Can the Scovy White Head gene intensify barring? (PICS)

[keeperofthehearth]

Charlotte is changing color. When I bought late this last winter, I didn't notice her barring and just thought of her as a black pied. Over the course of this summer she has gotten lighter. Her face and head are turning white and her barring is actually intensifying. Her head crest is staying black though which looks even more wild now that her face is getting so white.
Charlotte shortly after we brought her home.

Charlotte last week.

It looks as if she may have the white head gene. It isn't just the lighting or the angle of the camera, her barrs really are becoming more noticable. In the last pic you can now see some barring on her back/shoulders. Can the white head gene intensify the white throughout the body basically bringing back lost barring?

 

[DuckFanatic]

Not sure I can answer your question for you but she is beautiful

I want a 'scovy so badly! That is also very interesting that she has changed so much!

 

[jmc]

been wanting to pursue this--and have been, in my little mind! I will be chiming in at some point!

In the meantime, maybe someone else with knowledge might offer something.

 

[jmc]

Charlotte is so interesting.

This is an amateurs offering. But it is a 'studied' "amateurs offering!"

First of all, I would not call Charlotte a Pied bird at all. The Duclair Pied looks quite different: more organized, so to say, in its colored and white pattern.

Charlotte would, in fact, seem simply to carry a single gene for white. That would explain her more random colored and white appearance. However, it is possible that she is a 'split Magpie', meaning that she may in fact carry a single gene for the Duclair pattern. However, you cannot tell this, as the Magpie pattern is manifest only in case of a bird having TWO and not just one Piebald gene.

I am not aware of the Canizie gene affecting barring or bringing back 'lost barring'.

And here is an important point: There is much about the Muscovy color genetic that is simply not known.

There are other 'grades' of genes that can modify in lesser ways. But they are not known in detail if at all--other than their existence--to my limited knowledge. Other genes can seem to 'go underground' only to resurface in later generations of offspring from the same bird(s)............

So as far as the barring phenomenon goes. To me, at least, that is a mystery as to why it should appear in some way at this time. Perhaps a breeder with experience could offer something. But unless such a one has been able to isolate genes in a laboratory or whatever, etc., (s)he still can't tell us too much about what is happening genetically here, really.

If you breed Charlotte in the future and keep track of her offspring, you will learn more about the genetic make up of Charlotte herself. It really takes a couple generations of breeding to get really solid knowledge of a bird's genetic makeup--so I've heard from those with way more experience than I.

Wish I could offer more.

Blessings to you!

 

[keeperofthehearth]

Thanks for your reply, John.

Now, I thought Pied was any colored Scovy with white and Duclair was a secondary designation signifying the tuxedo pattern. Charlotte has hatched one daughter that has the Duclair Pied pattern. Not a perfect pattern in that she has a few small black spots on her chest, as Charlotte does. I noticed her fm early on as looking very different fm the rest of the ducklings. I'm tempted to keep and breed her.

A second of our adult breeding girls, Arwen who we thought was a solid blue, is now showing signs of whitehead also. Why this gene manifests so late in some of these Scovies would be nice to know.
A third girl, Gwen who we knew to be a blue whitehead, has hatched 16 ducklings, some manifesting the whitehead at just 4 weeks old and others that haven't yet but I suspect may manifest it later as in Charlotte and Arwen. Possibly Gwen has a double dose of white?

We also had one Atipico/duskie drakelet hatch who at this time is fully black but since his father, Duke, has/had just a few white feathers and is NOW manifesting even more white as he molts, may in turn molt out w/white.

It's a tad difficult to tell customers what color these Scovies are when even the adults keep changing on me.
Oh well, good thing they are sweet.

Scovies!

 

[jmc]

Hello again!

BTW, inasmuch as Holderread seems to be hands down the finest breeder and keeper on the continent, if not in the world, I follow him as a guide, then make further deductions based upon data he gives............

I wouldn't be surprised if terminology with some and in various places is rather fluid. This is unfortunate for all of us, eh?

The Duclair Pied has other names: Piebald, Colored and White, Magpie, Parti-Colored....................

Birds having large patches of color and white are Duclair Pied. Moreover some Magpies may have more white on them than others, yet still be true Piebalds. In other words, a true Parti-Colored may look rather different from another true Parti-Colored, because the Duclair gene is highly variable in its expression (within limits, of course)
But once we get into a spangled, splashed, accident-looking bird (which I think are lovely!) we are outside the realm of the Colored and White and recognize merely a single gene for white being shown---so it seems.

A true Magpie, as one example, may have an all-white head; yet a true Magpie may also have a small black cap. And, of course, as I once owned, a true Magpie may have color spilling down onto its wing on one side, yet very little spilling onto its wing on the other side, and be a recognized Piebald--although a poor one!

A white-headed magpie may also have colored spangling on its head/face. I have two of those shaping up now. One is a chocolate and the other a b & w.

But in a certain sense, who cares??!! They are all sweet no matter; and I don't want to wax too pedantic, because I am just a student. Scovy color genetics is just something I enjoy thinking about, even if we really know comparatively little.................

 

[jmc]

Also, it would be great to see more pics of Charlotte in the future, as things progress.

Good learning opportunity!

 

[keeperofthehearth]

Also, it would be great to see more pics of Charlotte in the future, as things progress.

Good learning opportunity!

I was thinking the same. The rest of our adult Scovies are molting right now but Charlotte is on her nest and I haven't noticed molting on her part yet. It will be interesting to see if her barred apperance changes again after her yearly molt.​