Peafowl Genetics for Dummies (in other words us)

[SunBaked]

Ahh okay, thank you

. So if he is with my silver pieds there could be white chicks since the silver pied has a white gene? Would it be 50% W and 50% IB/W?

 

[Arbor]

So if I understand it then since his dad looked IB he could not have a pied gene and so Schmindrick wouldn't be dark pied? Can a white female carry the pied gene?

His dad could have carried a pied gene, but 50% of his his fathers offspring would have been pied if bred to a white hen. No white bird can be split to pied. The bird would be either white (2 white genes) or pied (1 white, 1 pied).

 

[Arbor]

Ahh okay, thank you . So if he is with my silver pieds there could be white chicks since the silver pied has a white gene? Would it be 50% W and 50% IB/W?

All offspring of him with silverpied hens would carry 1 copy of the white-eyed gene. Of all these offspring, you would get pieds, whites, split to pied, and split to whites (all single copy white-eyed of course). 25% chance of any.

 

[SunBaked]

Thank you all very much

. I am so excited. I can't wait until he is old enough. For this year I am leaving the SP's with my BS male.

 

[Rosa moschata]

Getting back to understanding genetics, I've been re-reading Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks by Dave Holderread, and would highly recommend it as a sort of "primer" for anyone interested in figuring out genetics. True, it's not about peafowl, but the author does a wonderful job of explaining how the various mutations work, alone and with others, to result in the phenotypes of various duck breeds.

After describing the various breeds and the colors/patterns they display, in a further chapter on genetics he lays out which mutations are responsible, how they're inherited, etc. That basic knowledge can translate easily into peafowl. All you'd have to do is lay out the individual mutations in peafowl and how they are inherited -- Incompletely Dominant (White, Pied, White Eyed), Autosomal Recessive (Blackshoulder, Midnight, Bronze, Opal, Charcoal, etc.) and Sex-Linked Recessive (Purple, Cameo, etc.). Then see how mutations inherited the same way are presented for ducks. While we don't have all the same specific mutations, and appearances will thus differ, how they are passed down in breeding will be the same.

The next step would be in learning what peafowl would look like with these various genotypes. What is the visual difference, for example, between peas with no White Eye, one copy of White Eye, and two copies of White eye? What about the Pied gene -- Normal vs Split to Pied vs Dark Pied? When you understand how a genotype will look (i.e. its phenotype), then you can work in the reverse direction -- by looking at your birds, you can try to figure out their genotypes. For things you can't see (i.e. being split to Autosomal or Sex-Linked Recessive mutations), you'll have to know about their parents, or conduct test-breeding. But once you can assemble and record the genotypes of your peas, and after understanding how the genes are inherited, you can then answer your own "what do I get if...?" questions.



ETA -- if the section "Understanding Duck Colors" on Mallard-derived breeds is too complicated (because there are so many mutations), skip to the section on Muscovies, since there aren't as many mutations in that species.

 

[Dany12]

When even the UPA is wrong!
First pic .... Pied or SILVER pied ?

http://www.unitedpeafowlassociation.org/IndiaBluePiedPeafowl.html

 

[connerhills]

Pied,,, connerhills

 

[Rosa moschata]

Funny, I'd disagree....since it looks virtually the same as the first pic on the Silver Pied page. In fact, based on the markings at the back of the head, I'd say it was probably even the same bird.

Pied

Silver Pied

No wonder people are confused.

:-/

 

[Dany12]

Grey saddle .... white eyes !
Here the grey saddle ..... is more than visible!



This bird will be a beautiful peacock when it is adult!
Train totally green with white eyes ... no pied at all ! and totally white body !
A jewelry!

 

[connerhills]

Silver pied will have all white eyes.. George