Peacock or Peahen??

[Garden Peas]

Yes that is what I was thinking and looking for some conformation. The throat patch is a sign that the hen is carrying some Pied genes but is not enough white to call Pied. The overall silver color of the hen is a sign to me that she is carrying White Eye gene and the white tipped feathers on her back and the one white flight makes me fairly certain. Like Garden Peas points out it will be interesting to watch her develop and if you see more of the white develop on her back it will be an even better indication of WE.

I would probably attribute the white flight feather to either a pied gene or a white gene -- not sure which one she has, though I'm thinking pied. I don't think WE causes a whole feather to be white, but someone with more experience could tell better than I can.

One of the things I've been wondering, though, is about white patches on the neck. I have heard it both ways, I think, that the white throat patch indicates a pied gene, or that the white throat patch indicates either a split to white OR a pied gene. I don't know which is correct, but I've been leaning towards thinking it specifically indicates pied rather than a split to white.

A white flight feather, of course, can mean either one, as in my neighbor's birds who each have a couple white flights and bred a white chick... obviously those birds are both split white, not pied...

 

[AugeredIn]

Quote: OK, we are going to get this white feathers, throat latch, splotches, silver colored thing right yet!

There are obviously three hens and a boy in the picture. We have that right. The first thing you notice about the one hen is the silver coloration on her wings. That definitively means that she carries white eye. Nothing else would affect her that way. Now she might carry one white eye gene, two white eye genes or even the "special" white eye gene that can produce silver pied (if it exists). I would guess she is a single white eye carrier and here is why. It is our experience ,usually, that two white eye gene carriers will have a number of splotched white feathers on the back and completely white secondaries or coverts in addition to the silver coloration.

She additionally has a white throat latch. This could be from the white eye gene but it could also signal split white. Most of our split pied birds don't have any white on them. If she had a white wing feather, I would be inclined to think she was split white as well.

 

[ChickaPea2014]

OK, we are going to get this white feathers, throat latch, splotches, silver colored thing right yet!

There are obviously three hens and a boy in the picture. We have that right. The first thing you notice about the one hen is the silver coloration on her wings. That definitively means that she carries white eye. Nothing else would affect her that way. Now she might carry one white eye gene, two white eye genes or even the "special" white eye gene that can produce silver pied (if it exists). I would guess she is a single white eye carrier and here is why. It is our experience ,usually, that two white eye gene carriers will have a number of splotched white feathers on the back and completely white secondaries or coverts in addition to the silver coloration.

She additionally has a white throat latch. This could be from the white eye gene but it could also signal split white. Most of our split pied birds don't have any white on them. If she had a white wing feather, I would be inclined to think she was split white as well.

She actually does have a hand full of splotched white feathers on her back and wings you just can't see them very well in the picture. Is the white eye breed on the rare side? It sounds like she's a special lady She is very beautiful I love her coloring it is almost a silver gray hue very pretty.

 

[casportpony]

Looks like a white patch on her left leg, just where the feathers end.

-Kathy

 

[Garden Peas]

OK, we are going to get this white feathers, throat latch, splotches, silver colored thing right yet!

There are obviously three hens and a boy in the picture. We have that right. The first thing you notice about the one hen is the silver coloration on her wings. That definitively means that she carries white eye. Nothing else would affect her that way. Now she might carry one white eye gene, two white eye genes or even the "special" white eye gene that can produce silver pied (if it exists). I would guess she is a single white eye carrier and here is why. It is our experience ,usually, that two white eye gene carriers will have a number of splotched white feathers on the back and completely white secondaries or coverts in addition to the silver coloration.

She additionally has a white throat latch. This could be from the white eye gene but it could also signal split white. Most of our split pied birds don't have any white on them. If she had a white wing feather, I would be inclined to think she was split white as well.

Hurray, rescued by the cavalry!!

 

[zazouse]

bet you can also find a white patch under a wing or under the tail feathers also

 

[casportpony]

bet you can also find a white patch under a wing or under the tail feathers also

Under the tail feathers... hmmm, haven't looked there on my pied yet. Thanks for the idea!

-Kathy

 

[Garden Peas]

She actually does have a hand full of splotched white feathers on her back and wings you just can't see them very well in the picture. Is the white eye breed on the rare side? It sounds like she's a special lady She is very beautiful I love her coloring it is almost a silver gray hue very pretty.

She is a beautiful hen!

Of course she is special!!!

White eye isn't a "breed" -- it's the name for one of the pattern genes in peafowl that can cause the eyes of the male's train to be white in the middle, or "white eyed" feathers.

There are a bunch of "varieties" of peafowl (The UPA has a list of what their group has approved as names); in order to specify a variety, you include the bird's COLOR and PATTERN.

There are a number of pattern genes such as black shoulder, pied, white and white eye. Many birds carry a white gene or a pied gene without it showing much, as they are both recessive genes.

The white eye gene has not been around as long, but it is a dominant gene, so if a bird carries even one white eye gene, it will most likely be visible. It expresses more strongly if there are two WE genes, one from each parent.

She's probably a good hen to have in your breeding program if you are trying to work with WE or silver pied birds... But aside from that, she is very lovely. Congrats on all four of your babies, they are cute!

 

[Garden Peas]

bet you can also find a white patch under a wing or under the tail feathers also

Under the tail feathers... hmmm, haven't looked there on my pied yet. Thanks for the idea!

-Kathy

If you can even think of looking under the tail feathers, your birds are tamer than mine

Although my biggest male is mooning us all again

-- one mildly warmish day, and he's all over it.

 

[casportpony]

The only one of mine that I can't do that with is my spalding hen, she's really wild, lol.

-Kathy