2 Males together in Pen?

[Marjoriesanderson]

Hi there! I have a male and a female in a very large pen and run, and a place they keep warm at too. I turned one of the 3 year old male offspring out to free-roam this past spring, and it stays close to the pen and roosts in our trees next to the pen. It is about to get FREEZING here for a few days, and I thought I might put the male back in the pen with the adult male and female for those freezing days to keep warm. Do you think that will be ok with the 2 males in the pen together along with the adult female (the young peacock's mama)? I have a heater in the pen and just want to make sure he doesn't get sleeted & snowed on at unbearably low temps. I would let it back out after.
*We have a very large barn/shed it could get in if it was smart enough, but it hasn't gone out there for shelter at all since we let it free-roam.

 

[Waterfaery]

I don't know where you are and what temperatures you're looking at and also which type of peafowl you have, but the regular India Blue can tolerate very cold temperatures, unless it's also going to be windy. If you add where you are in your profile, maybe people in a similar climate might know more about that because we don't get such extreme weather where I am.

If you do think it's cold enough to warrant moving the young peacock in, I think your success will depend on your individual birds and their temperaments, as well as your ability to keep a close eye and intervene quickly if needed. Ideally, if you had some way of separating them it would be best, like a temporary barrier to section off a small part of their heated area.

The good thing is that outside of the breeding season, fighting isn't usually a problem. Especially if the two males know each other it might be ok. You just need to be prepared in case it's not.

I used to only separate my males for the breeding season and I merged my entire flock over the winters without problems until the younger peacocks were about 4 years old. When they were merged they didn't actively fight over the winter but I ended up separating them permanently because I noticed that over the winter the dominant ones would prevent the younger ones from eating enough, even though I had multiple feeding stations. The signs were very subtle but I know my birds well and I could tell there was some tension there.

So even if there's no outward aggression, it will most likely be stressful for them. For just a few freezing nights, it might be something you could manage but I would definitely have multiple feeders and waterers available, have a good plan ready for if it goes wrong and make sure you're around the whole time to keep an eye.