Strange Peacock Behavior

[chicknmania]

I've mentioned this before but just have to again because it is so strange to me. We have a 5 year old IB peacock who of course thinks he's the best thing ever. We also have a Charcoal peahen who is 6 years old. They have lived together for the past five years. Every spring and summer as soon as it turns really warm, Fawkes the peacock begins to harass Pearl the Charcoal peahen. We have rafters in our barn and they will both get up there. He will chase her from rafter to rafter and try to knock her off, by kicking her. Most times she is able to avoid him, but I am not sure if he is playing a game or being aggressive. The hotter it is outside, the more he likes to do this, and she gets very tired and overheated. When the barn is open, she can get away from him. I have a long flexible pole that he is afraid of, though of course i have never touched him with it, and if I'm out there I can wave the pole at him, and he will stop. But I have seen him mating with Pearl too once in a while, and also have seen him hanging out with her for a stroll, also in the company of our other peahen who is an IB. He only does this behavior during the warmer months, during mating season.

In past years I've had IB peacocks harass our white roosters. We don't have any white roosters currently, and only the one peacock left, so he hasn't seen any white roosters.

So any theories about this?

 

[sourland]

@casportpony any ideas?

 

[chicknmania]

@casportpony any ideas?

She's already seen this, I think, so apparently not. Poor Pearl. This afternoon though she was not too far away from him, happily having some sunflower seed treats, and he left her alone.

 

[KsKingBee]

It is aggression and frustration that causes this behavior, usually from other outside influences. We normally see this in penned birds where there is something outside the pen that the cock can not chase off from his territory. Your guy is free-range but he could still be frustrated by some animal nearby. I talked to another owner just the other day with the same problem and she figured out that her guy was irritated by their swan he could not run off and was harassing her hen. Is Pearl still laying or was that a one-time occurrence?

 

[chicknmania]

I havent seen any more pea eggs since then and she never acts broody.. So apparently it was a one time thing, very strange. I wonder what could be bothering him...maybe the roosters? He has always been more stressed out than our other peacocks in the past. But why just Pearl? He has never harassed the IB hens

 

[KsKingBee]

I havent seen any more pea eggs since then and she never acts broody.. So apparently it was a one time thing, very strange. I wonder what could be bothering him...maybe the roosters? He has always been more stressed out than our other peacocks in the past. But why just Pearl? He has never harassed the IB hens

I have an aggressive cock right now I am dealing with. A couple of weeks ago he was trying to climb through the pen fencing trying to get to the lawn mower. He tore up a hen so I put him in time-out. He came back and still attacked the hen, (one of three Silver Pied hens). Now on of the hens started picking on her too. He went back to time-out and the boys in the Bullpen scalped him. He went back to his breeding pen and has behaved for the last three days.

 

[chicknmania]

Geez! I wonder what he would've done to the lawn mower? My last two peacocks were very friendly, curious birds who never acted aggressive like that, except to the white roosters. (what is it with white??} and then only during breeding season. They would fight with each other of course during breeding season, but never were they aggressive towards the hens, and out of breeding season were attached to each other, although the they were brothers so that had something to do with it. Sadly, they are both gone now. Even the vet commented about Sapphire that he was the nicest peacock as far as his temperament that she had ever encountered.

 

[KsKingBee]

Geez! I wonder what he would've done to the lawn mower? My last two peacocks were very friendly, curious birds who never acted aggressive like that, except to the white roosters. (what is it with white??} and then only during breeding season. They would fight with each other of course during breeding season, but never were they aggressive towards the hens, and out of breeding season were attached to each other, although the they were brothers so that had something to do with it. Sadly, they are both gone now. Even the vet commented about Sapphire that he was the nicest peacock as far as his temperament that she had ever encountered.

I think there is something about sparing with another cock for territorial rights that gets satisfied. If he couldn't get to the other guy the fight gets transferred to whoever is handy. It may be possible that my guy took out his frustrations on his favorite hen. They roost together at night now and he is much more reserved now he has his attitude adjusted. I need to mow again tomorrow so we will know shortly if he is going to go ballistic again.