Betty the Aggressive Peahen

[brilayce]

About a week ago I went and got two peahens from a lady my moms knows. She said they're both about 10 months old, so they're not adults yet. Well when we got home with them my brother accidentally let one, we call her Betty, go and she took off for the woods where we thought she'd never be see again. Just last night I went and picked up two peacocks and another peahen to replace Betty. When I got home, around midnight, I went to check in my coop to make sure all my baby chicks were safe inside and low and behold, Betty was there. Needless to say I was really surprised. I quickly threw her and Rose, the other peahen I got with her a week ago, out into their enclosued yard because I noticed she had gotten in through a weak part of the roof and I didn't want them getting back out. Well today I went back out to fix the roof and I've noticed Betty is just being a real butt. Anytime any of the others walk past her or look at her funny she goes after them. She's picking out feathers and making them screech. They're all around the same age, 9-10 months old. She's especially mean to my white peacock, can't stand to look at him. She's been doing it all day.
My question is, finally, is this normal behavior for a peahen? Is she just trying to show she's the dominate hen? None of the others seem to mind eachother. If it continues I'll have to get rid of Betty, which I really don't want to but she's just being a terror. I'm afraid everyone is going to go bald if I leave her in with them.

 

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC! She should settle down once the pecking order is reestablished.

-Kathy

 

[Garden Peas]

She might be hungry and looking for extra protein after her excursion, plus she's probably a bit confused with the new birds. Do you have some high protein feed? She's still growing and may not have gotten as much food as she needed while she was out. Feathers are high in protein, so sometimes birds picking feathers is a sign they need more protein or have another nutritional deficiency.

And x2 about the pecking order...

 

[Garden Peas]

Oh, and you might double-check and make sure Betty is a girl. My more aggressive chicks are the boys, but that isn't always universally true.

 

[Dany12]

It can be a Spalding ( no picture ), Spalding peahen are somewhat more aggressive and behave differently from ordinary peahen.

 

[Peafowlssssssss]

Is she pecking them on their heads? If she is only pecking their feathers then maybe she is just used it since she was young and that's a hard thing to stop it now.

 

[brilayce]

She might be hungry and looking for extra protein after her excursion, plus she's probably a bit confused with the new birds.  Do you have some high protein feed?  She's still growing and may not have gotten as much food as she needed while she was out.  Feathers are high in protein, so sometimes birds picking feathers is a sign they need more protein or have another nutritional deficiency.

And x2 about the pecking order...

They eat grower feed, which is what I was told to feed them. They also get some table scraps and veggies/fruit twice daily.
Now that it's been a few days she doesn't pick on them as much, but she also isn't really part do the "group". She's usually off by herself and the other four will lay together.

 

[brilayce]

Oh, and you might double-check and make sure Betty is a girl.  My more aggressive chicks are the boys, but that isn't always universally true.

I'm 99.9% sure she's a hen. She looks just like my piebald I just got, and isn't near as big or vibrant as my two peacocks.

 

[brilayce]

Is she pecking them on their heads? If she is only pecking their feathers then maybe she is just used it since she was young and that's a hard thing to stop it now.

She'll peck them wherever she can. I almost had to pull her off my white peacock the other day because she was on top of him and wouldn't get off. But now that it's been a few days she doesn't really bother them, she's off by herself usually. I was just worried it wasn't normal behavior because I was told they're social animals, and none of the other four are aggressive like her.

 

[brilayce]

It can be a Spalding ( no picture ), Spalding peahen are somewhat more aggressive and behave differently from ordinary peahen.

I was told she's an India blue.