Today we had all the birds out in the yard running around, getting what ever they could find. We especially like watching the peacocks in the yard. They are just different. So we opened the door and one of the males was in full strut right next to the front door. It was all we could do to get the camera and get out to take a picture. One of the hens is right there in front of him, but I don’t think he was strutting for her. The dog came by several times and it didn’t seem to affect him at all.
There are three pictures here. The first is a side shot from the porch. You can see the wings held down and how the tail is completely vertical. Also notice the colors in the last feathers on the wings and the nice contrast of the blue on the head and neck with the rest of his body. He has some really nice form, and he isn’t even a year old yet. In the next picture, I went into the yard and got in front of him so I could get a frontal shot. In the last picture he only has the tail half raised.
And now a minute to explain the “tails” on peacocks that everyone loves so much. What we are looking at in these pictures in the actual “tail”. They are the hard feathers that he controls, and they are used to raise the “train” of colorful feathers. These are what people associate with tail, but are in reality just large coverts that get raised by the tail. And these are shed in the fall and regrown each winter. They usually start growing these at 2 years of age and by 3-4 years have reached their full length.
Ok, I uploaded these pictures the other day and now I'm getting around to labeling them and putting some info with them so they mean as much to others as they do to me.
We let the peacocks out over the weekend and they roam around the yard like everyone else. They only interact a little with the turkey and chickens, and the geese do not like them at all. So while we were eating breakfast they came up on the deck. I tried to take a picture thru the sliding glass door, but no luck. So I opened the door and finally got a picture. Then I stepped out onto the deck and got a couple more. All the peacocks were on the steps leading to the deck along with Archie and Edith, the little Cochins we got. We didn't realize they were going to be so small, and now it looks like we are going to have to keep them separate from the rest of the chickens. Archie is just not big enough to stand up to any of the other roosters, and I don't think Edith would take kindly to the big roosters trying to mount her. And when she does finally start laying, I want all her eggs to be true to her type. We will probably try to hatch them and sell the babies.
The picture below is one of our male peacocks. You can tell that it is male at this point by the mottled markings on its back. The males also have a brighter blue in their necks. The females are just a smooth brownish with out all the black markings in it. Anyway, the bird was the one up on the deck and while I was trying to get the picture, Marshmallow decided she wanted to come around to the deck and get in on the action. So the bird is trying to figure out where to go and what it should do. They aren’t really afraid of the dog, just smart enough to keep their distance. None of the males have started to grow their "Tails" this year, and I'm thinking the will not. It takes about 2 years to get a good tail and it isn't fully grown until 3-4 years of age. And since none of ours are even a year old yet, don't think it will happen this summer. This is the time of year they start to grow their new tails, and ours are all just large chicks. Next year they will be juveniles and maybe we'll see a tail then.
The picture below is of Hot Rod. He is our new Easter Egger Rooster, and not sure he even knows it yet. When we got the peacocks, they lady said she had an Easter Egger Poult she would throw in the deal. Since we already had some, I figured why not? And she was trying to get rid of the last of her stuff and I didn’t want to leave her with just one small chick. No one likes to care for just 1 chick. For those of you that aren’t familiar with poultry terms, a poult is a young FEMALE bird. And this one is definitely a MALE. But that is ok because when the stray dogs came thru last year and killed so many birds, the got my Easter Egger rooster. So I’ll I’ve had since is a Rhode Island Red rooster, and an Easter Egger/Rhode Island cross. The Rhode Island Red we put in the freezer last weekend. I mean, I like the birds and all, but that isn’t what I want my flock to be, or not what I want the sire of the chicks to be. The cross is cute. He looks like an Easter Egger, but he has the yellow legs of the RI Red. So now we have 2 roosters, the cross and Hot Rod.
The problem is this. Hot Rod grew up in the pen with the peacocks and Edith and Archie so he isn’t familiar with the others. But my intention was always to have him be the Alfa Rooster. And then one day we couldn’t find Archie. Hot Rod had pecked the back of his head bald and beat him up so bad Archie was hiding and not eating, and we were afraid he would die. So I took Hot Rod and put him in the coop with the big boys. And they don’t like him. Aflac the male goose goes after him big time. Hot Rod spends the night up on the feeder or someplace he can get away from the goose. So every night when I put the birds away, I have to let Hot Rod go into the peacock pen, then go in and catch him and carry him into the big coop. I keep hoping he’ll figure it out one day. I have started putting him on the roost instead of just throwing him in the coop. Not sure if this helps, but eventually it should. And if he ever hopes to be the big man in the yard, he’s gonna have to stand up to someone. I’ve seen him jump a few hens, kind of on the sly. But he needs to take ownership of the flock.
The other funny thing is every time I catch him, Archie runs up and jumps on his head. And it is so cute, this little black fuzz ball trying to jump on this big roosters head. Of course we see the same reaction in the other males too. When ever I catch one of the Toms, and especially when I string them up, the other males all come around to gang up on it.
With the holidays here and not working, and especially with the nice weather, we’ve been trying to let the birds all out each day. We let the peacocks out and then close their pen because the turkeys like to go in there and eat all their food. Not that it is any different, just they have their own. So we let the peacocks out, close their cage and then let the turkeys and such out. And I’ve been opening the garden gate so they can get in and out of there. The peacocks like to follow us around but not get too close to the turkeys. They all followed me into the chicken coop one day when I was went out to check eggs. They seemed right at home in it, and ate from the feeder and jumped up on the roosts. Was pretty cool. Didn’t have my phone with me to get any picks though. Then the turkeys came in. So there are 4 turkeys, 3 hens and a Tom, standing there looking at the 4 peacocks up on the roosts. Then we all left kind of peacefully.
So one day I’m sitting on the couch and the birds are out, and here come the peacocks, right up onto the front porch. Even Archie and Edith and Hot Rod were there with all 4 peacocks. Then the turkeys must have figured out they were there because they came up on the porch and chased the peacocks off.
And one day there were all there and we went to open the door to chase them off just as the turkeys came up on the porch and the end result was one of the peacocks got chased in the house. So we had it in the house on my knee. Took some pictures and then one got on Jeanne’s shoulder for a while.
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