It's complicated

chickens r life

Songster
Apr 13, 2015
616
39
108
The Golden State
Last spring I found a peachick all alone on my farm with no mother in sight. I decided to raise it and keep it with my chickens when it got old enough. 6 months pass and a neighbor finds 2 more peachicks with no mother in sight and gives them to me. (I have peafowl at my farm) turns out the original peachick is a male and the other two are female. Now hat it is spring the make is trying to mate with the young females and it plucking their saddle feathers off. He even drew blood from one of them. (They are in a chicken run) should I let the one male out with the existing peafowl that live on my farm or will he not survive?

Thanks
 
Last spring I found a peachick all alone on my farm with no mother in sight. I decided to raise it and keep it with my chickens when it got old enough. 6 months pass and a neighbor finds 2 more peachicks with no mother in sight and gives them to me. (I have peafowl at my farm) turns out the original peachick is a male and the other two are female. Now hat it is spring the make is trying to mate with the young females and it plucking their saddle feathers off. He even drew blood from one of them. (They are in a chicken run) should I let the one male out with the existing peafowl that live on my farm or will he not survive?

Thanks
you sure a rooster isn't doing this to the wee chicks never ever seen a young peacock take a young peahen but have seen roosters try
 
Yes if he mounts he is a male hens do not do this only males to my knowledge male even mount inanimate objects also like stuffed toys and even each other when on a stuffed toy, i call this leap frog LOL
Not one time have i ever seen a hen do this , if he is causing damage there is no sense in leaving him to cause more as the hens chose the male not the other way around for the most part, now i do know males do not like hens sometimes even if she choose him, they are pea brains
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Also, the male hasn't "honked" yet. The females are just starting to but the male hasn't. Sometimes I think he is trying but kind of heaves.
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What does this mean?

Thanks
 
Lol... So do you recommend that I let him roam free with the others? I just worried he might die since he wasn't raised by his real mother.
I have no idea i do not know how your place is set up, how much problem you have with predator's or if you have time to work with him if he tried to go some place you do not want him, being raised by his mom would not assure his survival no more than it would hers, it all depends on how your place is set up , there is always safety in numbers as that means more eyes to look out for danger , not sure what you mean by honking they make many sounds calling like a cat is a peacock sound, honking means danger or something is amiss, long raspy calling can mean they are searching for their friend here
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Well he hasn't started to do any sort of calling... Well, we used to have 9 ish peafow but have of them disapeared. Now we only have 4 males and 1 female (bad ratio) they normaly fly up on the roof and sleep there. We also have a lot of redwood trees and I've seen them fly into branches so I assume they could/do sleep there.

Last spring, the one and only peahen hatched maybe three or four babies (one of them is the one in the cage now we named him Ody) sadly, none of the chicks survived except for Ody. This year, I am thinking of taking the chicks from the mama. Does that sound appropriate? I assume that the two other peahens that out neighbor found where from the same mother later on in the season. I am just trying to do what's best for them and the mommy has done a terrible job keeping them safe.

Thanks
 
Also, the male hasn't "honked" yet. The females are just starting to but the male hasn't. Sometimes I think he is trying but kind of heaves.
1f601.png
What does this mean?

Thanks

Honking (make a goose-like "honk" noise) is an alarm call. Mating calls from male peafowl are more of a loud (ah-ahow or "pee-ah") noise -- sometimes compared to a really loud cat or a woman "screaming," lol (not so funny if the police get called to your house, as some owners have experienced
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I wouldn't expect a one year old to be doing much in the way of mating calls, but he may be working on getting the "honk" alarm call going. Watch to see what else is going when he tries to make it. Remember males often are unsuccessful at breeding until 3 years old, 2 is kinda precocious for a male...
 
Well he hasn't started to do any sort of calling... Well, we used to have 9 ish peafow but have of them disapeared. Now we only have 4 males and 1 female (bad ratio) they normaly fly up on the roof and sleep there. We also have a lot of redwood trees and I've seen them fly into branches so I assume they could/do sleep there.

Last spring, the one and only peahen hatched maybe three or four babies (one of them is the one in the cage now we named him Ody) sadly, none of the chicks survived except for Ody. This year, I am thinking of taking the chicks from the mama. Does that sound appropriate? I assume that the two other peahens that out neighbor found where from the same mother later on in the season. I am just trying to do what's best for them and the mommy has done a terrible job keeping them safe.

Thanks

Hmmm, the wisest thing might be to pen momma herself, so you don't lose her AND the chicks. It's hard to guess whether they are being lost to predators or disease, but peahens are incredibly vulnerable to predators during the time that they nest. If you want chicks, put one of the males in with her.

It's great to have momma raise the babies, but you may want to treat for coccidia, which can cause chick losses in a hurry. If momma is penned with the chicks, you can offer some medicated chick starter or medicate the water with amprolium so that the chicks survive the time that they are most vulnerable to it.

If you can't keep the hen safe from predators (which is hard to do if she's free-ranging), you will probably lose her AND the chicks. Remember, her instincts to conceal herself in the brush just make it harder for you to find her, but don't necessarily conceal her from all the critters that make a living off of eating what they find.

Good luck!
 

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