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The first generation would be splits (this is completely to be expected, and if I was to breed a blue budgie to a lutino budgie, all the F1 would be green), but from what I've been reading from people so far, no one has paired those splits together to see what happens in the second generation (if those F1 greens were mated together, combined blue and lutino would make albino budgies). Correct, we can't breed for a new mutation to occur (new mutations are random), but we can breed for new combinations of traits which previously existed independently. There are many examples of this with other species, and even within peafowl -- combining patterns works just the same. When blackshoulder was bred into Opal for the first time, the first generation would be IB barred wing, because that color and pattern are dominant to Opal and blackshoulder. By breeding these IB splits together, one can arrive at a new combination of Opal blackshoulder.
All I'm saying is that from the genetic information as presented, this is possible, but doesn't seem to have been tried into the second generation. Breeders have said they tried the first generation cross, but got just regular IB's, and then gave up or sold the birds. I think that what happens is that because peafowl take several years between generations, breeders are hesitant to make a long-range plan for something like this when they don't know what combined colors will look like, and which might not be attractive enough to sell. Additionally, the trend seems to be to combine patterns and/or make spaldings, so combining colors seems to have been lost in the shuffle. I have had a few PM's regarding this thread, and have directed some breeding plans which should result in a few combined colors in the second generation.
No disrespect to anyone, but I'm a skeptic who seeks evidence, and I appreciate all the input and experience on this subject. However, when people say something can't be done but no one has claimed to have tried (i.e. to the second generation), I can't simply accept "it can't be done." And if I lived in an area where I could have peafowl myself, I wouldn't even be asking -- I'd simply go at it myself and report my findings. Until then, I must live vicariously through you lucky people who can keep these beautiful birds yourselves.
~Christopher Gordon
The first generation would be splits (this is completely to be expected, and if I was to breed a blue budgie to a lutino budgie, all the F1 would be green), but from what I've been reading from people so far, no one has paired those splits together to see what happens in the second generation (if those F1 greens were mated together, combined blue and lutino would make albino budgies). Correct, we can't breed for a new mutation to occur (new mutations are random), but we can breed for new combinations of traits which previously existed independently. There are many examples of this with other species, and even within peafowl -- combining patterns works just the same. When blackshoulder was bred into Opal for the first time, the first generation would be IB barred wing, because that color and pattern are dominant to Opal and blackshoulder. By breeding these IB splits together, one can arrive at a new combination of Opal blackshoulder.
All I'm saying is that from the genetic information as presented, this is possible, but doesn't seem to have been tried into the second generation. Breeders have said they tried the first generation cross, but got just regular IB's, and then gave up or sold the birds. I think that what happens is that because peafowl take several years between generations, breeders are hesitant to make a long-range plan for something like this when they don't know what combined colors will look like, and which might not be attractive enough to sell. Additionally, the trend seems to be to combine patterns and/or make spaldings, so combining colors seems to have been lost in the shuffle. I have had a few PM's regarding this thread, and have directed some breeding plans which should result in a few combined colors in the second generation.
No disrespect to anyone, but I'm a skeptic who seeks evidence, and I appreciate all the input and experience on this subject. However, when people say something can't be done but no one has claimed to have tried (i.e. to the second generation), I can't simply accept "it can't be done." And if I lived in an area where I could have peafowl myself, I wouldn't even be asking -- I'd simply go at it myself and report my findings. Until then, I must live vicariously through you lucky people who can keep these beautiful birds yourselves.
~Christopher Gordon
