Are Male Peafowl usually aggressive to people?

[reveriereptile]

I was just coming on here cause my new peacock just tried to attack my face. The owner we bought him from said he was aggressive but always had him caged up. We weren't sure if maybe it was due to him being caged with someone coming into his area and felt threaten. He is 5 years old and we have 4 hens 2-4 years old. Our hens free range and usually stay in the upper part of the barn. We kept him caged up and after about a week my FIL decided to let him loose even though he should be kept caged for 2 months. Our youngest hens we had in the cellar for the winter and put the cage up in the barn during the Spring last year and let them out a couple days later and they stayed with the hens. The male has been out for 4 days and been fanning his tails and the females are interested in him. He roosts in the barn at night but usually not as high as the hens. I went out today with some bread since I seen him walking around the front of the barn and tossed pieces near the barn opening. He ate them and came up towards me. I backed up and went over by the horses and he ate some pieces he missed. While petting the horses I turn and he is 4 feet from me and I back up (kept facing him) and he went into the horse pen. One of the horses was trying to kick him so I was running back and forth with grass to keep her mind off of him but he was following me and the horse also. Finally he got out and I grabbed some more grass and went up into the barn (area he usually struts at), dropped the grass and was going to walk around to the other barn door. Well I catch a glimse of him over my shoulder and he ran into the barn, jumped up to shoulder height, but luckily I turned so he missed my face, and I ran out of the barn and he started to follow me. I've been attacked by geese, baby muscovy duck, roosters, turkey, and now him. The turkey I thought was the scariest cause he wouldn't back down but now it is the peacock. The turkey luckily couldn't jump face height. I'm not sure what to do with him. My SIL's husband was bringing the four-wheeler back and pulled up to the barn and the peacock fanned his tail and acted like he was going to attack him and the four-wheeler. Doesn't seem like anything scares him. I was thinking that maybe after the hens lay eggs and start sitting to catch him and cage him up. I don't know if he only attacked me cause I was in his and his hens area or if he was going to attack me outside of the barn also. Should I try to get something to wave around to make me look larger to try and scare him? I know he wasn't afraid of the horse walking towards him. The guy we bought him from did have another male is why he wanted to get rid of him cause of them fighting.

 

[chickenzoo]

I think you backing up just helped boost his ego of superiority around your place. I think he was also ticked you stopped feeding him bread. Peacocks are pretty smart and will take advantage of a situation if given a chance to. Different people handle the situation differently. Some people say not to take a swing at him...... some people say to chase him off and follow him for awhile to let him know you make him move, not the other way around.... I think until you can get better advice, I would pen him up so no one gets hurt .

 

[Kev]

Right. Backing away from him was a mistake, if he was merely bluffing to see what you do.. such a bird will always feel very brave and try to go after to press the point.

The people who sold him may have been rather quiet about how aggressive he was, so it's possible he was already a brash people attacker and in that case he would have attacked you, no matter what you did(as in if you hadn't backed off, he would have laid into you right there instead of later).

Do not start thinking about things like "what if he was just being terrorital or protecting the hens"etc... it is NOT normal for a peacock to attack people(greens and spaldings, excepted).

Like I said earlier, have had more than 200 India males, none attacked me.. have been around them in all kinds of situations... males in high "breeding condition" desperately trying to convince hens to mate with him, breeding hens were right around me and him, walked between a displaying male and hens.... inside pens, free range males etc etc.. from very tame to does not trust me much, all of it.. Never had an India male even think about making a move against me.

I'd say this guy may have been basically dumped off on someone else because they got sick of him attacking THEM. Like people who try to "rehome" mean roosters. You probably need to expect this male will try to continue attacking you or other people... be careful as they can get pretty sneaky or clever at finding out how to actually hit people. Like sneaking around a barn, getting up on a roof to drop down on you etc. (I know because the mean Java greens were desperate to hit me and they always tried different ways.. completely unpleasant!)

 

[Choctaw Valley Farm]

We sell our mean and aggressive peacocks to a taxidermist, once they taste blood they will get you every time and if you can not get in the pen to feed, water or gather eggs they are outta of here. We had a Spalding male that got me good so I hit him with the feed bucket knocked him out I thought he was dead but when he came too he got me again before I could get out of the pen now he's stuffed and is in someones office, den, living room, study who knows.

 

[reveriereptile]

The turkey that attacked me I kept hitting him with a bucket to knock him back but he wouldn't stop. Ended up being a turkey dinner. The geese I just had to use my foot to push them back hard enough that they would stumble and not bother me for a couple weeks. My FIL said the other day he chased the peacock back up into the barn cause he was beside the house making noise. He said that he acted like he wanted to attack his foot when he put his foot out to see if he would. If for some reason I have to go near where he is I'll make sure I don't back up or turn my back towards him and have a broom in hand. My husband is worrying cause we do have people that come over to visit or kids that stop by. Since we are wanting one that can be free ranged should I see about maybe finding someone that would like to trade that is going to pen him up? Or just sale him (and warn people of his aggression) and buy a new one? There is a poultry auction coming up this Sunday. I only paid $50 for him. We may try to catch him tomorrow and put him back in his temporary pen till we figure out what to do with him to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone.

Here are some pictures of him. I did use the zoom feature on the camera so I didn't get to close.

 

[Kev]

He is a spalding, which explains his attitude a good bit. His aggression comes from the Green side of the mix(spaldings are a mix of the Indian and Green species)..

If having a bad attitude male is too high of a risk, it is best to pen him up, or not have him there- it's entirely up to you how that is accomplished.

Go for any Indian that was not hand raised TOO tame, such as he was the lone male raised for couple months in the house, almost like a house pet for example..(chances of people attackers can be raised with those..). The average Indian male will not attack people. Don't matter what color.. can be blue, white, pied etc.. just be sure it doesn't have Spalding in his blood.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Here are a few pictures of my peacocks. They all look the same so I only posted two. Are they Spaulding or India?

What I have done and so far it is working is everywhere I go I take my walking stick, broom, mop whatever I have handy! When ANY of them come near me, I swing. I do not allow them to come close and I have started chasing them for a little distance. No one is trying to attack.

However, if I don't have a "weapon" they come close and I am not comfortable. The aggressive one will be leaving as soon as I find time to catch and dispatch because this is ridiculous to have to go out with a mop!

 

[Kev]

I don't see anything that says spalding in yours.

It is normal for peafowl to be very curious or tame to the point of coming up close. Hope the mean one is gone soon so hopefully you'll feel more comfortable with the others.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Thank you Kev. They were very tame, and then one day out of the blue-- the one male attacked. I did back up (now I know that I shouldn't) but he was not backing down either!

What is it that tells if it is spaulding?

 

[Kev]

The other male above has a lot of green on neck plus he shows a slight scaling/lacing look on the neck too. Plus his crest is narrow, not in a full open fan.

The overall color and patterning(barring on wings, back etc) on yours looks normal for Indian. It is very normal for young Indians to show some green on their necks at one year old or less.. they will lose all trace of green by this winter(notice the other bird is obviously mature, so him having green on neck is a very strong indicator). Barring is also slightly different on spaldings, but that takes some hands on experience to notice it.