Peafowl Genetics 201: Further Genetics- Colors, Patterns, and More

NOTE: This has been directly copy/pasted from my previous thread on the subject, so that I can update the information as more is learned about peafowl genetics.

Welcome! If you are here, I assume you have made it through Peafowl 101: Basic care, genetics, and answers (and if you haven't you may want to start there) and are ready for a second dose of knowledge. This thread is hopefully going to be very helpful to anyone who has questions about how peafowl colors and patterns transfer as well as answer a few other questions. If you have no prior knowledge, I suggest reading this twice; once to read the information and a second time to see how the bits all relate. If you have questions or comments that are NOT answered by this page, please PM me and I will work to get an answer.

A lesson in basic genetics
You may be familiar with some basic genetic ideas but in case you aren't, here's a quick overview as it relates to peafowl.

It is first important to understand the difference between a gene and an allele. A gene is the portion on a chromosome that codes for a trait. For example, you have a gene for eye color. The gene is the housing for the coding for eye color, not the quite coding itself. An allele is the coding variations of genes. An allele determines what color your eyes are (brown instead of blue). So you have a gene for eye color and the alleles of that space on the chromosome specify which color that is.

It is also important to understand genotype vs phenotype. A genotype is what genes and alleles the organism actually carries while a phenotype is what coding the organism displays visually. An India Blue peafowl that carries Bronze (we say Blue split Bronze) would genotypically be blue and bronze. Phenotypically, it would be a normal India Blue because Bronze is not displayed.

Before doing ANYthing with peafowl genetics, you must understand that there are only two domestic species: Pavo cristatus and Pavo muticus*: The India Blue and the Green. The Green has 3 sub-species: Muticus, Imperator, and Specifier... however, the Green has NO color mutations to date. The India Blue has NO sub-species, but it has many color mutations. It's important to keep in mind that while 'blue' is a color, it is also the name of the species. Therefore, when someone says 'blue is the dominant color' they are not entirely accurate. Blue is the wild type, and for a bird to deviate from the natural wild type, it must have two copies of an allele. A 'split' bird displays blue not because blue is dominant, but because 'Blue' is the species (the wild type) and it is only carrying one copy of the mutation.
*There is one other species of peafowl, Afropavo congensis. This is the Congo Peafowl and as it is namely wild or in zoos and is not commercially available, it does not factor into this discussion.

Lastly, you must understand sex-linked traits in birds. In humans, the chromosomes which carry sex are written XX (females) and XY (males). In birds, the chromosomes for sex are written ZZ (males) and ZW (females). Sex-linked colors in birds are displayed only if both the male's Zs have the allele, but the female only needs her 1 Z to have the allele.


Common Terms
Split: This indicates that the bird is carrying the color that follows. IE: A Blue split white is an India Blue carrying the white allele. In other genetics, this is referred to as "het" as in "heterozygous."
Spalding: This refers to any Pavo cristatus bred to Pavo muticus, resulting in a mixed species (hybrid) bird. Unlike most hybrids, spaldings are fertile.
Breed True: This refers to whether or not a color/pattern when bred to itself (ie, blue to blue) will produce 100% the same color.
Sex-linked: Refers to a trait (in peafowl it usually refers to color) that is transferred on the sex chromosome.


Colors Versus Patterns
In peafowl, color and pattern are two different traits and are transferred independently. I'm sure you remember this from Peafowl 101, but here is the list again.

Colors:
Blue, White*, Charcoal, Bronze, Opal, Midnight, Jade, Taupe, Peach, Purple, Cameo, Sonjas Violeta
The above are (or are color mutations of) the Indian peafowl. The last four are sex-linked colors.
Green colored peafowl belong to the Muticus species, or are hybrids between Muticus and the India blues, called Spaldings. We will discuss them later.
*Please see White and Pied section below

It is important to understand that the above colors display as a phenotype. Genotypically, the birds are still India peafowl. For example, if a Bronze bird is bred to a pure blue the kids will all be Blue split Bronze despite that it looks like there is no blue in the Bronze parent. The exceptions are the sex-linked colors, which we will discuss later.

Patterns:
Barred wing- Wings are brown/tan and black 'striped'. This is the wild type pattern and many will not say 'barred wing'. If 'solid wing' (see below) is not indicated, barred wing may be assumed.
Solid wing (also known as Black Shoulder and abbreviated as BS)- Where the barring is on barred wing will be solid black/green/blue colors. This was the first pattern mutation.

