Black shoulder charcoal peahens

[DylansMom]

Um...I thought most charcoal hens are sterile...

I thought so as well, that is why I was wondering if they were actually charcoal or were split to charcoal, can't tell from the pics. ????

 

[BYC-user-174785]

I cannot identify blackshoulder hens really, but they do have a gray look to me.

 

[DylansMom]

I cannot identify blackshoulder hens really, but they do have a gray look to me.

I cannot find a single photo of a Charcoal Black Shoulder Hen for comparison. The photo of these 2 looks blurred to me, so my eyes may be tired or it is blurry, but either way I cannot tell if they are Charcoal or split to charcoal.

 

[arockkid]

Alright. I am no expert on peafowl genetics. I would have never thought that any might be sterile. I'm going to call the breeder of these two, so can someone give me the rundown on what I should be asking? I am confused, because if the only way to achieve a charcoal hen is to cross a charcoal cock with another color, wouldn't it be split? I'd say I should have paid more attention in biology, but I'm guessing even that wouldn't help me. If these gals do just turn out to be lawn ornaments, I'll let them out now, so they can be just that In the meantime, I'll make that phone call, and see if I can get better pics as well.

 

[DylansMom]

Alright. I am no expert on peafowl genetics. I would have never thought that any might be sterile. I'm going to call the breeder of these two, so can someone give me the rundown on what I should be asking? I am confused, because if the only way to achieve a charcoal hen is to cross a charcoal cock with another color, wouldn't it be split? I'd say I should have paid more attention in biology, but I'm guessing even that wouldn't help me. If these gals do just turn out to be lawn ornaments, I'll let them out now, so they can be just that In the meantime, I'll make that phone call, and see if I can get better pics as well.

I'm not an expert either, but I believe there has been a lot of sterility in the charcoal hens. Charcoal males do not have the sterility issue, so if you want charcoals you would cross a charcoal cock with a hen who is split to charcoal then you would get a percentage of offspring that are charcoal. If it is a sex linked color and I don't know if it is, because I know relatively little about charcoals, but if it is then you can get charcoal hens from a charcoal male and any hen( because sex linked hens cannot be splits they either are the sex linked color or they are not). If the hens you have are split to charcoal they would probably be worth more as they would not be sterile and crossed with the male charcoals would give charcoal offspring. Genetics is complicated and there are a lot of folks on here that are better suited to answer your questions, but if it was me, the first thing I would do is find out if they are charcoals or split to charcoals.

 

[Arbor]

One might be charcoal (one on right), but neither look much different than a regular BS. Too much brown colouring around the neck. Possible they are splits, but even if they are splits, the only way to tell is to breed them to a charcoal male (or split charcoal). Charcoal is not sex-linked (thank goodness), otherwise there would be no such thing as a split to charcoal hen.