- Mar 30, 2011
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View attachment 1993532 View attachment 1993533 View attachment 1993530 View attachment 1993527 View attachment 1993527 Hello Peaple,
so I have completely forgot about this chicken forum for years and yesterday my husband said, maybe I should ask a question here. Our peacock Henri has been a joy and a pia but he's so beautiful and has become more adorable with years. He is now, 9.5 years. Every year, at the drop of first leaf in the autumn(Oct), he would start dropping all his feathers including the down and tail, and start regrowing by Nov. He would also be very hungry, and social, and in his normal senses, and he would basically stop dancing, and just eat and rest to regrow.
Now, this year, fall came and gone and Henri keeps dancing. He lives with us, and his mate is a Christmas tree stuffed toy that he has been in love with since he was 1.5. I kept waiting and saying, any day now, he will loose his tail and get ravenously hungry. But nothing. His tail has not lost a single feather, and it is now January and he keeps mating and dancing for his mate, along with the typical mating trance behavior. He often eats only breakfast eggs and then only at 9pm. I am a bit worried as every year has been similar timing. By spring he would have his new tail and later he would only be starting to dance. I feel he must be exhausted, with no break in this mating behavior.
Lifestyle: He is on pain meds (Novox) because he has arthritis in his legs since childhood. He has lived indoors and goes outside in good weather(not in winter).
There are incidents now, that he chases my husband out of the door in the mornings, only when he is dressed in business clothes and shoes. Last year, they had a physical fight(with pillows), because the peacock started attacking my husband out of nowhere. That went away after 2 weeks though. Otherwise he loves him.
The only change: Last spring I thought he needs better nutrition, so I started giving him dog food called Merricks, with Glucosamine and Omegas, that he really loves, and he seems to be in very little pain since starting that.
Did we somehow change his cycle? Does the cycle just changes every year?
Should or should I not be worried about this sudden change in feather growth?
Thank you!
so I have completely forgot about this chicken forum for years and yesterday my husband said, maybe I should ask a question here. Our peacock Henri has been a joy and a pia but he's so beautiful and has become more adorable with years. He is now, 9.5 years. Every year, at the drop of first leaf in the autumn(Oct), he would start dropping all his feathers including the down and tail, and start regrowing by Nov. He would also be very hungry, and social, and in his normal senses, and he would basically stop dancing, and just eat and rest to regrow.
Now, this year, fall came and gone and Henri keeps dancing. He lives with us, and his mate is a Christmas tree stuffed toy that he has been in love with since he was 1.5. I kept waiting and saying, any day now, he will loose his tail and get ravenously hungry. But nothing. His tail has not lost a single feather, and it is now January and he keeps mating and dancing for his mate, along with the typical mating trance behavior. He often eats only breakfast eggs and then only at 9pm. I am a bit worried as every year has been similar timing. By spring he would have his new tail and later he would only be starting to dance. I feel he must be exhausted, with no break in this mating behavior.
Lifestyle: He is on pain meds (Novox) because he has arthritis in his legs since childhood. He has lived indoors and goes outside in good weather(not in winter).
There are incidents now, that he chases my husband out of the door in the mornings, only when he is dressed in business clothes and shoes. Last year, they had a physical fight(with pillows), because the peacock started attacking my husband out of nowhere. That went away after 2 weeks though. Otherwise he loves him.
The only change: Last spring I thought he needs better nutrition, so I started giving him dog food called Merricks, with Glucosamine and Omegas, that he really loves, and he seems to be in very little pain since starting that.
Did we somehow change his cycle? Does the cycle just changes every year?
Should or should I not be worried about this sudden change in feather growth?
Thank you!
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