Problem introducing Peacock to peahen, getting too rough.

[Tootsie]

I have a white peacock named Peachick who is 2 1/2 and I had tried introducing him and my younger peahen named Turkey (1 1/2) who live together to the older peahen Nellie who is about 5 in the past a few different times last year and they were always afraid of Nellie. She would bully them and they would want to go back to the other side. He did originally live on that side but there was another male in there (Allan) who died a year ago and he was frightened of Allan and that is why I moved him to the other side about 16 months ago.

The coop is a 12x16 divided in two so each side is an 8x12 inside and about10x10 outside. These three are my only peafowl and they live with a few chickens.

Well I tried again today and it was a totally different result. This time first they flapped wings at each other a little bit and then all of a sudden Peachick is trying to mate with Nellie. He never even bothered with the tail fanning or any of that. Nell flew up to the perch and he is trying to mate her on the perch pulling on the back of her head a lot. Wherever she went he went and she was getting frightened. Turkey flew up to a high point and he tried the same with her but she got away and then he seemed more interested in Nellie. Then Turkey just found a higher spot to stay out of it. I left them in there about an hour or two checking every 20 minutes and finally I had to put the 2 (him and Turkey) back in the other group they lived in on the other side of the coop which is divided since Nellie's back of her neck was getting all chewed up and a little bloody from Peachick pulling on it so much. I will take some pictures tomorrow.

Does this mean he is just too rough for Nellie? Maybe that is why Turkey stays up on her perch most of the day but she doesn't seem as frightened of him as Nell is.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[Kev]

That's not mating at all. He is just finally dominant over over that "mean old hen" and wants to make SURE she knows it. That situation is both him pushing it way too far- he doesn't yet know to cool it off once a hen 'submits' to him being the boss and she is not really able to get away. They do not understand the loser cannot run away and so they keep beating it up because it is not "running away".

He has won, let him cool his ego, keep reintroducing them several times and his urge to be mean to Nellie will eventually cool off. He will chase her around again. You have to let that happen. As long as he is not able to corner and hurt her as much, he will eventually tolerate and become a breeder with Nellie. If there's a door or some way to move the divider to let birds roam both sides, that is a good idea- have it open when you are able to check on them, then close them seperately for the night and so on. If you're catching and moving the birds, always move HIM to her, not vice versa.

Peacocks do not mate like chickens do. The peacock has to display then rush/do a special call at a hen.. if she accepts, she squats for him and breeding happens. If she is not in the mood, she gets out of the way and that is that.

Good luck.

 

[MinxFox]

I like your new avatar Kev! I was wondering if it was a display of dominance but I wasn't sure. When my younger peacock finally got big and tough he would chase around my big boss peahen. He would do that for maybe three days in a row then stop, then a week later he might be chasing her again. She would escape him by flying up to a covered roost and he would fly up to the roost next to the one she was on and stare at her. She was always panting from being chased so much and sometimes he would scare her off of food but he never hurt her of course she probably didn't let him get close enough to hurt her. My older peahen was mean to him when he was younger so I saw it as a way of getting her back for all of that. Now that peahen moves as fast as she can when he walks up to eat what she is eating and she goes off to eat food somewhere else. That is why it is important to have food spread out for the peafowl because they don't always like to share. Hopefully your peacock will settle down and your peahen will realize that he is now a grown up and should be respected.

 

[Tootsie]

Thanks so much guys for your input. I will work on redoing my set up so there are hiding places and so I can sometimes leave the divider door open at times. It may take a few months but I will get it done.

I was wondering why I never ever saw Nellie and her late mate Allan mating for the 2+ years they were together even though they produced fertile eggs and all of a sudden I saw Peachick trying but now I know it was just aggression. Thanks for clearing that up.

I would like to know what color peahen Turkey is. Her bio mom Nellie is a blue pied and dad Allan was an India blue white eyed but her coloring is different. She has a lot of pretty green. Can you tell me what color she is?

These pictures are from when she was 1 yr last July. I will get a recent picture but now you cannot really see much white at all.

Is she an actual color? If so what color? Also I notice they loose and regrow that thing on top of their head several times a year. Why is that?

Does anyone know? Thank you.

 

[Kev]

Haha thanks, MinxFox for comment on avatar. Also excellent description of how it usually happens when a young boy wins dominance over an older hen. Side note- some young males win dominance by constant courting, flirting just barely out of dominant hen's reach-no fighting. I don't know if it could be called dominance... as some of these don't even drive peahens away at feeding time... its a total peace between him and peahens.

As for hiding places, dont leave any with dead ends- only one way in/out. One of the things I used to do for pheasants was to have pieces of plywood propped up against the wall, both against the side wall and in corners. For the corners I always propped it so it made a triangle shape when viewed from top, never propped it parallel to the wall. That way no bird can ever be trapped with no other way out.

Many peafowl keepers have either never seen their peafowl mate or only once/twice. Your experience is not unusual at all. You'll get to see it some day.. when he is displaying, listen for a sound you don't normally hear from them... they let out a special screech that basically means "wanna mate?". Once you know what it sounds like, your chances of seeing them mate is much higher.

Turkey looks India Blue, possibly has the white eyed gene too, but can't really tell about the white eyed part from those pictures. From the parentage, she probably is a split pied- which means she is carrying the pied gene just hidden. If she's bred with a white or pied, she will throw pied babies.

by the way, in case you were wondering, Peachick and Nellie will throw half white and half pied babies. Pretty fun huh?

 

[MinxFox]

I have been pretty lucky to see my peafowl matting several times. I think last year I saw a total of maybe 5 matings...I saw all of my peahens mate and two of them I saw mate twice. The matting call the peacock makes when he rushes a peahen is like "Owwwwwwwhhhh" Or something like that. It is a really strange call and hard to describe but you will always know when you hear that noise the peacock is chasing a peahen. If the peahen does let him mate he still keeps his train fanned out when he mates with her but he lowers it some which is actually really beautiful. It was very helpful to see them mate because I would then know exactly when I could expect eggs.

Here is a video of peafowl at the[FONT=arial, sans-serif] LA County Arboretum mating.[/FONT]

 

[Springfield1842]

Hoping I can ask this question here after reading all of your responses!
I was given a male peacock that I penned for a month in a dog cage that is 10 x 10 x 6 covered. A neighbor couldn't keep him anymore so we gave him a home. After a month we released him and he ran away. A neighbor caught him and he is back in the pen. In the meantime, my husband bought 4 pea chicks of which 2 have made it! They are at least 3 months old and are getting as big as our small chickens. I have them in a large dog crate but want to introduce them as they are getting way too big for that. When is it ok to introduce them to my adult male? Should I build a second run next to the male adult for now? They are looking like females (based on the photos I have seen to compare) as they have some green around the neck and the rest of them are brown. As you can tell, my first experience with peacocks and I really am at your mercy for help!
Please!

 

[Tootsie]

I would put the run divider first and then see how it goes IMHO.