[ Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
] Date Posted:05:14:38 03/06/08 Thu
Peahen Number 13 hatched in the summer of 1990 and grew up
to be an ordinary India blue peahen who laid good
hatchable eggs. About three years ago she began to change
colors with each molt and started to look like a juvenile
male. Finally she had the plumage colors of an adult male
and train three and a half feet long with eyespots as well
formed as any male. I was fairly certain that she was not
laying any eggs by that time but since there was another
peahen in that pen could not prove it--that is until I did
the post mortem on the unfortunate peahen.
I found her body on the floor in front of the perch where
she always slept beside Rainbow/Rambo.
Her oviduct was blocked like it had grown shut and was full
of yellow brown paste. There was a bit of eggwhite albumen
at the rear of the abdomen and some up front in thoracic
region. There was the very small remains of an egg in the
process of being absorbed.
As I carried the body away from the pen I could hear
Rainbow/Rambo calling. I know that he has only a bird's
brain but even that can remember a companion and miss her.
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Replies:
[> Subject: Re: THE DEATH OF PEAHEN IN MALE PLUMAGE
Date Posted:14:53:51 03/06/08 Thu
>Peahen Number 13 hatched in the summer of 1990 and
>grew up
>to be an ordinary India blue peahen who laid good
>hatchable eggs. About three years ago she began to
>change
>colors with each molt and started to look like a
>juvenile
>male. Finally she had the plumage colors of an adult
>male
>and train three and a half feet long with eyespots as
>well
>formed as any male. I was fairly certain that she was
>not
>laying any eggs by that time but since there was
>another
>peahen in that pen could not prove it--that is until I
>did
>the post mortem on the unfortunate peahen.
>I found her body on the floor in front of the perch
>where
>she always slept beside Rainbow/Rambo.
>Her oviduct was blocked like it had grown shut and was
>full
>of yellow brown paste. There was a bit of eggwhite
>albumen
>at the rear of the abdomen and some up front in
>thoracic
>region. There was the very small remains of an egg in
>the
>process of being absorbed.
>As I carried the body away from the pen I could hear
>Rainbow/Rambo calling. I know that he has only a bird's
>brain but even that can remember a companion and miss
>her.
How do you interpret your findings? This sounds like a hormonal change to me. ? JanL
[> [> Subject: Re: THE DEATH OF PEAHEN IN MALE PLUMAGE
Author:
D C T --friendly poultry orthopedist
[Edit]
Date Posted:18:06:45 03/09/08 Sun
>
>How do you interpret your findings? This sounds like
>a hormonal change to me. ? JanL
-----
I read somewhere that male peafowl color is caused by
female hormone being absent. Perhaps the blockage of
oviduct did something to hormone production. But I am NOT
expert about this.
I have several other peahens that do not lay eggs. Only one
of these is showing odd color but so far just not like the
late Peahen Number 13.
[> [> Subject: Re: THE DEATH OF PEAHEN IN MALE PLUMAGE
Author:
D C T --friendly poultry orthopedist
[Edit]
Date Posted:18:28:42 03/09/08 Sun
>Awww poor Rainbow/Rambo! It's very, very sad to hear
>them calling for a bird that's not there. :o(
----
It is sad to see him alone on that big perch. The other
India blue peahen seems to have a low opinion of peacocks.
The strange thing is that back when Peahen Number 13 had
normal plumage and laid eggs she did not get along with
Rainbow/Rambo. She would peck him on the head until he got
aggravated and pecked back. It was after the change that
they seemed to become like buddies. Somehow the lack of
hormones took away her spirit. I suspected that she did
not feel well and certainly got no pleasure from her good
looks. But I will miss showing her to visitors
----
I did see old Rainbow doing a friendship ritual with the
old green spalding peahen.--not mating but just putting
his head down to prove that he is friendly. Though she
lays internally she has so far kept her normal color.
I hope that the eggs are being absorbed in abdomal cavety
instead of staying in oviduct. If an egg strays out of
oviduct backwards into the abdomen a fleshy cyst forms
around it rich in blood vessels which absorb the egg and
eventually get rid of it....or by now that poor green
peahen would have died.
[> [> [> Subject: ANOTHER PEAHEN IS BECOMING STRANGE
Author:
D C T --friendly poultry orthopedist
[Edit]
Date Posted:06:11:24 03/12/08 Wed
a peahen in a different pen did not lay any eggs last year.
Her train is a bit longer than normal female train and her
color is different than it used to be. But she has a long
way to go before she looks like Peahen Number 13.
THE DEATH OF PEAHEN IN MALE PLUMAGE
Re: THE DEATH OF PEAHEN IN MALE PLUMAGE
BURY THE "SPAMMERS"