Leucistic mutations:
Leucism is a genetic condition which results in an animal which produces pigment but lacks the cells to deposit it on hair and feathers, resulting in some degree of completely white coloration. It is not technically a color or a pattern the way the others are, but most people file "white" under 'color' and the other mutations under 'pattern.'
Pied- White patches on body (result of leucism genes). This was the second pattern mutation.
White eye- The black eye of the train feathers will be white (or have white spots) in males and females are typically lighter in color (as chicks and as adults). Some birds can be white-eye without displaying white eyes. Additionally, this pattern is co-dominant. Only one parent needs to have this mutation for the offspring to have a chance at displaying it. This was the third pattern mutation.
Silver pied- Body looks white with patches of color. This is in interaction of the other three leucstic genes (white, pied, and white-eye). This is the most recent pattern mutation.
(White, see 'White and Pied' below- White is a color, but it will mask all other colors and patterns. The colors and patterns will still be present genetically.)

**Special Note: You may hear used the name "Oaten" and there have been questions about what this means. Oaten was the original name for Cameo BS, when they first appeared. People thought this was a new color, until it was determined this was just a pattern variation of a known color. There was also Jetta, an attempt to name a new color when in fact the birds were Opal with a new pattern. Thanks to ConnerHills for this information!

There are currently over 200 United Peafowl Association approved varieties of peafowl and more possible.

Proper Grammar of Bird Lineage
This is quoted exactly from Brad Legg's UPA Approved Varieties page because I don't feel like rewording it: "The India varieties are listed with color first; then pattern, (if multiple patterns, then the oldest pattern is listed first with each different pattern listed in next sequence of existence). Hybrid varieties are listed with Spalding name first, then color, then pattern (if multiple patterns, then the oldest pattern is listed first with each different pattern listed in next sequence of existence)."


Split Colors
To understand what a 'split' bird is you have to have a grasp on what it means to carry a color. A carried color is a color the coding for which exists in the bird genotypically but is not displayed phenotypically. In order to display one of the color mutations, two copies of the mutation must be present. Not all coding for the various colors are located in the same place on the chromosome or even located on the same chromosome. For instance, the sex-linked colors are located on the sex chromosome. The only alleles (variations) which are known to exist (meaning the only two bits of coding which replace one another on a chromosome because they code in the same place) are White and Pied (yes, Pied is a pattern). For more about this, please see the white and pied section.

Namely what you will see in birds is blue split to other colors. Blue split to White, Blue split to Purple, Blue split to Bronze, etc. This is because it takes 2 of any color code to make the color display, and having only one (ie, split to the color), will default the bird to the wild type blue coloration. The only color change in a split bird occurs when the bird is split to white (or silver pied). In this case, the bird will show white wing coverlets/primaries

As far as we know, mutation split mutation (ie: Bronze split Opal, Taupe split Charcoal, etc) and double-color birds of non-sex-linked colors may not all exist. No one so far as proven that any of the colors are alleles of any of the other colors, meaning no one can prove that any of the coding for these colors exist on the same area of the same chromosome and would replace one another.

We do know that the sex-linked colors can carry (be split to) the other colors, as we know they are on the sex chromosome and the others are not. Taupe is an example of this: A Taupe bird has 2 purple and 2 opal alleles.


Sex-linked Colors
The current sex-linked colors are Purple, Cameo, Peach, and Sonja's Violeta (the newest). These colors do not transfer between birds like normal colors. Instead they travel on the sex chromosomes. Males must have 2 copies of the allele to display the color but females only need 1 copy. For the sake of simplicity, I will show the transference of the color when bred to a Blue. I will use purple as the sex-linked color. I will add pictures of punnet squares for visual examples when I get the time to use a scanner.

Purple male x Blue female = Blue split Purple males and Purple females
Purple female x Blue male = Blue split Purple males and Blue females

When a sex-linked color is bred to a blue split to its own color (ie purple bred to split purple), males and females of the sex-linked color can be produced. Remember that blues split to sex-linked colors will ALWAYS be male (see below). Additionally, the sex-linked colors will breed true when bred to itself.

Purple female x Blue split Purple male = Blue split Purple males, Purple males, Blue females, and Purple females
Purple male x purple female = Purple males and Purple females

No female will ever be split to a sex-linked color, because they only need 1 copy to display the color. A female with the gene will always be the sex-linked color. I will use Purple again as my sex-linked color for an example.

