Hello! I have a large mixed flock consisting of peafowl, assorted ducks, and chickens, who all free range during the day. Everything has been pretty much honkey dorey for the past year, but now it seems my peacock has it out for my favorite Muscovy. He will not leave him alone, yesterday I found the peacock chasing him through the yard and the duck already had what looked like a spur wound on his neck. His caruncles are all scabbed and bruised up. And he is a huge duck, that can't fly, he was so out of breath from running when I found him, poor guy.
They did have a little bit of a tiff a couple months ago, but I believe that was because the peacock hurt his leg so I penned him up for a couple weeks. I figured they were fighting to reestablish the pecking order. They seemed to work everything out and were fine up until about a week ago. I tried letting them work it out this time but it seems like the peacock isn't letting up this time. The duck doesn't seem the least bit interested in fighting.
Everybody seems to be coming out of a molt right now, could this be the issue? Before the molt, the duck looked horrible (I think he got stuck in a molt from spring, or he was feather plucking), he had no tail, no neck feathers, just a wreck. He finally grew all his feathers back and now he looks gorgeous again. Could this be why? Maybe the peacock doesn't recognize him? or feels threatened?
Any help would be greatly appreciated! I am very attached to this particular duck (any other one and I would just rehome them) and I only have one peacock, so if I can get them to get over it, that would be ideal. If it's just a seasonal thing, I can pen them both up (where they can see each other) and wait it out, but I don't want to do that for long...
They did have a little bit of a tiff a couple months ago, but I believe that was because the peacock hurt his leg so I penned him up for a couple weeks. I figured they were fighting to reestablish the pecking order. They seemed to work everything out and were fine up until about a week ago. I tried letting them work it out this time but it seems like the peacock isn't letting up this time. The duck doesn't seem the least bit interested in fighting.
Everybody seems to be coming out of a molt right now, could this be the issue? Before the molt, the duck looked horrible (I think he got stuck in a molt from spring, or he was feather plucking), he had no tail, no neck feathers, just a wreck. He finally grew all his feathers back and now he looks gorgeous again. Could this be why? Maybe the peacock doesn't recognize him? or feels threatened?
Any help would be greatly appreciated! I am very attached to this particular duck (any other one and I would just rehome them) and I only have one peacock, so if I can get them to get over it, that would be ideal. If it's just a seasonal thing, I can pen them both up (where they can see each other) and wait it out, but I don't want to do that for long...
