I'm confused

[Mountain Peeps]

I'm confused! So how many peafowl breeds are there? I read somewhere there are only two but then I see all these long lists. Is there just two breeds with tons of colors and varieties? Or are there tons of breeds with tons of colors and varieties?

Please help me out here

 

[SD Bird Lady]

I have wondered this as well. Hope someone can shed some light on the topic.

 

[Garden Peas]

It seems more complicated than it really is.

India Blue birds are one species.

Green birds are separate species (I get confused as to status of greens, there are green experts here, I'm not.)

Crosses between IB birds and green birds are spaldings, and vary in appearance depending on how much green blood.

IB birds have different pattern mutations (white, pied, blackshoulder) and different color mutations (purple, midnight, peach).

To "name" a bird, you name first its color, then its pattern(s), and you indicate if it is a spalding. The UPA has a list of varieties which basically works through the possible combinations for the known colors and patterns. White is a pattern but sometimes treated as a color for naming purposes. White conceals all the other colors and patterns.

Make sense?

 

[Mountain Peeps]

It seems more complicated than it really is.

India Blue birds are one species.

Green birds are separate species (I get confused as to status of greens, there are green experts here, I'm not.)

Crosses between IB birds and green birds are spaldings, and vary in appearance depending on how much green blood.

IB birds have different pattern mutations (white, pied, blackshoulder) and different color mutations (purple, midnight, peach).

To "name" a bird, you name first its color, then its pattern(s), and you indicate if it is a spalding. The UPA has a list of varieties which basically works through the possible combinations for the known colors and patterns. White is a pattern but sometimes treated as a color for naming purposes. White conceals all the other colors and patterns.

Make sense?

Thank you very much! That has helped a lot!

 

[Garden Peas]

Oh good! And there's still a couple days before Christmas, in case you need Santa to drop some peas off to join your flock

Then you can become pea-brained like the rest of us...

(Not me, but there are always folks here who want to spread the pea-cheer

)

 

[Mountain Peeps]

Oh good! And there's still a couple days before Christmas, in case you need Santa to drop some peas off to join your flock

Then you can become pea-brained like the rest of us...

(Not me, but there are always folks here who want to spread the pea-cheer

)

Haha! That is too funny!

I've been researching and learning about peafowl for about a year now. I've learned a lot but the whole breed thing was still rusty. So thank you again!

I would get some peas but I do not have room. Hopefully one day though!

 

[Garden Peas]

Sigh. I don't have room either.

But they are here anyway

 

[Mountain Peeps]

Sigh. I don't have room either.

But they are here anyway

Haha!!

 

[MinxFox]

This might be helpful as far as India Blue Varieties: http://bamboopeacock.com/Peafowl_Varieties.html

To better understand green peafowl compared to India Blues, there is this article: http://bamboopeacock.com/Green Peafowl Vs. India blue.html

India Blues and green peafowl are the wild types. They are the original peafowl and peafowl breeders have taken these original types and created many varieties from them. Green peafowl are broken into 3 subspecies, which the above article link mentions. Several people suspect there are more subspecies, but mainly people just breed the three recognized subspecies. There are no varieties that come from pure green peafowl.

India Blue peafowl and any green peafowl subspecies can be crossed, which creates a hybrid bird called a spalding. Spalding peafowl are not sterile so therefore they can reproduce and most colors and patterns are also in spalding birds such as Spalding pied, Spalding Cameo, etc.

There are still new varieties being created all of the time so the number of varieties changes. The United Peafowl Association has a list of peafowl varieties, but their list is not complete. There are even more varieties out there that are not listed.