I can't tell the sex of one of my peafowl?

[ilikehalo2]

Hello all,

I raise chickens for eggs, and in early January, I bought a pair of peacocks at a stock show. One is a Blue India, and the other is white (not sure what). This is where it gets confusing; I want to have them freeroam around my property, and was told I need at least one peahen in order to do so, and they claimed the two I bought were both male. So, earlier this week, I started finding larger eggs with a slightly heavier weight in the coop. My chickens haven't been laying eggs recently, but admittedly, I don't think the eggs are from the chickens. The white one, I believe, is female. I'm not sure how old it is, but I think if it were male, it would have the peacock's feathers, but it has a peahen's tail. Also, I hear it clucking all the time, and I never hear the male cluck. The female also doesn't do the peafowl call when the male does. Anyways, I want to let them freeroam around my property like I said, but I'm afraid the male will take off, if indeed the white one is male as well. So what do you guys think?

Thanks!

 

[ilikehalo2]

Here's another picture, but the fence is in the way.

 

[snowshoe]

I would have to agree with you the white is a hen

 

[Kev]

likely hen, am not seeing any spurs on her. peaeggs are very noticeably bigger, the shells are thicker, harder and can have a different feeling compared to chicken eggs.

personally, I would wait until there are a couple broody hens on a couple clutches of peaeggs from your pair before even letting them loose. That way if one or both disappear, you still should get peachicks from the eggs. and if you let the chickens hatch and keep the babies, they will teach the peachicks where 'home' is and chances of them staying around when they get older is very good.

it's also good to keep them confined as long as possible, especially as your pair is fully mature. generally those are the hardest to free range at a new location. peachicks or birds around a year of age or younger are the easiest for this. peachicks raised by hens are practically guaranteed to stay around.

 

[deerman]

yes thats a white hen, i also would get some peachick before letting them freerange....plus white peahens are at a very high risk of being killed, when they go broody on eggs.