Will the daddy peacock hurt or kill newly hatched chicks??

[the Old Rebel]

My white/black-shouldered peahen hatched five peachicks yesterday and last night. The daddy is still in the pen with her. Will he hurt or kill the babies??

He was born wild and raised in the wild. I've only had him a couple of months or so, so I really don't want to let him out to free range just yet. But I don't want to risk him hurting the babies either.

I hope someone responds to this SOON!!

 

[Kev]

Kind of depends on him and how much room there is in pen.

If pen is huge- 10 x 30 or more.. should be OK once the babies learn to stay out of the male's way.

Some males will jab at chicks but get bored and ignore them as long as they don't 'bother him'. Others may be a little more aggressive.. or less. Hard to tell how a particular male will be until you see him in action. Some of my males completely ignore any babies.. other males get too interested at first, biting a baby once or twice.. but lose interest... still will peck at one if it gets in his way to tell it to go away.

You will have to really watch.. and hold your breath if he does peck or bite at a baby.. as long as he is not actively trying to trample them or harass the mother.. keep watching and see if he cools off or gets bored of them in a hour. If he loses interest, then it can be OK.

If the pen is pretty small, would be best to separate if possible.. either mother and babies into another pen or move out the male.

Very important to peachick-proof the pen. Example if the pen has chainlink or hog panels, with chicken wire along the bottom, the peachicks are able to fly extremely well by just one week of age, they may accidentally fly through above the chicken wire and get stuck outside trying to get back in. Peachicks are able to fly 6 feet high easily just past a week or 2 weeks.

No pails or buckets with water in them for same reason.. they may fly in and drown..

 

[the Old Rebel]

Thanks, Kev, for the info. I REALLY appreciate it.

So far the daddy (Solomon) has kept his distance. If he gets too close, she "pops" at him. He hasn't made any moves to hurt them.... at least not that we've seen. But we're thinking that we will move them into the house that's attached to the pen tomorrow and keep them there at least for a week or two.

Thanks for the info about the pen, too. Thankfully, our pens are made of 1/2 hardware cloth - top, bottom, and sides. The other part is solid wood. Had to do that to keep the weasel out. Expensive, but it works. Our pens are 10 x 20's, I think.

The parent birds have a stainless steel dog bowl for their water. A peachick could drown in it, so I guess I'll change that out for a regular waterer until the babies get some size on them. Thanks for that suggestion, too.

Again, I REALLY appreciate your help.

Hope you have a GREAT evening!

 

[Shivita31]

Kind of depends on him and how much room there is in pen.

If pen is huge- 10 x 30 or more.. should be OK once the babies learn to stay out of the male's way.

Some males will jab at chicks but get bored and ignore them as long as they don't 'bother him'. Others may be a little more aggressive.. or less. Hard to tell how a particular male will be until you see him in action. Some of my males completely ignore any babies.. other males get too interested at first, biting a baby once or twice.. but lose interest... still will peck at one if it gets in his way to tell it to go away.

You will have to really watch.. and hold your breath if he does peck or bite at a baby.. as long as he is not actively trying to trample them or harass the mother.. keep watching and see if he cools off or gets bored of them in a hour. If he loses interest, then it can be OK.

If the pen is pretty small, would be best to separate if possible.. either mother and babies into another pen or move out the male.

Very important to peachick-proof the pen. Example if the pen has chainlink or hog panels, with chicken wire along the bottom, the peachicks are able to fly extremely well by just one week of age, they may accidentally fly through above the chicken wire and get stuck outside trying to get back in. Peachicks are able to fly 6 feet high easily just past a week or 2 weeks.

No pails or buckets with water in them for same reason.. they may fly in and drown..

This is so important to hear! My peahen had 4 peachicks a week ago they were all doing so well and this morning I found 3 dead in the bucket of water . I gad the water for the peachicks separated on the floor. Now I don’t know if the peacock Jill them or they flew in the water! I don’t know what to do with the one left. If separate and raise on my own or let mama raise the baby. Please help!