Peafowl 201: Further Genetics- Colors, Patterns, and More

[stephanier029]

Ok so folks I have very lite purple peachicks with a lot of white flight feathers. How do I sex them? They are about 2+ months old. I see some barring on the ones back and maybe very lite barring on the wing feathers but not sure.

 

[barkerg]

Ok so folks I have very lite purple peachicks with a lot of white flight feathers. How do I sex them? They are about 2+ months old. I see some barring on the ones back and maybe very lite barring on the wing feathers but not sure.

At that age it will be hard to visually confirm gender but it never hurts to try. Pics or it didnt happen is what I say, post some and lets see what you got. Remember, pics of peachicks are always needed,

.

Gerald Barker

 

[Midnightman14]

I've noticed with the purple and violeta birds genetics plays a HUGE part in how well they are colored. Birds that are more inbred tend to be barely distinguishable from IB birds in the purple mutation and with the violetas the deep plum color fades to a more flat purplish.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I wasn't sure whether to start a new thread or just ask here but since you all come here knowing that we like to talk colors and possibilities I thought I would come here to ask and say what I thought might be correct.....

Last year I bred my IB silver pied peacock to his IB silver pied hen and in the same pen had a Bronze hen, whom I believe is a white eye.
I have since lost the silver pied hen and do not think the offspring that I kept from that pen was from her (I never hatched any eggs from the pair in 2 years of trying) but rather the Bronze hen. The Bronze shows white feathering on her back and a tiny white throat latch. Though I am not experienced enough to know if all hens have a small white throat latch but feel the white feathers on her back is an indication of WE.

So anyhow, fast forward to now and I think the silver pied hen from that breeding should be bred to the Bronze father of my Bronze WE hen. What do you all think?
And would I possibly get Bronze WE or Bronze silver/pied from that cross?
Or would I just get IBs since the offspring's father was an IB silver pied?

Okay here are photos to maybe help out......

First, the silver pied pair. I still have Velocity, the peacock but Tempo, his mate, died last fall.




My oldest Bronze daughter, Dove, of my Bronze pair. Her mother passed away 2 years ago in a freak accident so I did breed her back with her father this year and kept 2 of the offspring. Her sister was also in the pen but shows no signs of being a WE. (I have photos of those offspring for the other page of questions!)



Those 3 above were in the pen together when I collected and hatched this girl out below.




I can't tell she has any IB coloring to her (which I would expect if her mother had been Tempo instead of Dove) and she is 17 months old now.
Do I put her back in breeding with her grandfather, the Bronze, to see if she is split Bronze? My thinking if she is, I will get Bronze silver pied or Bronze WE?
And if so, I could still get some IB since her father was silver pied IB?

Don't you love my genetics quandaries?

Thank you in advance. One day I may learn peafowl genetics but for now I am still stumped and yet can do my Cochins and other poultry okay. I have a mental block on peafowl genetics, I think.

Do you need more photos? I have a bunch but not sure if they would help or not.

 

[Peafowlssssssss]

I got confused a bit, which hens you are asking to put with which males? Do you have images of your bronze male? What are the parents of your silver pied hen? (colors not names).

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I am not sure how to explain it better. I tried to be clear though may have been rambling a bit. I tried to give all info I could along with photos.

Here is the Bronze peacock, father of the Bronze hen in the above post that appears WE. And also the one I wonder if I should put with the silver pied peahen, last photo in my post above.

 

[Arbor]

Hmmm. Looking at the supplied photos, your young sp hen is not bronze silver pied. That is not possible unless the father carried the bronze gene. Was the mother of the bronze w/e hen also a w/e? It seems slim that the bronze hen is the mother of the sp, but not impossible. If she is indeed the mother, I would breed her back to grandpa, but you should expect to get bronze w/e and blue w/e out of the cross. You will not get bronze sp out of that cross, but stranger things have happened.

 

[KsKingBee]

Just for reference, the hen in the center is a Bronze Black Shoulder White Eye, the hen on the right is a Bronze White Eye split BS. 2015 hatch birds.

 

[Peafowlssssssss]

If the bronze peacock is the father of that silver hen i would put her back with him, if he hatched silver chick once he could do it again.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Oh dear, from all the answers I am getting I guess I did not explain it well at all. I must have rambled on too much.

The Bronze is not the father, he is the father of one I suspect to be the mother of the SP hen, though I am not sure she is because an IB SP hen was in the pen with the IB SP peacock, too.
I just figured a Bronze WE hen crossed with a IB SP peacock may give me a overly white hen like her.

I plan to put the SP hen in with the Bronze in the spring. If she is not his granddaughter then okay. I can work with that, too. But if she is his granddaughter and is split to Bronze because her mother is a Bronze WE then all the better. I find Bronze to be rather dull by itself but then again, I am partial to pieds and SP in almost all variations.

What are projects for anyhow? LOL

To clarify........

This 18 month old hen, Glory (who, btw, is the one I did the double sinus surgery on this year)



is from the pen of these 3 birds........... a IB SP peacock and hen (in several years of trying to hatch from them I never got a single chick from the pair) and also this Bronze WE hen.





I was just curious if the SP hen, Glory, could be from the Bronze WE hen instead of the IB SP hen but I suppose only time will tell as I cross her with other peacocks of various colors. I am not sure what a SP Bronze hen looks like.