i know we went over this already... but is my hen really a hen?

[Ash1089]

Hi everyone! I know we already decided that this was a hen, but I am also a super worrywort. When I went down to the pen this morning, she was fanning her tail at the pigeons. She started out at one end and I thought she was fanning at the cameo, but a pigeon could have been down there, and I just didn't see it. The worry snuck in right away. Then she went to the other corner, tail up all the way, and shook at the pair of pigeons. Once they flew, she dropped her tail. I just added the new pigeon pair, and the other peafowl seem to get along with them, its just this one. Could she really be a boy? Or just a girl with dominance issues? She does have a lot of green/ gold on her neck, and she is a yearling. I know some people say hens will fan, and if they have green it may be a java strain and more aggressive, but I wanted to ask the experts one more time for my own piece of mind.

Thank you!!

 

[chooks4life]

Sorry, I don't know, just curious because I want peafowl again in future. I was given some but they went feral.

My turkey hens spent plenty of time of day gobbling and fanning and displaying and dragging their wingtips in the dust while making that 'psht' noise, just like the toms, but they were all very fertile and definitely female birds. One thing that triggers more masculine behavior, I think, is when a hen is alone. She often starts acting both roles out.

Best wishes.

 

[DylansMom]

Hi everyone! I know we already decided that this was a hen, but I am also a super worrywort. When I went down to the pen this morning, she was fanning her tail at the pigeons. She started out at one end and I thought she was fanning at the cameo, but a pigeon could have been down there, and I just didn't see it. The worry snuck in right away. Then she went to the other corner, tail up all the way, and shook at the pair of pigeons. Once they flew, she dropped her tail. I just added the new pigeon pair, and the other peafowl seem to get along with them, its just this one. Could she really be a boy? Or just a girl with dominance issues? She does have a lot of green/ gold on her neck, and she is a yearling. I know some people say hens will fan, and if they have green it may be a java strain and more aggressive, but I wanted to ask the experts one more time for my own piece of mind.

Thank you!!

She is definitely a hen. I don't know that I think it is a dominance issue, here is a picture of 2 of my hens fanning at a cat running by the outside of the pen. They will fan at wild birds who land close by as well.

 

[zazouse]

All peas fan.
even the very wee peas.

 

[fowlobsessed1]

Thank you for all the replies! I was nervous when I saw it that maybe she isn't ...a she. Lol. Is there any truth to the java strains being more aggressive then the standard colors? And to sound dumb, peafowl must see color because they never go after the white pigeons, they only fan the brown ones.

 

[DylansMom]

Thank you for all the replies! I was nervous when I saw it that maybe she isn't ...a she. Lol. Is there any truth to the java strains being more aggressive then the standard colors? And to sound dumb, peafowl must see color because they never go after the white pigeons, they only fan the brown ones.

They definitely see color, scientific studies have proven they prefer traditional blue males over the paler color variations. As for your pigeons, be careful, I've had Peas (male & female) kill small wild birds that got trapped in the pens with them. We don't have a Java, but we have a pure Burmese green and he is not any more aggressive than the blues are. Imprinted birds are the ones I usually hear about aggression from. We have an imprinted male spalding and an imprinted male white from last year, both are staying here and I'll just wait and see who attacks me first.

 

[fowlobsessed1]

Yikes. I imagine it's like a turkey attack? My tom went after me when I was worming one of his "lady friends". He is such a ham. I say lady friends and his tail fans out right away like they are close lol.

If the first two peahens are ok with the pigeons, and the last one is okay with the white pair, is there a chance she will settle down to new pair? I have a pigeon house up high that even if the peahens stick their whole neck in they can't reach. It would be nice if she would just settle down though.

 

[DylansMom]

Yikes. I imagine it's like a turkey attack? My tom went after me when I was worming one of his "lady friends". He is such a ham. I say lady friends and his tail fans out right away like they are close lol.

If the first two peahens are ok with the pigeons, and the last one is okay with the white pair, is there a chance she will settle down to new pair? I have a pigeon house up high that even if the peahens stick their whole neck in they can't reach. It would be nice if she would just settle down though.

I think it is just a territorial thing. I have starlings that I simply cannot keep out of the pens, and they nest in the one pen every year and when the young are big enough to leave the nest they end up trapped in the peacock run. The parents have learned to land on the ground and go out under the fence on the one side, the youngsters haven't figured this out, and every year the peas kill some of them, the rest I will net and release outside the run. The peahens really fan at those starlings too. I also lost a peachick one year because it got under the wire from it's pen into the pen next door, there were yearlings in that pen and I suppose they saw the chick as an invader and killed it.

It is really just too hard to say what they will do, that's why I just suggested keeping an eye on them. I once lost an adult yellow golden pheasant to my turkey who was only about 6 months old at the time, I didn't have enough pens and the turkey was unplanned for, so I had to double them up, not my brightest idea!

 

[chooks4life]

Lots of nice pics of peas there.