Developing White Eyes

[KsKingBee]

I have two, two year old cocks, one that I know is from White Eye parents and one that is questionable whether he is or not. Both have a few eyes on their juvenile trains but neither show any white in the eyes. Should I be seeing white now or is it something that develops as they get older?

 

[Peafowlssssssss]

I want to know the answer too, my friend has opal peacock he is 2 years old, came from parents carrying w/e genes, but he still isn't showing any white eyes in his train.

 

[AugeredIn]

Birds that have a single white eye gen can have variable numbers of white eyes and it has been my experience that they have very few if any when young. The location of the white eyes can change as well.

 

[connerhills]

I have had birds that did not get the white eye until they were 3 yrs or so .. I have a Bronze male that is going on 4 yrs and he has white eye this year . he came from a white eye breeding .. I had another Bronze male that did not show any white eye and produced some very good white eye offspring . One will show up on my web site soon. his brother at 3 yrs just has a few. Have had a number of birds that got white eyes late in maturing . connerhills

 

[DylansMom]

Birds that have a single white eye gen can have variable numbers of white eyes and it has been my experience that they have very few if any when young. The location of the white eyes can change as well.

I've seen this with 2 of my males that are single factor WE. When they were young I didn't even know they were single factor, they are 10-12 now and the WE is more visible every year, with more eyes showing white spots.

 

[Hannah15]

Does this tend to correspond to the birds that have less white on them elsewhere? I have two yearling opal white eye cocks. One has white flights, a large white throat spot, and several lighter feathers on his back. The other has a very small white throat spot, possibly no white flights (maybe one, but I'm not sure). He did have a white spot on his head when he was a chick and does have some lighter feathers on his back. The two hens also have a difference in amount of white expression as well. I don't need two males, so I figured I would sell the one that has less white, in the assumption that he would likely have fewer white eyes. Correct assumption?

 

[DylansMom]

Does this tend to correspond to the birds that have less white on them elsewhere? I have two yearling opal white eye cocks. One has white flights, a large white throat spot, and several lighter feathers on his back. The other has a very small white throat spot, possibly no white flights (maybe one, but I'm not sure). He did have a white spot on his head when he was a chick and does have some lighter feathers on his back. The two hens also have a difference in amount of white expression as well. I don't need two males, so I figured I would sell the one that has less white, in the assumption that he would likely have fewer white eyes. Correct assumption?

Not sure if there is a correspondence here. My one male referenced above started with all red flights except one that was whitish powdered looking, now 12 years later almost all his flights are white or have that powdered look. So that has increased with age as well as the white on the eyes.

 

[KsKingBee]

And the white will also go backwards as it did in my IB Pied WE. Last year he had about a dozen white eyes, this year only two or three, that really threw me for a loop. Luckily I had picture documentation or I would have gone on thinking I was just suffering from CRS.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

I have a black shoulder IB male that will be about 5 yrs old this spring. I first started noticing a few white eyes 2 years ago,,last year a few more,,this year more but not 100% all eyes are white. I have paired him with two hens,,both IB hatched from my bssp hens when I first brought them home. These bssp hens was in an overflow pen so it's anybodies guess who the father was. One of these hens does have a few white flights,,the second hen hen doesn't have any white in her wings,but both hens have the white "shadow" effect on feathers around their necks and across their backs. I know both these hens carries at least 1 copy of white and are no less split to b/s,,and possibly carrying pied. I'm hoping to keep all chicks I hatch and then see if any males will be bs with 100% w/e trains.

 

[DylansMom]

And the white will also go backwards as it did in my IB Pied WE. Last year he had about a dozen white eyes, this year only two or three, that really threw me for a loop. Luckily I had picture documentation or I would have gone on thinking I was just suffering from CRS.

He wasn't a BS was he? I remember being puzzled by your picture showing white tips on train feathers, but not in the center of the eye like a WE should be. Then I noticed these on my Purple BS Pied boy, they look like the ones your boy had don't they? I am thinking this may be a BS or Pied thing as opposed to a WE thing...... maybe?