Joshua's Peafowl
I'll open with the disclaimer that at the moment, we only have India blues. The farm where we got our male (Superior) also had whites, but Superior has no stray white markings, so I assume he is not carrying white. Sunbeam was purchased at a gamebird meet -- from an individual who also was selling pied and black-shouldered. Again, she has no stray white, so is most likely also straight India blue. Secret and Security have a story ... they may or may not be from the same farm as Superior. The two hens we got from that farm escaped just a few weeks after we got them -- these two moved in last summer, almost 2 years after the original escape. They may or may not be the same two hens. They also have no stray markings, so I assume straight India blue.
Summer 2014 was our first attempt at raising peachicks. Sunbeam laid a lot of eggs, but didn't sit them - so we stole them to the incubator. Peachicks are FRAGILE -- we ended the summer with just 3 survivors of our incubator chicks. One of those (Survivor) is definitely Sunbeam's daughter. The other 2 hatched from eggs collected after Secret joined her in the pen - so could be from either hen. Secret hatched 3 chicks - one of which was killed - so her 2 surviving chicks were moved to the brooder with the incubator chicks. Security hatched 3 chicks and raised them on her own (free ranging and out of Superior's reach).
Although all our peafowl look like India blues... I thought it would be fun to learn the color genetics of peafowl. So the following is theoretical and based on 'book learning' and application of general knowledge of poultry genetics rather than personal experience. CAVEAT - beyond the very basic genes I am treading into territory where it seems not all the necessary test-crosses have even been performed - much less proven to follow particular Mendelian ratios. So take everything here with a 'grain of salt'. And my apologies to any long-term peafowl breeders if my choices for genecode names reveals more about my ignorance than helping to clarify genetics.
As with chickens, color in peafowl expresses differently on males and females - and some color genes are on the sex-chromosomes (ZZ for males, ZW for females - so for sex-linked colors and patterns, females cannot be carriers). I will describe all colors relative to the 'wildtype' India blue -- as pictured above.
Domestic peafowl include 2 species which are able to interbreed!
Pavo cristatus is the India blue (both the species and wildtype variety).
Pavo muticus is the Java green (both species and only one variety).
Pavo cristatus x muticus is known as a Spaulding. Spauldings are not sterile and so Spaulding of varying 'percentage' are possible. High percentage are genetically closer to Java greens and low percentage genetically closer to India blue.
Pavo muticus comes in only 1 variety. These are relatively rare (at least in the US) and not as hardy.
Pavo cristatus has had many color mutations arise in addition to the 'wild type' known as India blue.
Spauldings combine the traits of both parent species - potentially including the full color range of Pavo cristatus. Spauldings typically have a yellow tinge to the face -- in contrast to the pure white of P. cristatus.
Peafowl fanciers use the term 'split' to describe a bird that is one color, but carries the genes for another color. I'm not sure why they don't use the term 'carrier' - perhaps because so many of these genes are incompletely dominant so not truly invisibly 'carried'.
There are currently 185 United Peafowl Association approved varieties of peafowl and more possible. The chart below is not mine - it was sent to me by a friend - they got it from a backyard poultry group and believe the image is public domain. If not, I sincerely apologize to the original illustrator - this is an extremely useful illustration of the various patterns and colors.
Summer 2014 was our first attempt at raising peachicks. Sunbeam laid a lot of eggs, but didn't sit them - so we stole them to the incubator. Peachicks are FRAGILE -- we ended the summer with just 3 survivors of our incubator chicks. One of those (Survivor) is definitely Sunbeam's daughter. The other 2 hatched from eggs collected after Secret joined her in the pen - so could be from either hen. Secret hatched 3 chicks - one of which was killed - so her 2 surviving chicks were moved to the brooder with the incubator chicks. Security hatched 3 chicks and raised them on her own (free ranging and out of Superior's reach).
Although all our peafowl look like India blues... I thought it would be fun to learn the color genetics of peafowl. So the following is theoretical and based on 'book learning' and application of general knowledge of poultry genetics rather than personal experience. CAVEAT - beyond the very basic genes I am treading into territory where it seems not all the necessary test-crosses have even been performed - much less proven to follow particular Mendelian ratios. So take everything here with a 'grain of salt'. And my apologies to any long-term peafowl breeders if my choices for genecode names reveals more about my ignorance than helping to clarify genetics.
As with chickens, color in peafowl expresses differently on males and females - and some color genes are on the sex-chromosomes (ZZ for males, ZW for females - so for sex-linked colors and patterns, females cannot be carriers). I will describe all colors relative to the 'wildtype' India blue -- as pictured above.
Domestic peafowl include 2 species which are able to interbreed!
Pavo cristatus is the India blue (both the species and wildtype variety).
Pavo muticus is the Java green (both species and only one variety).
Pavo cristatus x muticus is known as a Spaulding. Spauldings are not sterile and so Spaulding of varying 'percentage' are possible. High percentage are genetically closer to Java greens and low percentage genetically closer to India blue.
