when peas attack......

[johnskoi]

i'm a little crushed right now... my favorite pea has turned into an " i'll attack dxxx near anything in my path" kinda bird ... he hatched as a onesey two years ago(although due to my screw-up of leaving lights on in the peapean all winter, he's pretty much a 3 yr old bird just getting his full train) and bonded with me like NO other bird ever has....

up until two months ago, he was with the pea population ... he always hand fed and got the other peas to eat out of my hand as well -- 3 of my other peacocks were bullying him, so i tried free ranging him during the day with my silkies annd sebbies ...he was following me around the yard and letting strangers hand feed him(i have a backyard business).... was working out beautifully --- WAS........

i didn't realize he started bullying the sebbies until today when he started attacking ME!! ....yep a little bloody, but nothing horrible, but he is truly RELENTLESS about attacking ME or the SEBBIES right now and i'm sure he'll attack ANYBODY that comes into his path....

we're in the middle of another heatwave right now, so i'm kinda hoping it's the heat and hormones that are doing it ---- for now he's back in the pea population, and getting his butt kicked which i really don't like

but i don't have an option at the moment...

out of all my birds, he's the LAST one i ever thought i'd be looking to rehome ..and i don't think i'd ever feel right about rehoming him when i know the physical damage he could inflict on an unsuspecting child.....

any advice is appreciated

 

[johnskoi]

something that may have triggered it -- yesterday i donated 25 peas (yes, i'm overrun) to a local game farm (the long island game farm), they came to pick them up -- i caught and boxed all the birds and it really went without incident and minimal stress --- i hope i didn't get rid of one of his buddies -- could explain his aggression towards me, but still wouldn't explain the sebbie attacks...

 

[zazouse]

Mating season does that to them, it changes them but my boy never went after me, I would ring his neck if he did but anyway he has dropped his train and is getting back to his old self, soon as you boy gets threw this season I bet he will be fine, right now he see's you as another pea and they chase each other at breeding season.

As long as that hump is coming up in his neck you are going to have problems, once it is gone in my case my boy went back to his old self.

 

[johnskoi]

Mating season does that to them, it changes them but my boy never went after me, I would ring his neck if he did but anyway he has dropped his train and is getting back to his old self, soon as you boy gets threw this season I bet he will be fine, right now he see's you as another pea and they chase each other at breeding season.

As long as that hump is coming up in his neck you are going to have problems, once it is gone in my case my boy went back to his old self.

thank you zaz, i NEEDED to know that .... i pulled him from the peapen about an hour ago --- 3 of my other boys really have the redas* for him -- the cornered him in a chicken nesting box and decrested him .... i let him back out with silkies and sebbies but he's in a state of fear right now (me included).---- in the past, he'd just about cuddle with me after i 'saved' him from the bullies... don't know how it's gonna go from here.. he's really enjoyed the freeranging and i'd hate to coop him up alone --- i think i'm gonna coop him with a hen or two for a while till things change....

 

[johnskoi]

just re-read this and wanted to post a quick update that i should've posted a while ago .... he went back to being his old self within a week or two (he only gets a little 'off' if i'm wearing crocs instead of my dirty white sneakers) ....

somtime in august, i opened all 'doors' in the pen and everybody (including about 20 of this years babies) and are all happy .... seems the pecking order had to be established ....

two pics from earlier this month (and yep, i still have a few boys with full trains...)

 

[zazouse]