Fighting Peacock

[Bird Ranger]

I am a newbie to peafowl world.I built a pen in my lawn and brought 3 peacocks(IB) and 2 peahens.one male and female are a breeding pair and other three are their yearlings.3 weeks ago one yearling male died(could not figureout the cause as i am a newbie).The breeding season started for my peas 2 weeks ago with the adult peahen laying an egg.After this my adult male started pecking at and chasing the yearling male whose condition started looking miserable.I built a partition in the pen but it reduced space for others so I had the yearling male transported away(at a walk of 10 minutes from my home). Now I am looking to bring back the yearling when the peahen sits on her eggs to incubate and hatch them.Would it be safe to bring back the yearling male?I was hoping some one would advise me on this fighting.
Everyone who reads this plz give the best suggestions and advises about the peafowl that they themseves have experienced and gone through with ther peas.

 

[Midnightman14]

Peafowl males need to be separated during breeding season or they will likely severely injure or kill each other. This doesn't occur so much if they're free range but until breeding season is over they should probably not be kept in the same pen. As for the one that died it is likely that it died of disease.

 

[KsKingBee]

There are exceptions to every rule and here is one. These two brothers have not been separated since they hatched. they have a harem of eight hens and do not fight (yet)

I have had sons and daughters, yearlings, in a breeding pens without problems too. It really depends on the birds, they are like kids and have their own personalities.

I have two cocks in adjoining pens that spend all day trying to get to the other one. They fence fight all the time even with sight barriers in place, if they were contained together they would do some serious damage. One of those cocks gets so frustrated that he will turn on one of his own hens and kicks and flogs her.

About four years ago I had another pair of brothers that didn't get along once the hormones kicked in. It wasn't that they didn't get along, one of the brothers didn't get along with anyone in the pen so I turned him loose since I didn't have a free pen for him. Between the **** guineas picking on him and the wild turkeys he decided to go live with the turkeys.

 

[Bird Ranger]

That was some really useful info.But
I was looking forward to bring back the yearling male into the pen with other peafowl once the peahen starts sitting on her eggs or hatched her eggs.May be then the daddy peacock will cool down a little and would not fight and chase his son.What do you suggest?(we have only one mature peahen in our pen)

 

[KsKingBee]

You won't know until you try, but have a contengency plan just in case.

Many cocks will get a bit hormonal nutz early in the season, yours may be one of them. By what I have been told they settle down in a couple of weeks as their body adjusts.

 

[MinxFox]

That is interesting. I haven't really had issues with an adult male having issues with a yearling male. It is when they become two years old that the adult males will take notice of them and perhaps decide to chase them.

How large is your pen? My pen is large enough that if a young male was threatened by an adult peacock (or even a bossy peahen) he could run off or hide somewhere. You may want to think about putting something in the pen that the young peacock can hide in or behind such as a dog box or a pallet leaning against the wall. Even so, I would make another pen for the young male if you do intend on keeping him. Also, if the pen isn't very big that makes it easier for the adult peacock to claim it all.

My aviary has two adult peacocks along with 3 peahens and a 2 year old male. The adult males have claimed which area of the pen is theirs and as long as the other doesn't cross his 'line' then they don't fight. Even so, it isn't really fighting they just circle each other then the one who entered the other's territory just walks back to his own side.

One of my peacocks I did have to split up from the main pen. The other adult males can live in the same pen, but this peacock was being harassed too much. What happens is they will chase the other peacock, corner him, peck off his crest and peck at his face until it bleeds, etc (unfortunately I wasn't around to stop this, I just noticed that this is what happens mostly from seeing the aftermath). It is not nice. It gets to the point that when this peacock even sees one of the others walk near him, he will start to shake from fear. It doesn't seem to be something that they will just 'get over' as well. Even in the off season they will still be too restrictive on the lesser peacock. Even if the adult peacock isn't so bad now, it is a good idea to start working on a new pen for this young male so that it doesn't get to this point.

 

[Kedreeva]

@KsKingBee I have two boys that I tried to put in separate pens last year, where they could not see each other (octavian in the barn, and Orion outside) after they had been living together as younglings. Octavian started picking on Blu, a different male, at the start of the season, and I figured he would pick on Orion as well... but when I separated them all out, Orion and Octavian spent two days crying back and forth until I put them back together! Now, Orion follows Octavian around, and bows to him like he does for the ladies, and they get along great! I feel a little bad that Octavian's going to a new home soon...




Bird Ranger, I would be really careful reintroducing them, especially if the hen has a nest or babies. If the male was aggressive toward a yearling, that's pretty unusual. I'd bet they still don't get along if the little one comes back.

 

[Bird Ranger]

@kedreeva that was helpful.
I will be giving them a chance may be late in the breeding season right now the hen started sitting on her eggs(6 of them).I think the adult breeding peacock is kind to his own chicks because unlike many people i let the hen incubate her own eggs.And three peas from last year thrived in the presence of the male peacock.I never got them out.They were in the same pen as the peahen and peacock.

 

[Midnightman14]

Just remember that even though they might not be physically fighting that does not mean they're getting along. If you're noticing the younger bird cowering in a corner or refusing to come get food right away those are signs that the other bird is stressing him out. I've noticed older males tend to become pretty bad food guarders which can be stressful for the younger birds.