Purple male x Opal female = Blue split Purple/Opal males and Purple split Opal females

When two sex linked colors are bred together, the male offspring will be blue split the colors of the parents and the females will be the color of the father. Let's use Peach and Purple as our two sex-linked colors.

Cameo male x Purple female = Blue split Cameo/Purple males and Cameo females

Splits of sex-linked colors (which only males can be split) bred would look like this:


Blue split purple male x purple female = Purple males, blue split purple males, blue females, and purple females
Blue split purple male x blue female= Blue split purple males, blue males, blue females, and purple females

A note on Peach color: Peach is an interaction of the Purple and Cameo colors. A Peach bird has 2 purple and 2 cameo alleles, and could produce either when bred to other birds.


Mechanics of the 'White' Color and Pied Pattern
White and Pied birds are NOT albinos or partial albinos (ok, they are not USUALLY. An albino peafowl would be white, but a white peafowl is not an albino). Albinism is the absence of melanin production in the body and applies ONLY to birds who fail to produce melanin. A partial albino is a creature who has other forms of pigmentation (for example, carotenoids) and may still display some color. Albinos will lack color in their skin and eyes, not just their feathers.

Leucism, on the other hand, is a failure to properly deposit pigment (all pigments) on the feathers due to the failure of pigment cells to move to their proper location on the body from the neural crest. Leucism affects only the feathers of the bird, leaving the skin and eyes normal colored. Partial leucism results in the pied coloration (in any bird, not just peafowl. Wild pied or piebald birds can be found, but are very rare and usually are killed quickly by predators or do not get to breed because they don't look right). Total leucism can result in a completely white bird, which is how we have white peafowl. Pale leucism can affect part or all of a bird, resulting in washed out plumage instead of totally white plumage.

Because leucism is a failure of the color to be put into place, not a failure of the color to exist, it is possible for white birds (and pied birds) to exist with other colors and other patterns. A white bird may also be genotypically a purple bird, or a bronze bird, but the 'white' would mask these colors completely because the pigment for them would not be deposited on the feathers. Thus, a bird could genotypically be purple or bronze or any other color, but would phenotypically be white, and would breed true to white. In this way, white birds may be 'split to' other colors or patterns depending on parentage (for instance, a white bird from silver pied parents would breed 100% silver pied offspring if bred to a dark pied from silver pied parents, because both birds would be carrying silver pied... even though neither of them looked silver pied!).

A white bird carries 2 copies of the white allele (noted as WW)
A pied bird carries 1 copy of the white allele and 1 copy of the pied allele (noted as Wp)
A dark pied bird carries 2 copies of the pied allele (pp)

There is currently a theory regarding the other leucistic gene, White-Eye (WE), in that there are two different WE genes. One (WE) produces clean white eyes on a bird, the other (SWE) produces white eyes but also causes the total-body silvering effect seen in Silver Pied birds. A bird (including a pied bird) may have the first white eye gene without being silver pied.
Silver pied birds are a result of an interaction between white, pied, and SWE alleles.

A white bird cannot also be a pied bird, as the pied gene is an allele for the white gene. A bird cannot be both a partial leucistic bird (pied) and a total leucistic bird (white) at the same time. It is also true that a total leucistic bird will never revert to partial leucism, meaning a white bird will never create a pied bird offspring because they are different genetic codes.

In this sense, white and pied are not truly colors or patterns; they are the masking of color and the interruption of patterns. However, we will place them into the color and pattern categories respectively because it's easier. However, bear in mind when selecting whites that parentage can matter and that not all white birds are created equal. A white bird out of, say, a purple BS silver pied pair, will carry the genetic information for purple, BS, and for SWE. This information can be vital for breeding. For example. if you wanted to produce ONLY opal pied birds, you could acquire a white out of opal pieds, and a dark pied out of opal pieds, and when bred together they would produce only opal pieds (as opposed to breeding 2 opal pieds together, which would give you 25% whites, 50% opal pieds, and 25% opal dark pieds). So, it's important to know what your lucy genes are masking if you intend to breed anything other than white to white.

