mutation Charcoal

[Dany12]

All the peahen charcoal are sterile ?
All the different pattern of charcoal peahen are sterile ?

 

[AnimalsRmyLife]

All the peahen charcoal are sterile ?
All the different pattern of charcoal peahen are sterile ?

Yes I think so but I'm not 100% sure. I read somewhere that Charcoal and Charcoal Black Shoulder peahens are believed to be sterile.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Pure Charcoal hens are sterile but I have heard some have crossed spalding with Charcoal and those hens do lay fertile eggs. This is why Charcoal males are bred to other colors ,charcoal bred to charcoal will produce hens that are yard ornaments,pretty birds with no reproductive value

 

[Dany12]

Has anyone ever done an autopsy to see where the problem is?
These hen mate? Her behavior in the spring .... they look at the roosters?
There are without libido or asexual. ?
The split charcoal hens are 100% fertile or they have small fertility problems?

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Split charcoal hens will lay fertile eggs. Clifton Nicholson told me he has a charcoal-spalding cross hen he did get fertile eggs from last year. I know one problem detected with Charcoals is they seem to age very fast. Friend of mine lost hers at age 7 and had a necropsy done, veterinarian said the lungs inside looked as tho they were from a 20 year old male. Charcoal Peacocks do not live very long, this is why many who have had charcoals stop raising them.

 

[Rosa moschata]

I wonder if Charcoal is better thought of as a genetic disease. Perhaps the mutation has an effect of accumulating substances which have a toxic effect over time. And if so, the color difference is simply a prominent visual diagnostic criterium. I'm thinking about some cage-bird "color mutations" which were difficult to breed because of associated health problems. Sometimes, the difference in color resulted from liver malfunctions -- and in effect, breeders were selecting for disease. It's hard to say without someone conducting a medical investigation. Perhaps if someone knew someone else doing that kind of biological research, the problem could be presented. From a scientific perspective, it would be something interesting to study, and a good topic for a publishable paper if results are found.