Fighting Peacocks

[RedBrush Farm]

I have 3 peacocks (2 are 1.5 years old and one is 3) and 4 peahens. They are in an avairy that is 35 by 60. They have all been together for over a year with no problems. Today I came home and found 2 males in their 15x15 roosting area fighting. The white 3 year old has 2 small blood spots on his shoulder. Why are they now fighting and what should I do?

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Breeding season is just around the corner and it seems your males has not yet determined who is alpha male in the pen.I had the same problem last year with my IB pen,,9 hens with a straight IB male,IB Pied male and an IB B/S male,,all of these birds grew up together and was penned together there entire life along with other birds.But last spring these 3 males were all put together to breed straight IB hens.Although they had an established pecking order in their previous much larger group,once seperated it was obvious the IB Pied male,along with the straight IB male were at the top of the food chain.Each evening the IB B/S male was being chased or pursued by one of the other two males.They were in the largest pen so they always had room to get away,ect,,occassionally I would intervene in the evenings at feeding time but as soon as I left the pen,the chase was back on.
If it's impossible to seperate some of the males,you may need to put some "cover" in the pen for the ones being dominated over has a way or place to escape. Using 1/2 of a large dog shipping crate works great,or something that will allow the bird to at least get his head away from the offender.Their favorite place to peck is the top of the head or neck area.
Maybe divide your large pen into 3 smaller ones using 1 male in each pen with a hen? One 3yr old male can cover 3 hens easily,,maybe sell the other 2 males? The fighting will continue until breeding season is over and thats normally until August,so you will need to do something.

 

[kuntrygirl]

As long as I have had peafowl, I have never seen the males fight. I don't even know what that looks like. :/

 

[zazouse]

Mine chase each other and the next day the game changes, hadn't never seen them chase one another for more than a day, i figured it keeps them in top shape , poor Master P is at a disadvantage with his long full train but he is great at hidding if he gets far enough ahead of the 3 Amigos

PS mine are completely free ranged in case some folks didn't know.

 

[MinxFox]

Ooh Zazouse Master P. is looking very dashing! I agree with you... I have seen peacocks, peahens, and even a peacock chase after a peahen all for dominance but the worst one I saw by far was the peacock chasing after the peahen. It lasted for a week or a little more. Every day Alto, (this is when he was two years old) would chase a peahen (Ice) that was older than him, all over the pen. She would run around and around the bamboo and he would follow her. She would fly up onto a high roost to get away but he would fly up next to her and pester her. She was always panting and I was worried if she was getting a chance to get water or food, but eventually the chasing stopped. What happend was the peahen was always very bossy, and mean to this peacock. Once he got older, and tougher, he decided to show her that he was now the boss. I guess it took a while for him to break her.

For me I just let them figure it out...See how your peacocks do in the next few days...It could have just been a one day fight and they have sorted out all the issues. Hopefully that was all it took for them to settle on something.

 

[willie BILL]

I have two blue indigo's aged 6 years.Raised from two months old. Both are housed in a 30 X 5 outdoor pen along with an indoor perch room of 10 X 4 to get out of the weather. I have never seen them fight or be aggressive too each other. All though one appear's to be little less active then the other. I feed them chicken feed, cracked corn, bread scraps and alfalfa chunks. They don't care for watermelon or garden vegetables. They have been out of there pen many times, but they have always returned to their pen at night except for one night they roosted in a nearby tree and returned in the morning. They have friends, 20 layer hens in the pen along side of there's. At times they inner mix. The chickens will get into there pen, but they don't seam to care.They don't like being caught. but when I need to catch them. I net them and then they let me pick them up with no problems. I would like to get some other colored cocks and hens and let them all free range but I'm worried about them going over to the neighbors. Who live about 800 yards away and across the road. I live out in the country on 60 acres.

 

[Dany12]

To put one bird outside of the aviary ... free range ... he will not go !