Pecking issue!

[Quailchild]

So two days ago I bought a pair of young peafowl. All has gone well save for one issue; The smaller/younger bird likes to peck at the other's beak, sometimes at the fleshy ceres which has now resulted in little bloody marks and cuts around his ceres/nostrils.

What can I do to discourage or stop this behavior? And what might be the reasoning behind it?

 

[Garden Peas]

How old are they?

 

[DylansMom]

So two days ago I bought a pair of young peafowl. All has gone well save for one issue; The smaller/younger bird likes to peck at the other's beak, sometimes at the fleshy ceres which has now resulted in little bloody marks and cuts around his ceres/nostrils.

What can I do to discourage or stop this behavior? And what might be the reasoning behind it?

I've seen some of mine do this and it usually resolves itself before long, at least I've never had it get so bad that I separated birds. I think they are just following the instinct that tells them to take food from another birds beak, although nature intended it to be the mother hen's beak. JMO

 

[Quailchild]

Gardenpeas; three weeks to four weeks. So still fairly young.



Dylansmom: Ah! yes that would be reasonable behavior, just, not sure if I should clip the smaller one's beak a smidgen? If that's possible?

 

[Garden Peas]

Gardenpeas; three weeks to four weeks. So still fairly young.



Dylansmom: Ah! yes that would be reasonable behavior, just, not sure if I should clip the smaller one's beak a smidgen? If that's possible?

So I agree with @DylansMom , they will probably stop soon. Mine did it at that age, and earlier, trying to get food from each other's mouths. They all stopped eventually, and not too much older than your babies.

Yikes! I can't even imagine clipping beaks... These are NOT CHICKENS. Ask one of the experts, because maybe I'm overreacting, but eeeek, I wouldn't do that to a pea.

Try getting them a stuffed toy and maybe a bird mirror or something to distract them. They are like any siblings, the most interesting thing is the other one

I actually hung up a bird bell for my baby peas at one point -- that was pretty amusing for all of us.

 

[DylansMom]

Gardenpeas; three weeks to four weeks. So still fairly young.



Dylansmom: Ah! yes that would be reasonable behavior, just, not sure if I should clip the smaller one's beak a smidgen? If that's possible?

I would tend to agree with Garden Peas, we trim beaks only on our lazy senior Peas whose beaks get too long for them to eat easily. I don't think I would trim any live healthy beak tissue from a baby. I would bet the mirror idea might work as a distraction. When our's do it they tend to have a bunch of other chicks to peck at, in your case there is only one beak for the offender to peck at, so you are probably just seeing cumulative injury. I would try the distractions first.

 

[Garden Peas]

I just remembered, at Tractor Supply, I saw a little ball that you can put feed in, and the birds chase it around, and it gradually dribbles food out. That might give them one more thing to do?

 

[Quailchild]

Ah yes. Thank you. I won't touch the little one's beak. I put some shiney/colourful hanging toys with bells(which our budgie grew bored with) into the pen for them. hoping they notice and it gives the older pea a break!

Thanks much!