Peacock aggressive help!

[shimmerini]

I hatched my peahen and peacock 2 years ago and the loves of my life. They are alway together. Today, he just turned on her out of the blue! Trying to attack her, pulling on her neck and would not stop so I got her out of there. I have separated them for time being. Any thoughts or help greatly appreciated

 

[barkerg]

I hatched my peahen and peacock 2 years ago and the loves of my life. They are alway together. Today, he just turned on her out of the blue! Trying to attack her, pulling on her neck and would not stop so I got her out of there. I have separated them for time being. Any thoughts or help greatly appreciated

I hatched my peahen and peacock 2 years ago and the loves of my life. They are alway together. Today, he just turned on her out of the blue! Trying to attack her, pulling on her neck and would not stop so I got her out of there. I have separated them for time being. Any thoughts or help greatly appreciated

I hate the circumstances but, Welcome to BYC you have arrived. Lets start by checking out your setup. How many birds and type of birds in the pen and the pens size. Im assuming they are penned because the hen would normally hide from mean roosters. Sometimes, when the roosters are young they get frustrated, kinda like a teenager. Again, welcome and we will help you in any way we can,

.

Gerald Barker

 

[shimmerini]

They are in outdoor pen 25 ft by 15 ft and 10 feet high. It is just the two of them. I bring them out to play and roam in our yard almost everyday. There is also a peacock house in the pen in addition to the area I mentioned above. This is where they go for feed as it stays dry in our NW weather. The poor girl was desperate to get out and panting. I put him in the peacock house until roosting time and let him out to roost with her without problems. I will be diligently watching now. The peahen was totally caught off guard. I thought it was strange tonight that he did not display.

 

[Garden Peas]

X2, sure sounds as though it could be adolescent hormones kicking in. It's that time of year -- peas start breeding. One of my males is just a jerk -- bad manners and very aggressive towards the hens. He has successfully bred a couple of them, but is so rough on the other one that I had to separate them. Last year, when two of the hens were still yearlings, he was rough on both of them -- he didn't care how old they were -- not something his bird brain could appreciate.

Some males are aggressive during breeding season, some are just general jerks, some are perfect gentlemen. Hard to predict who will get difficult, though the annoying one here looks to me to have some slight spalding influence, so I think the temperament is coming from that. But I've heard of plenty of IB's who have been too rough, so it can happen with plain IB's as well.

Gerald is right -- the number and kind of birds in the pen, along with size and the other factors can make a big difference. Hope things improve soon! And welcome to the peafowl forum of BYC!

 

[DylansMom]

I hatched my peahen and peacock 2 years ago and the loves of my life. They are alway together. Today, he just turned on her out of the blue! Trying to attack her, pulling on her neck and would not stop so I got her out of there. I have separated them for time being. Any thoughts or help greatly appreciated

Welcome aboard ! Sounds like the pen is plenty big enough. It could be adolescence or he could be showing the first signs of testosterone rage. KKB has experienced this and I have as well. This is Poppie and he was fine the first 5 or 6 years breeding, then he started trying to kill the hens he was with. Now he spends breeding seasons alone he is fine with the hens the rest of the year, but his hormones get him in trouble.

 

[KsKingBee]

I've had two problem birds, different problems with both of them. Oddly enough they were both Black Shoulder cocks just like the one @DylansMom pictured above. The first one was trying to kill all the birds in the pen with him, so I put him outside to free range. After about two weeks of the **** guineas chasing him he left with the wild turkeys to never be seen again.

The other problem bird is still here and free ranging 365 with other cocks and no hens. He is good as gold most of the year eating peanuts from my hand. However when breeding season comes along he thinks that where I am is 'his' territory and will try to run me off. Just yesterday I was a couple hundred yards from the house fixing fence and he had to come along. We were well out of the area he normally occupies, yet he had to challenge me. After he flogged me once I had to give him the boot and he decided to go home. I am the third owner of this cock so I have no idea how he was brought up, but I think he was imprinted by his first owner. The guy I got him from had him for display at a pumpkin patch and he would regularly flog the help that was in charge of feeding him.

We see people trying to make little lovie dovies out of peafowl, and it can be done, it is better with hens, but cocks tend to lose their fear of us and when the hormones kick in they become little monsters. I wish I had the magic cure for you, but they are like kids, they all have different personalities and what works for me may not work for you.

 

[shimmerini]

Thanks for everyone's input. I put them together last night to roost and there has been no problems since. My husband did see him mount her the right way today without incident. Of course I will continue to watch to see if this behavior returns. That poor gal was as shocked as I was!

 

[Midnightman14]

The thing with peas is that being pheasants, they have anger management issues during the breeding season. Cock birds will sometimes pick on hens, hens will fight each other, and males will beat the tar out of each other if there is no clear dominant bird. Keep an eye on them and if there are signs that he's picking on her move her out.