Aggressive Peacock

[bshorts]

Hi All,

I have 9 peacocks in total. The first is Frost, a beautiful white 4 year old male, the king of the roost. Next is Chex, a 2 year old India Blue. They are the two that have been with me the longest. Next comes Jerry, a black shoulder who I got last year and am not sure how old he is except that he's young enough to not have a train yet. Then come next 5 that I got as chicks last spring. All great birds with lots of personality. I had no problem integrating the new arrivals last year, they all took to each other marvelously.

Here's my problem. I wanted to get a breeding age white female for Frost so he can....do what peacocks do. Enter Ice'iss (pronounced Isis, my wife has a unique ability for names) who we got last Saturday. We kept her isolated in an adjacent pen for the first night so everyone could meet without any stress. Everyone seemed interested and spent hours looking at each other through the fence. The next day we opened the door and let her in with the rest of the flock.

Everyone left her alone except Frost, who immediately started circling her. I thought this was great since it was for Frost that we got her, although I thought it strange that he wasn't strutting and wooing, just circling. Eventually the circling turned into some very violent pecking on her head to the point of drawing blood and obviously stressing her out. So I put her back in the other pen and tried again the next day. At first it was ok, but eventually turned back into the head pecking and separating her again.

So today I try again with the same results so this time I put Frost in the isolation pen and let her stay in general population. Almost immediately after locking up Frost, Jerry comes running over and begins jumping and kicking at her. So out comes Frost and back in isolation goes the poor beat up new girl.

The question I have is, what next? Is this just some kind of dominance display? Should I let them establish their own pecking order? Will they eventually settle down or is she doomed to spend her life on the other side of the fence or be rehomed? Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Bill

 

[new 2 pfowl]

Are you sure Ice'iss is a she?

 

[bshorts]

Yes, she actually laid a soft shell egg shortly after I got her home.

 

[zazouse]

Do you have a spare pen where you could move just those 2 and see what happens?
Sometimes peafowl are very territorial and he does not know her well but put him on new ground and things could change his attitude then once you are sure they are OK just move them back into the original pen.

Please share some photos of your pretties in the show off your peas section, we love to share photos

 

[DylansMom]

Hi All,

I have 9 peacocks in total. The first is Frost, a beautiful white 4 year old male, the king of the roost. Next is Chex, a 2 year old India Blue. They are the two that have been with me the longest. Next comes Jerry, a black shoulder who I got last year and am not sure how old he is except that he's young enough to not have a train yet. Then come next 5 that I got as chicks last spring. All great birds with lots of personality. I had no problem integrating the new arrivals last year, they all took to each other marvelously.

Here's my problem. I wanted to get a breeding age white female for Frost so he can....do what peacocks do. Enter Ice'iss (pronounced Isis, my wife has a unique ability for names) who we got last Saturday. We kept her isolated in an adjacent pen for the first night so everyone could meet without any stress. Everyone seemed interested and spent hours looking at each other through the fence. The next day we opened the door and let her in with the rest of the flock.

Everyone left her alone except Frost, who immediately started circling her. I thought this was great since it was for Frost that we got her, although I thought it strange that he wasn't strutting and wooing, just circling. Eventually the circling turned into some very violent pecking on her head to the point of drawing blood and obviously stressing her out. So I put her back in the other pen and tried again the next day. At first it was ok, but eventually turned back into the head pecking and separating her again.

So today I try again with the same results so this time I put Frost in the isolation pen and let her stay in general population. Almost immediately after locking up Frost, Jerry comes running over and begins jumping and kicking at her. So out comes Frost and back in isolation goes the poor beat up new girl.

The question I have is, what next? Is this just some kind of dominance display? Should I let them establish their own pecking order? Will they eventually settle down or is she doomed to spend her life on the other side of the fence or be rehomed? Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Bill

Hi Bill, welcome to the Peafowl section. Let me just say that we currently have approx. 40 Peas in several different pens, if we were to put any new bird in any pen with an existing group the same thing would happen. The new bird is always viewed as an intruder, and 1 day is nowhere near enough time. Keep her in that pen and after a minimum of 2 weeks try moving one bird into her pen. Give them time to adjust and observe, if they seem okay let them be for 2 weeks again and then move a third bird in. Eventually you should be able to move them back into a single pen, after the pecking order has started to resolve itself. Males have been known to kill females by pecking the head until they crack the skull. I have a 19 year old hen who was injured pretty badly by a male, she remains bald in numerous spots on her head. Whenever we are changing breeding pairs around we never put a bird into another bird's pen, both are moved to a third pen(neutral territory) this seems to help make the introductions a little smoother.