Aquaeyes...your imput on this .

[deerman]

In the bronze line of peafowl, this bird like the very first bronze, starts life like and bronze, but with each molt he is different, Myself I was trying to lock this in a line of bronze.

I know alot of peafowl breeders are afraid of this, because in the cameo it is a Lethal gene that cause the birds to go blind.

Doesn't look like its the case in the bronze.

Will post a few pics of him , i no longer have him. BUT HE HAS alway looked different each year.

first year no white

his first white fall molt yearling

have pic as a 2 yr old , little more white , he is never the same.

I know there is a pigeon breed that does this with each molt .....

 

[6littlechickies]

we are fortunate enough to now have this bird....he is hands down the most gorgeous peacock i've ever laid eyes on! Thanks again Burt, cannot express how much he means to us!

Very much looking forward to continuing the work you started with this bird!

couple additional pics for you aqua, these were all taken over the last few months. More are on our website too.

 

[AquaEyes]

I've read about this, but I don't know what specifically causes it. I do know that there have been "acquired-pied" birds of other species, which show variation in "pied" pattern from year to year, but they (from what I can remember) were not able to pass the trait on to further offspring. I really don't know. It could be some kind of instability in pigment production, leading to premature pigment-molecule breakdown before the feather is formed, resulting in white patches. Or the bird could be a form of mosaic, which is when not all the cells of the organism have the same genetic information. There could be production of some kind of "pigment-eating" enzyme which "digests" melanin in random areas. I've never seen an explanation for any of the other birds with "acquired pied" that was 100%, so I have no clue.



~Chris

 

[deerman]

dont think its mosaic , i had one in a racing homer....she was redcheck one side ,bluecheck other side.

 

[AquaEyes]

Yeah, now that I think of it, it probably isn't mosaic. If the areas of white plumage change from year to year, then there isn't a static "here is white, here is color" pattern. I saw this mentioned on the Roughwood Aviary site -- is this the same bird? Is it a descendant? If the "trait" of acquired pied is inheritable, I wonder if it can be separated from the Bronze gene. Meaning, are there birds with this "acquired pied" pattern that aren't Bronze? We already know there are Bronze without the pattern.

There is a type of pied in peachfaced lovebirds that might be similar. Birds generally increase the amount of "pied" markings as they age, but some feathers go back to green from molt to molt. There was some degree of inheritance involved, but, from what I can remember, not in a clear way, suggesting the trait is a combination of more than one gene.

There was some mention of whether or not this is the "death gene" in cameos. Well, I'm not that familiar with that, either, other than that I remember reading that they also started turning white before dying. All I can say is that if this bird is turning white and ISN'T dead yet

and then it must be something different. But what I don't know.



~Christopher

 

[AquaEyes]

I just had an interesting thought....have you noticed that this acquired-pied pattern is sort of working like blackshoulder, but in reverse? Meaning that blackshoulder males start out mostly white, and gradually start molting out the white and growing colored feathers. In this bird, it seems like it's working backwards. Might be COMPLETELY unrelated, but was just something I thought of and figured I'd share.



~Chris

 

[jimmythechicken]

what a cool looking peacock very cool

 

[syble]

has he been line bred yet? a daughter bred back to him?
Sib

 

[6littlechickies]

He has been displaying recently so we'll have to get a pic and post it to show the white really well in his train. Then it can be compared to the earlier display pic.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

BEAUTIFUL PICS OF HIM FROM BOTH OF YOU. fUNNY HE LOOKS ALMOST LIKE A MOTTLED CHICKEN NOW COLOR WISE.