Will the hens stay without their mate?

[furbabymum]

I had 3 peacocks. 1 male, 2 female. We lost our cock yesterday. He is quite dead. The girls are calling for him. I am wondering if they will stay now that he is gone.

 

[zazouse]

Yes they will stay and they will sit infertile eggs also , laying season is upon us so mabe you can get some offspring from your girls.
Sorry you lost your boy

 

[DylansMom]

X2, sorry for your loss. I thought I should let you know that hens can wander off sometimes. I have had lone hens show up here, apparently drawn in by calls from my males. Perhaps this only happens if they can hear another male in the distance, I just don't know for sure, but thought you should be aware that the girls can leave too.

 

[furbabymum]

I gifted my neighbor with 2 of my birds offspring last year. A boy and a girl. He's not 1 yet but I did wonder if they would go there now. I'm debating on whether getting another cock is a wise idea.

If I'm being honest then I must say it was my own dogs who got him. While they are fenced in completely the cock loved to sit on the fence and tease them. They'd grabbed a few tail feathers from him before but this time they got him down and killed him. So I feel like I should wait until the dogs are dead. They probably only have a few more years in them. I don't know.

But if the girls will leave me then I feel like I should get another male because I don't want to lose my girls.

 

[DylansMom]

I gifted my neighbor with 2 of my birds offspring last year. A boy and a girl. He's not 1 yet but I did wonder if they would go there now. I'm debating on whether getting another cock is a wise idea.

If I'm being honest then I must say it was my own dogs who got him. While they are fenced in completely the cock loved to sit on the fence and tease them. They'd grabbed a few tail feathers from him before but this time they got him down and killed him. So I feel like I should wait until the dogs are dead. They probably only have a few more years in them. I don't know.

But if the girls will leave me then I feel like I should get another male because I don't want to lose my girls.

Do you know if the male you gave to the neighbor is calling yet? I am interested in what @zazouse thinks on this as well, but I am thinking that if they can hear another male they may go try to find him. The urge to procreate is very strong, in both sexes from what I've seen. Sorry to hear about the circumstances it is always hard to lose one, and having your other animals be the guilty party just makes it so much worse.

 

[zazouse]

Didn't know there was another male in the area, they might go to him if they hear him. also you could loose her if she goes to sitting and you don't know how to find her nest.

 

[furbabymum]

The male is one of their kids from last summers hatch. So he's not that old and he is family. I just wasn't sure if they would or not.

 

[MinxFox]

Sorry for your loss!

They will still mate with their own family. Some peafowl varieties were first worked on by taking a unique looking peafowl expressing a color never before seen and breeding say daughters to the father, etc.

They might not go to him but I can't say for sure. It definitely helps that you have two peahens. If you just had one I could definitely see her leaving. My first peafowl pair I free-ranged and the male ran away. The peahen stayed for maybe a week before she ran off and I am sure she left looking for him but she couldn't catch up to him and we caught her.

I am not sure if you should get a new male or wait, but if you do decide to get another male when he perches up on the fence get out the hose and spray him or shoo him off so that he will eventually learn not to perch up there. You could even put a log near the fence so he could perch there instead. Hopefully a new peacock would not make the same mistake your previous male did.