New Peafowl owner with ?s (Updated Pics on Growth Changes)

[BooBear]

Beautiful teasers. I will keep trying for that pose.

 

[BooBear]

Phoenix was such a tease or should I say ham today. I think they both know what pose I want but are doing everything but when I have my camera handy.

Phoenix guarding the food dish


Phoenix: "She has the camera again, I am gonna fake her out."
Skyflower: "hehehehe"


Phoenix makes a sudden turn and......begans to groom...(snickers into feathers)



Phoenix: "Gotcha, but you can keep looking cus I am just gorgeous."


Phoenix: "Hey I see my reflection...yep I am all that."


Skyflower falls over giggling...


The sad thing is earlier today Charlie my white Silkie, whose feathers have grown to where he couldn't see very well, was startled by one of the hens and ran into the corner of the peas pen which startled Skyflower, whom imediately went into fan and shake mode at the offending Silkie. And .....I did not have the camera...

So I went into the house grabbed the camera in hopes of not missing it again and grabbed the shears to give poor embarassed Charlie a trim. Charlie can now see better, but, I am yet to get THE pic.

 

[BooBear]

Invaders have moved in....Darn Ants!!

Came home from work to discover poor Phoenix got bitten by ants, they got him good around his eyes. Think they came in looking for water and decided to make home in the catch pan under the hutch. Skyflower has no sign of bites, but I did not want to take chances so I immediately seperated them both away from their hutch and sprinkled Sevens dust around the hutch. Today I have to rid the ants completely and fix an ant free pen up for the peas.

(I hate fire ants)
Poor Phoenix's eyes look aweful and I am treating him with the eye salve for poultry called Terramycin.
I check the Peachicks daily, sit by them while watching them and talking to them. I have not seen any sign of ants until I came home yesterday. There were winged ants coming in dropping their wings and moving in it looked like. Hopefully I can make their new spot so miserable they either die or move.

End of April into May was dry for us and the ground was starting to crack in spots so I think the ants were looking for moisture and found it along with food source.

I had ants attack 2 day old (chicken) chicks last spring that were with their brood hen in my large hutch and they were so badly bitten up I did not think the poor things would make it. Treated them both around the eyes with the Terramycin and used Neosporin on the other areas. The chicks pulled thru with Olive ending up with a scissored beak due to the pressure the bites created around her face at such a young age. Popeye got his name from the attack as the lid area above his eye swelled up soo big I thought it would cause him to loose sight. The Terramycin kept the area from getting hard and I was able to get it to were I could drain the oozy poison out...

which helped him heal better. The ants also attacked a newly hatched chick in another pen and killed it.

Of all the invaders to get, I have issue with fire ants. I keep my eye out for these tiny bug vikings as they really can cause harm to very young and weak birds. DE is a good deterrant; however, with the drought we had last year the ants were fearlessly in search of any moisture and were a nuissance. Sevens dust worked much better at getting them gone.
Sorry for the rant but this bugs really get me fired up.

 

[judyc]

Zaz, Beautiful birds. I couldn't help but laugh at the young one displaying...Is that usually a male thing, or do the hens do it when they are young also?

 

[zazouse]

Invaders have moved in....Darn Ants!!

Came home from work to discover poor Phoenix got bitten by ants, they got him good around his eyes. Think they came in looking for water and decided to make home in the catch pan under the hutch. Skyflower has no sign of bites, but I did not want to take chances so I immediately seperated them both away from their hutch and sprinkled Sevens dust around the hutch. Today I have to rid the ants completely and fix an ant free pen up for the peas.

(I hate fire ants)
Poor Phoenix's eyes look aweful and I am treating him with the eye salve for poultry called Terramycin.
I check the Peachicks daily, sit by them while watching them and talking to them. I have not seen any sign of ants until I came home yesterday. There were winged ants coming in dropping their wings and moving in it looked like. Hopefully I can make their new spot so miserable they either die or move.

End of April into May was dry for us and the ground was starting to crack in spots so I think the ants were looking for moisture and found it along with food source.

