I got a nice long video of Aris being Peahen Aggressive which is different than Peacock Aggressive. Peahens don’t like to fight if they don’t have to, they prefer to try to talk and posture until someone backs down. Usually one hen wants to fight even less than the other, so she will run before it becomes a fight.
Stan is not a peahen. In fact he’s not that great of a peacock, either. He has no idea he is being threatened until she bats a wing at him in an attempt to spook him off. Even then, you can see when I call his name that he straightens up out of fighting posture and keeps walking instead. You can also see that he’s standing upright almost the entire rest of the time just looking at her, occasionally shaking his head (which means approximately the same thing in peafowl as it does in human: no, don’t, dislike). But unlike Helios, who wanted to apologize to Aris for existing and was bowing and presenting his sexy neck bump, Stan is just. Absolutely clueless.
Some of the behaviors to look out for (and some are described in the video too) are Aris picking up and throwing down bits of things- grass, rocks. She’s grabbing at things near-ish to his feet in an attempt to get him to flush up (making him think she’s trying to bite his feet) and away. She’s got her head down, she’s shaking it and flicking it. She’s growling almost constantly. When she walks toward him, it’s never directly toward him, she puts the side of her body toward him and walks mostly sideways at him- this is so that she is in a position to lash out with a wing at him if he comes forward, which you can actually see her do toward the end.
Stan is off-balance at the end because he landed on the edge of a dust-bathing pit, and his rear-facing toe folded under his foot instead of operating as a stabilizing force behind his foot. I did step forward right as the video shuts off and send Aris back to her own pen because she can’t play nice with other birds still, and I had Stan help me out while I cleaned Aurora’s pen and we went for a nice walk around the fenced backyard to Look at things together.
I also want to make it clear, these birds were not penned in together with nowhere to go. Aris’ pen door opens into the pen they are in, and that pen’s door was propped open for the chickens to get some free range time in while I cleaned and did daily feeding chores. Stan lets himself into the pen so he can Look at things, particularly the babies. I was present a few feet away monitoring them while Aris was having words, and I interfered when I needed to do so. Some amount of squabbling and words-having and pecking order disputes are natural among flock members, but should not be allowed to escalate to injury. I recorded this with the intent to educate other peafowl owners in discussion groups I am a part of, since peafowl body language and verbalizations can be difficult to learn quickly, and I want folks to be able to understand and work with their birds easier. Basically: don’t try this at home.
