Sexing my peafowl

Tbonter101

In the Brooder
Apr 16, 2016
13
0
24
Michigan
Hi guys!! I bought this opal "Bird"....we shall call it for now last week and I was told when I bought it that it's a male/peacock. I am skeptical of that. She stated the Bird is two years of age. Im thinking it's a hen.
Can anyone on here tell me anything from these pics?
Thanks so much in advance!
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Good eyes @Birdrain92 & @barkerg
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Not sure what @Tbonter101 was trying to say or ask us here, but those are not the same bird.


Hi guys!! I bought this opal "Bird"....we shall call it for now last week and I was told when I bought it that it's a male/peacock. I am skeptical of that. She stated the Bird is two years of age. Im thinking it's a hen.
Can anyone on here tell me anything from these pics?
Thanks so much in advance!
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I personally (speaking as a gardening person), was quite impressed with the lush green grass in Michigan this time of year -- last I heard it was still snowing up there -- but then I happened to notice that this exact same photo of this lovely hen happens to be on Sid's Texas Peafowl website http://www.texaspeafowl.com/DSC_5328.JPG :



... Where she is listed as an opal spalding hen. (We also have a slightly different crop of that same beautiful hen -- properly attributed -- in our BYC image database. http://peafowlimagedatabase.weebly.com/spalding-opal.html Have a look @new 2 pfowl ... )

With that said, the first and third photos appear to be a very nice looking male -- and it looks like @q8peafowl chimed in while I was writing this, hi q8
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Assuming that the male bird in pics #1 &3 is @Tbonter101 's, did the seller happen to mention anything about it being a spalding? What do you guys think???

And I am green with envy over the aviary.

BTW, before we forget -- welcome to the peafowl forum of BYC
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@Garden Peas it's great to see pictures of Topaz. She is a bit farther in terms of molting her faded feathers than her sister that I have here. Some of my Spalding hens develop spurs like those that Topaz has, but her sister that I have here does not have spur growth as far as I know. I am convinced that Topaz is a hen, since from a genetic standpoint, her Silver Pied Spalding father was split to Purple. Her neck color will be a beautiful purple coloring once she is done molting. I have yet to get good pictures of that with my hen.

Now onto her train feathers— I totally see what you mean about the whispiness, but the feathers that add whispy are her faded and sun damaged feathers. Same applies to her flight feathers. It happens with any bird, but it is most noticeable on my hens. Once she had completely molted she will have nicely squared off train feathers that have the characteristic barring of a Spalding hen.

Also, I really love Topaz's face markings!
 
Purple is a sex-linked color...  I keep telling myself they could not have gotten the gender wrong...  But noticeably more wispy today, and those spurs are growing, and those neck feathers, hmmm.  But then I remind myself this is a spalding :confused:    I haven't had those before (except for that bonehead -- and he's a very low percentage, and it took me a couple years to click)

So whaddya think, @barkerg
?  Could my little purple hen have been masquerading all along?

Very good looking bird. My observations are that Topaz is indeed a hen as for spalding, she looks to have green blood, her neck feathers are consistent with an IB hen. The whispy train feathers are as @Blue Creek described. As a caveat concerning whispy train feathers on greens and spaldings, green hens will have longer fringe vs IB hens, this makes the train look whispy like a young male and can fool you. Its the length of the fringe you are looking out for, young green males and most spalding males will have long fringe at that age. Topaz is a beautiful creature and in great hands. Bravo GP's,
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Gerald Barker
 
Are these three individual peafowl or just one? If this is just one this is confusing me. The first one looks like a peacock do to the barring. The second looks like a hen do to the lack of barring, the structure of the neck feathers, and the ridge on the side of the neck. The third I'm on the fence about but thinking more of a male than female.
 
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hen ..... why : small head and on her back the feathers became to change and get one one color .... no more barred feathers !
A picture of the back ... is needed !
 

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