I purchased a pair of Sonja's Violeta peas not to long ago and thought I would share my take on the color and some photos of my birds. I know there is a special thread for the photos but I thought it would be worth talking about on its own since it's a rare and relatively unknown color. The birds I purchased are 2016 hatch so they are still fairly young but I am already impressed with the color. The hen has some purple on the neck like a regular purple mutation hen but it is much darker and the body feathering is colored much more like an IB than the lighter coco brown of the purple. The purple coloration on both sexes is also much much deeper and richer than the coloration on a purple mutation bird and is wine-purple colored rather than the more blue-purple of the purple mutation. All in all I'd say if you are willing to pay quite a bit for a pair they're definitely worth having. One thing I would advise is that if you do purchase some is that you purchase pair rather than a just a hen or cock bird. Because it is a sex linked color I am sure there will be many more hen birds than cock birds as the color becomes more established and common. I am planning to outcross a great deal with the birds I have in order to help prevent some of the inbreeding depression that has hit the cameo and purple mutations due to reckless breeding of brother to sister and parent-offspring pairings for multiple generations. Hope everyone enjoys the pictures I look forward to seeing my male color up.
