Peacock killing a duck?

[new 2 pfowl]

Hi you guys,
Help!

As you know, Peggy is in a temporary foster home. Some of his duck roommates have been killed - their necks chewed up and one had its head missing. His foster father thinks it is possible that Peggy did this, which I have an extremely hard time believing. Is this possible? Have any of you had an experience like this?

Thanks for your thoughts.


eta:
I'm convinced that this sweetie doesn't have an aggressive bone in his body!

 

[MinxFox]

Yikes sounds like what the raccoons did to some of my peafowl in the past! Peggy could be in danger instead of the one causing the danger!

That is exactly what the raccoons would do here. They like to eat the head or brain and the rest they chew on a little. They are pretty wasteful. I doubt you would find that kind of carnage if Peggy killed them.

They should make sure there are no holes that a raccoon could squeeze through and maybe set up a trail camera in the pen to see what is coming in at night. The bird food can attract raccoons and then the raccoons might decide to eat a bird. Electric fencing around the perimeter might help as well. Corn can attract coons. If they throw out corn in the water for the ducks and it sours, that could definitely attract coons because that is what my Dad uses to bait raccoons when we go coon hunting.

 

[MinxFox]

Destinduck keeps green peafowl in with multiple kinds of ducks, and I don't think he has had any issues. Blue Creek Farm might have kept ducks in with peafowl before as well.

Depending on how Peggy's perch is situated, the vertical poles holding up the perch can be greased to help prevent raccoons climbing up to get him, although if his train touches the ground or is very low to the ground when he is roosting there isn't much you can do about that. When we had raccoon issues we greased the roost poles with some kind of car grease.

Good luck I hope you get some evidence on the trail camera and I hope the other birds (especially Peggy) will be safe.

 

[casportpony]

A raccoon can get through a 4" x 4" hole, so if there were any holes, I would suspect a raccoon, skunk or possum, though all three usually eat more than the head.

-Kathy

 

[KsKingBee]

Our **** guineas were picking on one of our free ranging peacocks this spring until he had enough of it and killed the offensive bully. there was no blood, just a limp and broken neck. I don't think that Peggy is the culprit here, he would not chew on a dead bird.

 

[snowshoe]

A weasel will kill birds like that and they can squeeze through a very small hole they are the reason I have house cats lost a lot of pheasants to them in past until I got cats.
A raccoon will kill just for the fun of it a wipe out a whole pen they usually will not stop at one bird if there are more in the pen from my experience with them.

 

[zazouse]

Was not Peggy there is a predator coming in at night , No way a peacock can behead a bird , just ain't gonna happen unless it is in stages of decomp and even then peas don't eat like a chicken would, they need to set up trail cams and see just what is lurking around

 

[BYC-user-174785]

To help prove your case, I do have a trio of opals with my ducks. The Opal Spalding hen is the meanest peahen I have had when it comes towards an interaction with ducks. She will peck on them to get out of her way or chase them away from her. She is just the alpha female and likes things to be her way. She has never injured any of my ducks, and my other peafowl do not bother the ducks at all. No way a peacock would do that.

 

[thndrdancr]

Head missing on a duck? How in the world is Peggy supposed to have accomplished this? He must have eagle talons and the sharp beak of an owl!

No way!
So sorry for Peggy is judged guilty, it sounds impossible to me.

 

[MinxFox]

Well that is lame.

It is like you said they filled in the holes as well so if they are having no more issues it could just be from filling in holes. When I had raccoon issues they came and then would be gone maybe a week or more until they were back again and I would find another bird dead. So just because Peggy was not present does not mean he was the cause of the deaths. Raccoons will go off and come back some other night when you least expect them.

Are these dead ducks being found in the morning? We know that peafowl fly up and roost at night so if the deaths appeared to be happening at night, then there is no way Peggy would be killing ducks at night. Even if a duck roosted next to him he wouldn't be able to rip one's head off.

Since getting into peafowl I have developed a greater love for birds. So when I went to volunteer at a parrot rescue for a few days I thought I would get along with parrots because they seem to be one of the more common pet birds to have and I don't know I guess I figured raising birds means I would do well with any bird because I 'understand' them. NOPE! I was feeding them treats and a big male macaw grabbed my finger and wouldn't let go! That hurt so badly and I was bleeding and I couldn't feel my finger for at least 30 min. It was then that I realized peafowl were definitely the right choice for me. The bird I have that bites the hardest is Alto. If I have a tomato in my hand he will not only grab the tomato, but he will grab my fingers too in the process. Even though he bites the hardest I couldn't see him being able to rip off a ducks head. Parrots on the other hand have beaks designed for crushing tough nuts. Peafowl don't need to crush tough nuts so they don't have a sharp, thick, powerful beak.