More information on leucism:
Leucism: Wikipedia Entry
Leucism in Wild Birds
The differences between Albinism and Leucism


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An explanation of Patterns
The wild type pattern for the India blue is to have barred wings and full color. The mutations for pattern occur in 4 ways- blackshoulder, pied, silver pied, and white-eye. The 'color' white will mask ALL of these patterns, but the bird will still genotypically have a pattern. In blackshoulders, the barring on the wings becomes a solid, dark color (which color depends on what color the bird is). Barred wing and Blackshoulder are mutually exclusive- no bird can display both. However, barred wing birds can carry (be split to) the blackshoulder pattern.

In white-eye mutations, the eye of the train feathers on the male (not the eyeballs of the bird) can sport white spots or be entirely white (although it's possible for a bird to be white-eye but not display any white in the eyes).

The pied pattern is actually a result of what is called leucism or incorrectly called partial albino. In a leucistic bird, the pigment is not deposited on the feathers properly (unlike an albino, where pigment is absent). In birds, this can be displayed as pale leucism (meaning the color/patterns on the bird is washed out, but still visible) or as pied (meaning there are patches where the pigment is unable to display), resulting in white patches over the bird. As pied is a result of pigment deposition and not of pigment absence, the patches of white will be located in different areas on each bird depending on where pigment deposition is inhibited on an individual bird. The pied pattern has nothing to do with the white color allele and cannot be obtained through breeding a wild type to a white bird.

The silver pied is a result of 3 conditions working together- the pied pattern, the white-eye pattern, and the white color allele. Despite the white color affecting the bird, silver pied IS a pattern and not a color; there can be blue silver pied vs purple silver pied, and others. The silver pied pattern is mutually exclusive to the pied pattern- no bird can display both because of the (probably single or partial) white allele in the silver pied pattern. The silver pied pattern is inclusive of the white-eye pattern, so all silver pied birds are also white-eye.
For more on the history of the silver pied, see here: Brad Legg's Silver Pied


Muticus Species
The Muticus species is also called the Green peafowl. It is an Asiatic peafowl whose wild range is from Burma to Java, and as such they prefer much warmer temperatures than the India Blue. The Greens are the only other relevant species of peafowl. The species has 3 sub-species: Muticus-muticus, Muticus imperator, and Muticus-specifier. There are NO color mutations in this species (yet).

This species can be crossed with the Pavo cristatus or Indian peafowl, but the resulting chicks are considered to be of Indian peafowl descent with green blood mixed in. These chicks are fertile hybrids called Spaldings (named after the lady who did it first).


Spalding and Emerald Birds
A spalding is a hybrid bird, an India Blue with Green blood. The original spalding birds were bred by Mrs. Keith Spalding. Spaldings tend to be taller than normal Blues.

A spalding with 75%+ green blood is referred to as 'Emerald'. Many today refer to their birds as Emerald when this is not actually the case. As many spaldings now are bred for their phenotype and not their genotype, a green looking bird may NOT have as high of green blood as the breeder lets on by saying 'Emerald'. A true Emerald will be 75%+ green by their genotype.


Thanks!
I'd be a fool not to thank all the patient people who explained, re-explained.... and re-re-explained all of these things to be not less than a gajillion times. Deerman, Kev, and Cherokee Trail Farm were especially were key in explaining the stupid stuff to me very patiently... over and over... and over... and over......... lol! It was much easier once you guys started explaining things 'the hard way' through base genetics... so I've tried my best to replicate that here for anyone who may be missing important information like 'birds have z's and w's instead of x's and y's - and oh yeah they are opposite' and 'the color genes aren't all in the same locus on the same chromosome'.

I would also like to disclaim here that this information may be out of date when you read it. I wrote this originally 10 years ago now, and although I have made some updates, things are always changing. There's a bunch of new colors now and I haven't had the time to keep up. I do hope to update it with more information and organize it a bit better at some poit.


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If you would like to learn more about peafowl genetics, here are some great resources.

Legg's Peafowl Genetics
Hopkin's Livestock Peafowl Genetics
History of Peafowl Color and Pattern Mutations

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If you have questions that are NOT answered by the above or have additional helpful links that should be included, please post a reply here or PM me and I will work to get an answer.
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Kedreeva
Head of Longfeather Lane. Mom to a small host of peafowl, chickens, and a very loud turkey. Animal care technician, animal behaviorist, and writer in her spare time. Trying her best.

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Excellent article, explains genetics so it is easily understood. I have comeback to this stickie several times.

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