Peahen pecking order..

chicknmania

Free Ranging
18 Years
Jan 26, 2007
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central Ohio
this is probably a dumb question, but peafowl are different than chickens, so just worrying. We bought a young (2013) IB peahen in November, to replace our 3 yo Princess, who disappeared in September. We had Princess for three years and she was a very laid back, friendly hen. We have another hen, Sweetpea, who's two. When we got Sweetpea (last year) she and Princess were best buddies right out of the starting gate, they never fought at all. There was a year's difference between them.
I just let Snap (the 2013 hen) out of quarantine today. She has been seeing and communicating with the other peafowl, and there was never any evidence of bad feelings. As soon as I let her out, Sweetpea started chasing Snap all over the barn. I finally cornered Sweetpea in a pen, and she's in there, normally I wouldn't do that, but I want to give Snap at least a chance to adapt to being in the barn with the other birds, and getting used to it, before she has to deal with Sweetpea. I was surprised and disappointed, but I wonder if the bigger age difference has something to do with it? Our two peacocks are totally ignoring Snap. They are both 4 years old. Snap doesn't seem too concerned right now, she's preening, but I worry about her, I don't want Sweetpea harassing her. Should I let Sweetpea out so they can duke it out, or should I keep her in the pen for a few hours, or will separating them make things worse?
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In my opinion no matter how long you separate peahens, they will always fight. Peahens can really be mean to even young peacocks. A yearling peacock gets picked on by even his mother.

When you get a new peahen, especially one that is younger, and introduce her, there has to be a little "fighting". It is lots of running like you said, some jump kicks, pecks, and a few feathers pulled, but after a few days the new peahen will learn her place in the pecking order. The peacocks don't care because that is something for the current peahen to figure out, not them. They are just happy that there is a new lady. They might stop the peahen squabble sometimes if they see it get out of hand. I have seen my dominant peacock get involved in dominance fights that were not involving him. I guess he just helps keep some peace.

When I got a younger peahen I had a big adult peahen and she would really harass that new peahen. She would jump on her, chase her, etc. Now they are just fine together and I somewhat think now the dominance rolls have switched and the newer one is more dominant finally.

Just let Snap out and even if it seems harsh, let the peahens pick on her. They have to establish dominance.

This is a photo of the peahen I already had, Ice, about to peck at or jump on Damsel. This is when Damsel was new. Ice is trying to look all big fluffing out like that, but she was bigger anyways.
 
OK, thank you! That's what I would normally do with the chooks, but after losing Princess, I'm a little more paranoid about the peas.
That's funny because our peacocks break up fights among the chickens all the time, and the chickens know this. A lot of times when a chicken is being harassed (or if he/she is afraid there's a hawk around) the chicken will run to one of the peacocks and hide under his train. Sweetpea will sometimes break up fights too, but she's more of a witch than Princess was, she likes to pick on the chickens.

Thanks for the advice, I'll let her out this afternoon.
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Aww that is so cute about the chickens running to the peacocks! Do you have any photos of that?
I'll try to get some pics next time we get some milder weather and they are outside. I never have a camera with me when I need one.
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Maybe I'll get a new one for Christmas!
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