I had ants attack 2 day old (chicken) chicks last spring that were with their brood hen in my large hutch and they were so badly bitten up I did not think the poor things would make it. Treated them both around the eyes with the Terramycin and used Neosporin on the other areas. The chicks pulled thru with Olive ending up with a scissored beak due to the pressure the bites created around her face at such a young age. Popeye got his name from the attack as the lid area above his eye swelled up soo big I thought it would cause him to loose sight. The Terramycin kept the area from getting hard and I was able to get it to were I could drain the oozy poison out...

which helped him heal better. The ants also attacked a newly hatched chick in another pen and killed it.

Of all the invaders to get, I have issue with fire ants. I keep my eye out for these tiny bug vikings as they really can cause harm to very young and weak birds. DE is a good deterrant; however, with the drought we had last year the ants were fearlessly in search of any moisture and were a nuissance. Sevens dust worked much better at getting them gone.
Sorry for the rant but this bugs really get me fired up.

I hate them flying ants, when i get bet by one it swells more that 5 bee stings put together, i get them all the time when clearing the land here, they just fall out of the tress and bite me, usually under my upper arm.
wishing the baby a speedy recovery "darn ants"

 

[zazouse]

Zaz, Beautiful birds. I couldn't help but laugh at the young one displaying...Is that usually a male thing, or do the hens do it when they are young also?

All of mine do it and did it when they were young but the little males i ended up with did it all the time where the females just did it once in a while, same thing when they got bigger.

 

[BooBear]

yeah, so glad I had the eye ointment which is an antibiotic available.
Phoenix's eyes look better today but still swollen.

They are getting play pen time while I fix the ant issue. I also noticed ants crawling up into the main coop so I am gonna be treating the whole coop also.

Taking a break at the moment, grabbing the camera for cute pics to post latter.

Phoenix has definitely grown more. He is much bigger than Skyflower.

 

[BooBear]

Today ended good despite the ant issue..And... I got pics of the Fan pose!!

Skyflower & Phoenix were not too sure about being in the play pen at first but they soon relaxed and really enjoyed themselves. They foraged, played, kept watch over suspicious birds, and fanned to show off..well Phoenix was showing off. Skyflower seems to only fan if she feels threatened.

Skyflower & Phoenix by the water.


Skyflower spots a suspicious bird getting too close.


Skyflower lets the bird know she is no wimp!


She is prepared for a fan off....but wait,,,, that is just broody Fifi taking a break from her egg sitting. (It looks like they are having a fluff off competion.

)


Phoenix is feeling giddy and decides to show Skyflower how great he looks in the sunshine.


He then pulls a fast move on her that neither Skyflower nor I was expecting. I thought this behavior was not supposed to happen till they turned 2 years old?

This naughty boy is only a month n a half....

Well Skyflower managed to quickly get away and was not amused by this at all.


Phoenix was not deterred at all. The display chase was on....


He tried to woo her with his fancy moves,,,,


Tail high and feet prancing; how could she not notice? How about a fancy turn with wings a flutter?


Skyflower continued to ignore him, preferring to munch on tasty greens. She was not falling for his trickery again.


This kid is definitely trying to grow up too fast. He is soo smitten by Skyflower. They are very bonded and cannot stand being apart; however, he is just gonna have to wait 2 years before she will be interested in whoopie.

They were not happy about me catching them to go back to their newly cleaned and treated pen. I did not put the catch tray back though to prevent any bugs from trying to get comfy in it. This seems to be the year of the bugs. I got bit 2 times at the same time by horseflies on the same arm.

Oh well, atleast the Peas had a good day.

 

[MinxFox]

Oh man yeah they might be a really great couple growing up together...
When I got my peacock Alto as a yearling I already had a cute yearling peahen named Pip. Alto and Pip were always together and he loved to display for her. Sadly raccoons broke into the pen and killed Pip which really was sad because he loved that peahen. Now that he is a big pretty three year old I feel bad that Pip didn't get to see him all beautiful and grown up. I am glad that he is displaying at the other peahens though. For a while after Pip's death he didn't want anything to do with the other hens or displaying at them. I think they can form some good bonds.

 

[BooBear]

I am hoping they are a pair. Watching them Skyflower seems to be more femine and tenderly grooms Phoenix. When I first got them she would beak feed him even though she is younger than him.
I have a feeling that Phoenix is a boy from watching him. Hopefully I am right.

It is sad when bonded critters loose their mate. Glad to hear Alto was able to recover and find new girls.