Are Male Peafowl usually aggressive to people?

[KsKingBee]

Chasing back may work for us adults who are a lot bigger, but I would be worried that with kids around they might see this as a challenge from a rival of equal size and be even more likely to escalate. I would definitely stop the treats and if he keeps it up, the free ranging would end. Before selling him I would want to see where this all ended up, I wouldn't want to see someone else less knowledgeable end up with him, as someone could really get hurt. Roger has not shown any aggression toward me yet, when I moved him I just cornered him and picked him right up, he squawked at me but was completely compliant. He just reminds me of Poppie, and the BS you had, more interested in fighting other males than anything and prone to taking out his aggression on hens. Roger is not as imprinted as Chirpie the spalding, he has never been comfortable with being petted or touched the way Chirpie is, but because of all the handling when we were taping his legs for the TT, he got used to being picked up.

He seems to get mad when he doesn't get his way. We will dispense with the treats and see how it goes. Thanks!

 

[mbbrinegar]

No, that was last years picture. That is a hen, Edith, but she was killed in a bear attack. At that time I had a hen and two males. now I only have Archie and Nugget.

I guess you need to find them so lady friends

, and maybe that'll calm them down.

 

[zazouse]

Hens will not calm them down IMO might make them worse , it is odd that they do not spar with each other over territory and keep each other occupied.

 

[DylansMom]

Hens will not calm them down IMO might make them worse , it is odd that they do not spar with each other over territory and keep each other occupied.

Perhaps these boys have already settled the matter of who is dominant between the 2 of them. My imprinted spalding and his sidekick Opie the Opal are like this. Opie always defers to Chirpie, but if I put a strange bird in their pen, both will attack it. Maybe they are seeing their owner as the "strange bird" entering their territory. I agree that hens are not going to calm them down, and may make it worse.

 

[Pfauenfreund]

I never had an aggressive IB even imprinted or not. If one has green blood in and he starts to be aggressive he will not stop with this after the breeding season. Maybe he will come down a little bit but it will not stop. Based on my experience it is for 90% a character issue if a male is aggressive or not. When I observe my young birds I could in many cases realize in an age of 6 to 9 months which males will be aggressive later.

I have four trouble makers here two of them are attacking me and two are attacking the hens during matting season. The aggression against the hens stops after the breeding season, but not against me.

Aggression against human you can bring down a little bit with an exact daily procedure. Then the males know you are just doing the routine job and you don’t want to have his territory.

To fight with him to show your strength will make the situation worse. You have to understand the thinking of your peafowl. It is his territory and if he fights with a rival, the loser have to flee otherwise he would be killed by the winner. If you fight with your peafowl finally you will flee in his eyes, because at the end you will leaving his territory (aviary).

Nobody should think they will forget something! I had an interesting experience. When I was the first time in Thailand to pick up the birds, Fritz had a hen with her three youngsters running which were caught out by him for me. The hen linked this direct with me. When I was coming back after one year to pick-up another 4 birds this hen were running crazy when she heard my voice just at the entrance without seeing me. Fritz sad it is just me and no other peoples. Since this I know they will forget nothing.

 

[zazouse]

I never had an aggressive IB even imprinted or not. If one has green blood in and he starts to be aggressive he will not stop with this after the breeding season. Maybe he will come down a little bit but it will not stop. Based on my experience it is for 90% a character issue if a male is aggressive or not. When I observe my young birds I could in many cases realize in an age of 6 to 9 months which males will be aggressive later.

I have four trouble makers here two of them are attacking me and two are attacking the hens during matting season. The aggression against the hens stops after the breeding season, but not against me.

Aggression against human you can bring down a little bit with an exact daily procedure. Then the males know you are just doing the routine job and you don’t want to have his territory.

To fight with him to show your strength will make the situation worse. You have to understand the thinking of your peafowl. It is his territory and if he fights with a rival, the loser have to flee otherwise he would be killed by the winner. If you fight with your peafowl finally you will flee in his eyes, because at the end you will leaving his territory (aviary).

Nobody should think they will forget something! I had an interesting experience. When I was the first time in Thailand to pick up the birds, Fritz had a hen with her three youngsters running which were caught out by him for me. The hen linked this direct with me. When I was coming back after one year to pick-up another 4 birds this hen were running crazy when she heard my voice just at the entrance without seeing me. Fritz sad it is just me and no other peoples. Since this I know they will forget nothing.

Great Post, i agree about trying to challenge a peacock, I would never even try

From watching them go after each other here i see exactly what you describe all threw the mating season with each other and they DO NOT FORGET even when months go by.

Mine will go after a broody hen with chicks after she has challenged them for simply looking at the chicks, the one thing that gets their attention before even seeing the chicks is the sound a broody makes when she has chicks or is coming off the nest and makes that sound, they will go to them any time they hear that sound even after months have gone by without a hen coming off of nest or hatching chicks,they do not forget

They never mess with any chickens unless they make the broody sound and if the broody is just taking a break and has no chicks with her , she makes no eye contact with them and they leave her alone but if she has chicks and advances towards them making eye contact they will go after her, but never the chicks .

 

[indyfarmgirl]

We hand raised 3 India Blue peacocks and 2 peahens, all together. They have always been friendly and the males actually go for walks with us. BUT... this changed when they turned 2 years old. It started with one of the males chasing and attacking kids, certain adults and then delivery driver! We got rid of him and then about a month later the other males that we hand raised started doing the same thing. If we get rid of them it takes us down to 1 male. But I don't know what else to do. They are in a large corn crib we turned into an avairy right now and they hate it. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[barkerg]

We hand raised 3 India Blue peacocks and 2 peahens, all together. They have always been friendly and the males actually go for walks with us. BUT... this changed when they turned 2 years old. It started with one of the males chasing and attacking kids, certain adults and then delivery driver! We got rid of him and then about a month later the other males that we hand raised started doing the same thing. If we get rid of them it takes us down to 1 male. But I don't know what else to do. They are in a large corn crib we turned into an avairy right now and they hate it. Does anyone have any suggestions?

pfauenfreund is correct about greens, they do not forget and will stay at you. We call them bottle babies as this is common in goats and cattle (males normally) that have been bottle fed and do not fear humans. With India blues and spaldings in fact, on all the aggressive ones I carry a big blue net not to catch them with but more of an intimidation factor. It works for a while and then they start up again and the net no longer works, then I get broom etc... Its the strange object that keeps them at bay for a while but as pfauenfreund mentioned it can be a habit that is very hard to break. I hope this helps.

Gerald Barker

 

[Midnightman14]

This sort of thing is why I've never recommended people getting to buddy buddy with their peas. I've seen quite a few posts on this same problem across the board regardless of the amount of green blood in them. Being pheasants peas are ruled by their hormones and love to fight whether with each other or some other convenient target. My IB breeder won't touch people but anything that's more his size is fair game. We don't have any young children around us but I wouldn't trust him even though he's fine with adults. Different males have different levels of testosterone in them at different times which is what brings out the aggression. When they are hand tamed either as young birds or as chicks it seems they are much more inclined to attack people. I've raised dozens from a very young age and haven't had any issues but I've never tried to treat them like I would a dog or cat.