What do you think? These are the two little guys our peacock hen hatched out this past spring. This photo was taken last week.
Boy peacocks or Girl peacocks?
This is the one with less white. He/she won't get off his swing today, he/she doesn't like getting feet wet!
They both look like males to me but it is hard to see their backs. Males have brown and black bares on their backs and hens are more solid colored. I can not remember what I gave you, do you have pictures of the parents? I think one was purple or something like that.
The male last year.
Can't find a photo of the female. I'll try and get some good shots when I go out next.
The Juveniles look like they have Java in them, with the tight crest. It is hard to tell but the adult cock looks like he does as well. The crest on an India Blue is fan shaped but the crest on a Java is very tight. Crosses will look somewhere in between. India Blues neck is dark Blue and crosses will be more terquoise.
After a second look I think they are both males. Both have the barring on their backs;
Can't wait for my pair to have babies. My handyguy is putting 4 foot wide chicken wire around the bottom after he fixes the pen. The Tuesday morning storm did some damage to the pen but they still cannot get out. He is gonna redo the door too..
Nadine and Terri, this year gather the first clutch of eggs and set them under a brood hen then let the peahen set her second clutch. This way your more likely to end up with something after all is over. Peachicks are very prone to getting worms and where a chicken will live through it, peachicks will sometimes die in just a few weeks. I keep my peachicks off the ground until they are about three months and then worm them every other week. Once frost has hit they are good to go. Terri, I know you have not had chickens and other fowl for very long, so your soil is not as contaminated with worms that affect peafowl and your peahen raised her own brood but the longer you have fowl on your place, the less likely your hen can do this.
I am pretty sure both of you have Purple hens and I now know that Nadines cock is split to Purple. He came from a friend in NY and is not kin to any of my birds. You two could trade birds to keep fresh blood and produce Blues, Blue Pieds, Blue Silver pieds, Purple, Purple Pieds, Purple Silver Pieds and Whites.
This is a young Purple Spalding cock;
Okay will keep that in mind..
Ours are pets. We are careful to treat them as if they were wild or semiwild. We don't hand feed them or anything like that. At some point we may want to breed a full clutch, but these two were a surprise. The hen had laid three clutches of eggs and I had dutifully taken her eggs away. She must have figured it out and hidden a couple of eggs. One morning I came out to feed and there they were! Two little baby peacocks! Both of the adults were very pleased. They still make a nice family, but I don't know that I really want more chicks right now. Both the moma and pappa are still really doting on these two chicks, so maybe the hen won't have so much energy to devote the laying a lot of eggs this year. We just really enjoy the peacocks we have. We'll see where it goes from here......
It usually takes me weeks to find the peacock nest. One year it was in the asparagus bed and I only found her because I was weeding and touched her back. She blended perfectly with the dirt and green fronds. Last year I found the first nest early, as it was exactly where the last one was. She was more careful with her second. I found it about two days before they hatched.
LOL! And mine are in a chicken run.