Peafowl Mating

[coleridgedane]

This morning I saw my first peafowl mating. What a surprise! Someone wrote on here about the sound the male makes being unforgettable...well YEAH! Talk about the bum's rush.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I wish that I could witness mine doing the same thing. Nothing yet over here.

 

[MinxFox]

My peacock has been doing a little running at the girls, but he hasn't been doing much pursuing just yet. The young peacocks in the other pen are too afraid of those little girls to display at them!

 

[bdfive]

I just bought a pair of 2 year old IB Silver White-eye. The poor female has dirt ground in on her back from dragging the male around as he holds onto her neck. I can't get over how aggressive he is. I don't think he's made contact yet. The other males are all fanning but I've seen no advances yet. I too love that sound they make.

 

[SuperPeacockman]

I saw one of my peacocks mount a guinea once, but I can't really say I have seen peacocks mating.

 

[bdfive]

SuperPeacockman, you are aware guinea and peafowl can produce young? They don't live very long so it certainly isn't advised. I read where a peafowl breeder did it for a few years to test the results and pretty sure he gave up on it. There are pictures available on internet.

My peahen mentioned in a prior posting has laid 4 eggs. She's setting on them some during the day which means she's not finished. I'll let her incubate them for a week once she starts and then put them in the incubator.

 

[Resolution]

SuperPeacockman, you are aware guinea and peafowl can produce young? They don't live very long so it certainly isn't advised. I read where a peafowl breeder did it for a few years to test the results and pretty sure he gave up on it. There are pictures available on internet.

My peahen mentioned in a prior posting has laid 4 eggs. She's setting on them some during the day which means she's not finished. I'll let her incubate them for a week once she starts and then put them in the incubator.

I saw some guineafowl peafowl hybrids at a zoo in South Africa- their mother was an Acryllium guineafowl, the father an Indian Peafowl. Unlike the hybrids between Numida guineafowl and peafowl, the Acryllium hybrids, produced every year for several years evidently, lived out normal live spans. The peacock was enamored with the Acryllium and she with him. One hybrid was thought to be about twelve years old. There was even some evidence of one of the male hybrids producing a chick with a domestic guineahen. The supposed f2 hybrid didn't live long, only a few months but it could well have been a domestic guineafowl Acryllium hybrid.

 

[peacock]

Do you perhaps have pictures of those hybrids, would love to see them

 

[Resolution]

Do you perhaps have pictures of those hybrids, would love to see them

You know - I really wanted some myself! But they wandered above and behind the mangabey exhibit- very wary. Tim did send me a few feathers. I'll try and locate them and take some photos.
The hybrids were very odd looking. Not much larger than the Acryllium but substantially taller and longer. From what I could see, most of the hybrids were male or females that looked like males- intersexuals i think they call that. The older male definitely had multiple spurs on one leg. They had completely feathered hind necks just blackish grey- some had a bit of a top knot not unlike a great argus's . One bird had a crest growing straight from his occiput parallel with the bill. Another had a curious lop sided crest. They all had various degrees of barring on the wings and tail- really looked like female currassows more than peafowl or guineafowl. When they flew from the top of the exhibit down into the flamingo paddock I noticed that several birds had rich carmine wing feathers- the primaries were more dark chestnut with black edges some had black wings with just a bit of barring. The tails were like a bit like a currassow- not graduated but truncated- very visible tips- some prominently barred. Their heads looked grey like the Acryllium from what I could see but there was some indication of paler plumuelles on the throat and below the ear. They were a bit noisy- reminded me of Congo Peafowl- the sounds they made. One of the birds was a bit lame -one wing looked like it must have been broken and it was quite small. I recall another bird having a cap of black feathers- somewhere between a female currassow and a Guttera guineafowl.

I do sort of wish that I had one to study. I wonder if that's what their common ancient ancestor may have resembled.

Wanted to steal a hybrid I observed in Japan between a great argus and a peahen-that was probably the most astonishing bird I've ever seen.

 

[SuperPeacockman]

I did know they could produce hybrids but I heard they were unhealthy and only lived four years max so I didn't incubate them.