Well I still have all of my peafowl in the same pen and my 5 year old (Alto) is doing alright with the two 3 year olds (Peep & Frosty). Sometimes Alto chases Peep, but all Peep has to do is jump into the top dog box and stay there until Alto goes off to his "Man Cave" - which is what I am calling the nice tin shelter they have that they hardly use. Every breeding season Alto goes off on his own into that tin shelter.
For one thing, I thought it was interesting that my three year old boys are not getting that bump on their neck and they are not doing all of that S neck posturing. They are not flattening their feathers to look all sleek. Only Alto is doing that. I thought all the mature peacocks did that for breeding season, but in my case only Alto is the only one doing that.
Anyways, now for the strange thing I witnessed today... I know what it looks like when a peacock is after another peacock...They run all over the pen one chasing the other. The one being pursued will fly up onto roosts trying to get away from the other one, and the other one will fly up after them, etc. I have seen Alto chase Peep like this, and I have also seen peacocks chase peahens this way too. Well, I didn't expect much to be happening to my young boy Smarty this breeding season. He will be 2 years old soon, but he has no eye feathers and he still sticks close to his mom. I figured the other males wouldn't mess with him much since they are probably more worried about each other, but when I was petting Peep today, I noticed Smarty following around Frosty. At first I thought "Oh that is cute, maybe they are playing" then I realized Frosty was really trying to get away from Smarty. Peep was up on a perch, and Frosty clumsily flew right up next to Peep trying to get away from Smarty. Smarty stood there looking up at Frosty trying to think if he should fly up there or not. Finally Frosty flew down and Smarty was back to chasing him. Frosty ran and got into the dog box where Peep goes, and Smarty followed him and blocked Frosty's exit out of the box. I couldn't believe what I was seeing! A young peacock who barely is dominant over any peahen and who hardly has sharp spurs yet was chasing around a three year old peacock! I walked into the pen (the dog box is in a small pen attachment) and shooed Smarty away and cornered him and hissed at him trying to give him a little scare, then I ran at him and he ran out all the way to his mom. I felt sorry for Frosty, so I went and picked his favorite kind of grass to give him, and when I got back Smarty was there blocking him again. I shooed Smarty away once again, and I looked at Frosty and told him to fight back, then I fed him the grass. By the time I was driving off to go back home I noticed Smarty was chasing him again.
I just don't understand it... Frosty is such a mellow peacock. He has some of the largest, sharpest spurs of all of my boys and he certainly has some green blood in him, but he has no fight. He is a very calm bird and he just about doesn't display at all. I am guessing once he has his own pen things will be different, but I had no idea I would have issues with a little squirt peacock being the aggressor!
For one thing, I thought it was interesting that my three year old boys are not getting that bump on their neck and they are not doing all of that S neck posturing. They are not flattening their feathers to look all sleek. Only Alto is doing that. I thought all the mature peacocks did that for breeding season, but in my case only Alto is the only one doing that.
Anyways, now for the strange thing I witnessed today... I know what it looks like when a peacock is after another peacock...They run all over the pen one chasing the other. The one being pursued will fly up onto roosts trying to get away from the other one, and the other one will fly up after them, etc. I have seen Alto chase Peep like this, and I have also seen peacocks chase peahens this way too. Well, I didn't expect much to be happening to my young boy Smarty this breeding season. He will be 2 years old soon, but he has no eye feathers and he still sticks close to his mom. I figured the other males wouldn't mess with him much since they are probably more worried about each other, but when I was petting Peep today, I noticed Smarty following around Frosty. At first I thought "Oh that is cute, maybe they are playing" then I realized Frosty was really trying to get away from Smarty. Peep was up on a perch, and Frosty clumsily flew right up next to Peep trying to get away from Smarty. Smarty stood there looking up at Frosty trying to think if he should fly up there or not. Finally Frosty flew down and Smarty was back to chasing him. Frosty ran and got into the dog box where Peep goes, and Smarty followed him and blocked Frosty's exit out of the box. I couldn't believe what I was seeing! A young peacock who barely is dominant over any peahen and who hardly has sharp spurs yet was chasing around a three year old peacock! I walked into the pen (the dog box is in a small pen attachment) and shooed Smarty away and cornered him and hissed at him trying to give him a little scare, then I ran at him and he ran out all the way to his mom. I felt sorry for Frosty, so I went and picked his favorite kind of grass to give him, and when I got back Smarty was there blocking him again. I shooed Smarty away once again, and I looked at Frosty and told him to fight back, then I fed him the grass. By the time I was driving off to go back home I noticed Smarty was chasing him again.
I just don't understand it... Frosty is such a mellow peacock. He has some of the largest, sharpest spurs of all of my boys and he certainly has some green blood in him, but he has no fight. He is a very calm bird and he just about doesn't display at all. I am guessing once he has his own pen things will be different, but I had no idea I would have issues with a little squirt peacock being the aggressor!
