They are a large bird and the male with a full tail can look very big and i suppose intimidating to some.
Males are Peacocks and females are Peahens and you can guess what Peachicks are.
During spring mating season Peacocks will fight with each other.
So unless you are a Peacock you have nothing to worry about.
Peacocks are not like Roosters who often are aggressive and will attack humans. Believe me i know as i have been attacked by two particularly aggressive roosters at different times that belonged to two different neighbors over the years.
All Roosters are not aggressive but a lot of them are. Just so you know.
But this is about Peacocks. And here is where the confusion comes in. When its very warm or humid out and its spring mating season and the males are fighting, some of the less bright of the males will fight their reflection. Or if the bird has poor eyesight they may try to fight what to them looks like a blurry Peacock rival. I saw one try to fight my food bucket once. He almost dumped it before i shewed him away.
These not so bright males will try to fight their reflection in windows , shiney cars,or any shiny reflective surface.
For this reason i only let my smart Peacock out to free range in the spring. He does not try to fight his reflection. He looks at it sometimes but appears to recognize it is him or at the least not another bird.
Peacocks and Peahens overall are very smart and have very good memories. They are at least as smart as a dog, but they don't feel the need to please you as a dog does. They understand simple commands and sometimes if they are in the mood they will do exactly as you ask them.
They have excellent hearing and eyesight. They kill any mice that dare enter the barn. i dont know if they kill mice out in the field. I see the little bodies in the barn. Not too many , i guess the mice know better. :)
Although they are omnivores like us , i don't know if they eat the mice they kill .They have no teeth and a mouse may be too big to swallow whole. I have seen them choke down some pretty large toads n frogs though.
They can be fearless at times. I have seen Peahens chasing dogs out of the yard and hawks out of the pen. They really don't like Hawks.
They can spot a Hawk in the sky so small i can't even always make out the speck they are looking at. They make this sort of growling noise.
They often look towards the woods and growl but i rarely see the predator they can see. A couple times i got a glimpse of a Coyote. i think. Once it was a human they were growling at . I saw him before he disappeared back into the trees. That made me a bit nervous too.
During the warm months when they free range, they roost high up in the tree tops and they sound off loudly if anyone or anything enters the yard that does not belong here. They are as good as any alarm system.I am pretty sure a thief would rather not break into a house with a bunch of extremely loud screaming and screeching blasting in their ears. Honestly they are that loud!
Luckily we live in the country and we have super nice neighbors. Most of our neighbors seem to like the Peacocks. There is one though... isnt there always one. :)
Ok thats all for now. i will be adding pictures and tips on feeding housing and raising peachicks soon.
Let me just say this because its so important. If you have a hen who has made a nest( usually just a small dent in the ground) and laid an egg in it. Do not move egg. She will abandon it. If she makes her nest in an inconvenient spot and you can possibly tolerate it for the next 5 to six weeks then just leave it. Also if she lays an egg and sits on it all day but leaves it to go roost in the trees just leave it . She may do this up to 3 times, but usally after third egg is laid she starts to set on them and 5 to 6 weeks later they start to hatch.
Now here is most important part !!!! Chicks need it HOT. and i mean HOT! Like 100 degrees. Like your car after its sat out in hot parking lot and you can barely breath inside. Peachicks love it hot.
As soon as they hatch gather them up and mom will follow and put them and mom in a place where they will be hot n dry. I have a pen along the back of my garage. its stifling hot in there in the summer and always dry. The peachicks love it. and for some reason peahen mom does not seem bothered by the heat at this time as well. Having her in there for the first six weeks also ensures they are kept warm even if it gets cold at night as it does in our Michigan springtime.
