We have five peahens (female version of peacocks) who have been missing for about a week. As it is mating + nesting season here in Western Australia, it is quite likely that they are either hiding together and sitting on their eggs. But it is also likely that they have all been killed by foxes, and their eggs eaten.
All of the males are still around and call out constantly (imagine a wildcat’s yowl multiplied by several hundred decibels), but the only peahens still here are the two white Princesses and Gutsy9.
I have looked in the hayshed, listened for chicky sounds in the paddocks, and driven around the block in this little country town, searching for them – all to no avail – so now I don’t have any choice other than to give up and let nature take its course. I miss seeing those five girls fly into the trees at dusk and I hope they are okay and that we will see a few chicks but I am beginning to wonder now.
This didn’t happen last year because all but the two adults (King and Queenie) were still too young to do the mating thing properly – and I am still not quite sure how G9 survived before I found her!
I hope the peahens come back but maybe they are gone. There is no point trying to control what is, what was, and, sometimes, what will be, so I have stopped trying.
What will be will be.
jmgoyder 