regards
Reinhold

 

[Pfauenfreund]

Nobody can tell you exactly how it will end up, but for green peafowl the risk is much higher to get an aggressive adult bird. Hens are still able to control but roosters can be really dangerous.
I have one hand raised 15 month old male here, he is already attacking everybody who is entering the aviary. Without a broom or long stick it is not possible to go in and you can never show him the back. I don’t know actually how to deal with him during the next winter in the pen, but one thing is for sure, it will not be a pleasure.

 

[destinduck]

I really hate to hear that for you Reinhold. I wouldnt think that they would do that when you hear all the stories about how skiddish most are anyway. But every bird can differ in ways I guess. My birds were never around people much at all before I got them from babies to adults except when they got fed.That was it. Then I spent quite some time around them when i got em. Im glad to say my boys are so nice to me now and not crazy as all get out like when I first got them. They will almost eat outta my hand. Probably would if I worked more on it. Does your 15 month rooster act mean all the time or only breeding time? Anyway I hope it does works out for you on the imprinting sunbaked and you dont get a evil one. Good luck!

 

[birdeo]

I have a male spalding with a good deal of Java in him, he was hand raised and he is pure evil, absolutely the worse during breeding season !
I understand that many males will turn that way if they imprint on you when young, seems it's thought they consider you as one of them after imprinting and when of breeding age they see you as competition, least that's the way it's been explained to me.

 

[Pfauenfreund]

Hello DD,
for me I will be able to handle it. The problem is when I’m not at home and my wife or some other people have to look for the peafowl.
Yesterday my wife went into the pen and Rambo (he makes honor to its name) was coming in. He was attack her and I know for sure Rambo will be the same 12 month of the year. He is fighting like a wild rooster 12 month a year for his territory against his conspecifics. For imprinting peafowls humans are conspecifics and there is no tolerance.
In my case imprinting was the only way, because otherwise it wouldn’t be possible to import what I have now.
Friedrich confirmed too, he is breeding green peafowl since more than 30 years and he told me he never has seen so strong roosters. In this case Imperators are on a complete different level. I don’t recommend anybody to imprint any green peafowl it is not a pleasure to keep such a bird.
I will find a way to handle it but it needs some experience and not everybody is able to do it. An old friend of Friedrich was once attacked by a green rooster and he was in hospital later.

All experience which you have with IB or any mutation of it you can forget when we talk about green peafowl. My young boy (13 month old at that time) was attacking me. I had a big pail with me with all the food etc. and I put the pail in front of me for protection. He jumped up and with one kick of his legs the pail was damaged completely in many pieces and after I was blooding and had blue spots.
If he will has his spurs it will not end up like this, then it will be worth.

I can only recommend don’t imprint green peafowl and if you do it don’t sell it live with what you did!
It is nothing more I can tell you, please keep it in mind and consider it.

 

[SunBaked]

Thank you all for answering . I was worried that's how they turn out. I kind of remembered reading something about it awhile back. I will tell my friend and will recommend letting them imprint on my other little pea's instead of people. Hopefully then they will keep their distance when they get older instead of attacking.

 

[destinduck]

Yea . Sounds alot safer just not to imprint. I think I can live without petting them. I dont want to be taken out.

 

[casportpony]

Yea . Sounds alot safer just not to imprint. I think I can live without petting them. I dont want to be taken out.

Thank you all for answering . I was worried that's how they turn out. I kind of remembered reading something about it awhile back. I will tell my friend and will recommend letting them imprint on my other little pea's instead of people. Hopefully then they will keep their distance when they get older instead of attacking.

My older imprinted IB tries to get me all the time, and P-Dawg, my tube fed, precious little two year old tries to hump me... I'll be heart-broken if he turns truly aggressive, but I will have learned a lesson, I hope, lol.

-Kathy

 

[MinxFox]

I was asked by Blue Creek Farms if an imprinted peacock will still mate with peahens and I said I wasn't sure. Peep only seems to like people and he seems to "tolerate" the other peafowl. He pecks or kicks at peahens and only displays to me or other people.

Do any of you with older imprinted males find that they still mate with peahens? I guess so far Peep is different. It sounds like most of these males are so used to people that they have no problem defending their territory against people, but with Peep he wants people around. He runs up to the fence when he sees me and paces the pen and when I go into the pen he stands there and looks up at me and I pet him. Maybe things will be different next year when he is three, but so far he is more friendly to people then he is to other peafowl.

Imprinting is fun but sometimes when the bird becomes an adult they can become aggressive and Pfauenfreund made a great point about how strong green peafowl are. India blue peafowl are a lot more domesticated while green peafowl have a lot more wild instincts. Someone once said when they free-ranged green peafowl (you shouldn't do that) that they would watch the males fight and they said they would fight in trees and they were like ninjas compared to India Blues. They also said the greens seem to be a lot smarter. So the best bet would probably be imprinting them to other chicks. This is hard for me to say because I had fun imprinting, but I want people to be safe because every bird is different and you never can tell what they will be like once they are an adult.

Here is a photo a BYC member posted a few years ago of their aggressive green peacock. Can you imagine if you were standing in the pen and the peacock did that!