color question again.

[kfacres]

Last spring, you'll remember me talking about, and asking about a buff colored guinea I had..

I mated the buff dundotte male-- to my unpure pearl hen... and got all buff colored and pearl colored keets this summer and fall... however, I have one that throws me for a loop... it appears to be colored as a pied buff would be-- but everywhere that would normally have white-- has blue, and the buff is present normally.

 

[PeepsCA]

Can you post some pics of that bird? Several please

I've never hatched any Guineas with both blue and buff (gened) feathers showing. 2 different shades of buff or blue colors yah, (sunbleached), but never a bird that displays both blue and buff. What did it look like as a keet? Have any pics? The way I understand it is that the gene that determines the color of a Guinea's base feathers only has one spot to fit into on a Guinea's genetic make up, and the Pied gene is something different altogether and also has it's own spot... so I need to see it to believe it, lol.

 

[kfacres]

I *might* be able to post some pictures--- but they might not be very good...

The story is complicated-- but I'm in the middle of moving into a new house- and packed up all the birds to stay for a month at my parent's and grandparent's place-- until we can get moved into the new house and a bird pen built.

This bird is young, and still has several more molts to go through before being mature...

However, I did, as an afterthought take a few pictures with my phone right before putting them on the truck to head home. The lighting could have been dark- so I'm not sure what the pictures will look like...

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I would really love to see photos, too! This sounds most interesting! Maybe you have a new variety!

 

[kfacres]

The two chocolates are not from this breeding pair of mine-- they were 'imported' eggs. The pearls, buffs, and this blue ordeal-- are from my Buff male and pearl hen.

 

[PeepsCA]

Thank you for posting pics

That's a Violet keet, most if not all of the tan will molt out by the time it's 14-16 wks (basically the same way Pearl Grey keets lose all their brown feathers), and it will feather in as a darker dusty grey color. It may have get a brown/bronze tint to the wings/back as it matures and/or sun fades.

I don't see any Chocolates... but it may be the lighting in the pic. One keet looks like it is feathering out Blonde.

 

[kfacres]

Thank you for posting pics

That's a Violet keet, most if not all of the tan will molt out by the time it's 14-16 wks (basically the same way Pearl Grey keets lose all their brown feathers), and it will feather in as a darker dusty grey color. It may have get a brown/bronze tint to the wings/back as it matures and/or sun fades.

I don't see any Chocolates... but it may be the lighting in the pic. One keet looks like it is feathering out Blonde.

Violet- interesting color... I'll have to research it.

There are two keets in the pen that came from Chocolate parents from a friend of mine in Iowa. I am not sure if these are in this picture or not- I have 10 total, and it appears that only 4 or 5 are in this picture. They are the smallest and youngest 2 in the pen. From what I can tell, the Choco keets are coming more white than choco-- I think the smallest keet on the upper left is one of the choco ones.

Thanks for your help, it's sure nice to be able to turn to someone who knows something.

 

[PeepsCA]

A lot of people (and even some hatcheries, apparently) are incorrectly identifying/selling lighter birds as Chocolates, when they should be labeled as Blondes or Buffs. Chocolates do hatch out/mature out into different shades of brown (depending on the genetics of the parent birds), but not different shades of tan/buff. Chocolates should be a brown based bird with no dilution in the color gene (and typically the flank feathers always stay dark, despite the amount of sun fading). You can only bend so far with the color gene's dilution until the bird gets bumped down to being called the next lighter color tho.

 

[kfacres]

How does this violet color breed on? what are the two next closest colors to it?

 

[PeepsCA]

Violet is a non-pearled variety, meaning it has no pearling (and Royal Purple is partially pearled, a Pearl Grey is fully pearled... but these 3 colors all have basically the same base color). The base color on a Violet is dominant over all other colors, and unless you have more birds in your flock in the non-pearled variety (of any color) or that are carrying the non-pearled gene (hidden) you may not see any more Violets (or any other non-pearled color) hatch out until the 2nd generation can breed back to the parent or with each other because the non-pearled gene is very recessive (the fully pearled and partially pearled genes are dominant over non-pearled gene). IMO, would say Copper and then Slate are the next 2 closest colors.

Did you hatch that keet from your flock? Do you have any pics of it when it was still covered in down or first hatched and fluffed?