Blue India Peafowl

Pavo cristatus

My "peadeck" with a mature Black-shouldered male, 3 Blue India hens, a juvenile White male and an Oaten hen

In 1963 the peacock was declared the National Bird of India because of it's rich religious and legendary involvement in Indian traditions. (Does this make it the world's first sexist national bird? What happened to the poor peahen?)

A peahen's clutch may range from 3—12 eggs, although 4—6 is average. The eggs are usually laid 2 days apart and in the later afternoon. Peafowl eggs take 28 days to hatch. The young are known as peachicks. For tips on raising peachicks, go to Raising Chicks. For ideas on acclimating newly acquired adult peacocks and peahens refer to the section on acclimating guineas.

For a breeding trio of peafowl you should have a minmum of 400 square feet (37 square metres). Larger pens are better. The roof should be at least 6 1/2 feet high, with sheltered roosts at least 40 inches off the ground.

Peacocks don't develop their long trains until they are 3 years old and they molt the train yearly. In New York they begin the molt in late July or early August and are finished by September. Here's a shot of my Black-shouldered male "Magritte" taken in early fall and another (poor) shot from December, when his train was about half grown back in. The train is not actually the peacock's tail. The train itself is composed of 100—150 upper tail coverts, which are supported by 20 retrices (true tail feathers).

Sexing Peafowl

Young Peafowl are not easy to sex. If you have a bunch of the same age, by a couple months the males will usually have longer legs. Another tip is the color of the outer primaries. This shows up fairly early. Below are some pictures of the primary feathers on male and female Peafowl.

The two shots on the left are a yearling male, on the right an adult female
Photos courtesy of Andrea Wieboldt

Blue India

The peacock I'm sure you all know. The ladies are called peahens! These are the peafowl that live wild in Asia. The other forms, such as White and Oaten, are varieties that have been developed through selectively breeding domestic populations.

Black-shouldered

Here's a 3 second, 463K movie of my Black-shouldered peafowl courting.

The difference between Blue India (left) and Black-shouldered peacocks
The green on the back occurs in both forms, but you can't see it on this Blue India as his wing is sitting a little high.

And here's a little of that green!
The above three images courtesy of Bill and Sue Tivol

And if you're wondering why a peacock has such a fancy display?

Molt: Peafowl, in the US at least, molt their trains sometime between midsummer and early fall. The new one is usually grown in by late winter.

This is my Pied Black-shouldered male "Salvador" right after he molted and about 2 months later

My Blue India / Black-shouldered male "Matisse" with his new train about halfway grown in
Photo courtesy of Ginger Carson

White

The White Peacock "Chantilly Snowman"
1 June 1989--18 March 2001

No one and nothing is as beautiful as Snowman. He's the showpiece of the farm. Here he is with his tail (train) spread, and here's the view from the rear. And you can watch the 5.5 second, 867K movie Snowman Running.

"Snowman" displaying
Photo courtesy of Maggie Becker

A snowfall
Photo courtesy of Di Countryman

I put in a skylight -- this may have been a mistake -- and "Flake" likes it

Yearling White Peafowl: "Norman" (on right) and "Flake"

This White Peacock was photographed traveling across someone's yard.
Photo courtesy of Jacky

My White peahen "GrantWood" at two years of age -- she was sold to me at three months old as a male, hence the masculine name
Photo courtesy of Ginger Carson

The strangest white peacock!
Photo courtesy of Rita Mischke

Peafowl x Guinea hybrids

Two peachicks, the dark one on the right is a Blue India and the lighter one is a Cameo
(the "headless" body belongs to a turkey poult)
Photo courtesy of NIcole Reggia

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Direct questions and comments to Barry at FeatherSite -- questions and comments