Pavo muticus comes in only 1 variety. These are relatively rare (at least in the US) and not as hardy.
Pavo cristatus has had many color mutations arise in addition to the 'wild type' known as India blue.
Spauldings combine the traits of both parent species - potentially including the full color range of Pavo cristatus. Spauldings typically have a yellow tinge to the face -- in contrast to the pure white of P. cristatus.
Peafowl fanciers use the term 'split' to describe a bird that is one color, but carries the genes for another color. I'm not sure why they don't use the term 'carrier' - perhaps because so many of these genes are incompletely dominant so not truly invisibly 'carried'.
There are currently 185 United Peafowl Association approved varieties of peafowl and more possible. The chart below is not mine - it was sent to me by a friend - they got it from a backyard poultry group and believe the image is public domain. If not, I sincerely apologize to the original illustrator - this is an extremely useful illustration of the various patterns and colors.
Pattern genes - Whites and Pieds
White is probably the best known of the color variants of peafowl, so I will start there. White peafowl are not true albinos -- they still have normally colored eyes. The white gene is incompletely dominant and NOT sex-linked. Most texts I have found use the symbols B for the base India Blue color and T for white. This is really annoying as it is totally outside the convention of picking a letter to use for the gene and then using upper and lowercase letters (or superscript or 2-letter variations like C, cr, ch). So I am unilaterally deciding to use W for the white gene. W is India blue (no white). I will make w the version (allele) for white.
WW = India blue
Ww = India blue split to white (both hens and cocks have small white patches or specks on the wings)
ww = White
Pied is a pattern in which a blue bird has large white patches - much larger than the wing patches of a Ww bird. Although the pied gene is an allele of the white gene, you cannot get pied birds by crossing blues with whites. Most texts use the symbol P for pied. Again, this is unnecessarily confusing and not following genetic standard. So I will use wp for pied.
Wwp = India blue split to pied (similar to BT, they may have small white specks on the wings, usually less than a 'split white')
wpw = true pied (substantial white breaking the pattern)
wpwp = dark pied (white throat latches and white flight feathers)
Note that the true pied is a heterozygote (it has two different genes in the pair). Thus it will not breed true - crossing two true pieds will always give you some whites (25% ww) and some dark pied (25% wpwp) in addition to the true pied (50% wpw).
White-eye refers to the 'eyes' of the tail feathers, not to the actual seeing eyes. This mutation was discovered in the 1970s and is not yet widespread, though it has been crossed into most of the other colors. White-eye males have eye feathers with white eyes (some variability, edge feathers may retain normal eyes - and sometimes birds males that look normal India blue when young develop the white eyes as they get older) and a white throat patch - as well as a body color that is more 'grey' than the standard India blue (often blurring the normal shoulder barring). Females look very similar to an India blue hen, but with a faded paler grey color than normal.
I have been able to find very little information on the genetics of white-eye - but have found information on the results of crosses. While some sources seem to feel that white-eyed is a separate gene, most of the ratios which I see suggest it may be an allele of the W-series. IF that is the case...Using Ws for this allele. White-eyed appears to be dominant over the regular India blue -- birds that have white eyes are produced in the first generation.
WsWs = white eyed
WsW = white eyed (these may be the birds that have only some white eyes or which develop white eyes later?)
Information on the early breedings of F1 white-eyed birds (WsW) notes that the crosses produced 'mostly whited eyed birds and some India blue'. This would be consistent with WsW x WsW => 25% WsWs (white eyed), 50% WsW (white eyed) and 25% WW (India blue).
White-eyed pieds are possible and easily produced by crossing white-eyed birds with pied. This suggests these two genes are co-dominant...
Wswp = white-eyed pied
I have NOT run across the information on white-eyed pied x white-eyed pied offspring ratios that would be needed to confirm this, except for the information that unlike regular pied (which also don't breed true) white-eyed pieds do not throw white.
Breeding white-eyed pieds to whites produces a paler color known as silver pied - males have white eyes in their tails AND SUBSTANTIALLY more white than the true pied - birds are 80-90% white. Hens also have substantial white - with the colored patches faded relative to the normal India blue pied. Silver pieds do not breed true. The reported ratios for silver pied crosses -- silver pied x silver pied => 25% white-eye, 50% silver pied, 25% white suggests that the white-eye gene is a co-dominant allele of the W-series. However, some sources note that the '25% white-eyed' in this cross are actually dark pied with white eyes (they have some of the speckling of the dark pied, not normally present in the white-eyed) - which would suggest that the reality is somehow more complicated than I have presented here.
Wsw = silver pied
WW = India blue
Ww = India blue split to white (both hens and cocks have small white patches or specks on the wings)
ww = White
Pied is a pattern in which a blue bird has large white patches - much larger than the wing patches of a Ww bird. Although the pied gene is an allele of the white gene, you cannot get pied birds by crossing blues with whites. Most texts use the symbol P for pied. Again, this is unnecessarily confusing and not following genetic standard. So I will use wp for pied.
Wwp = India blue split to pied (similar to BT, they may have small white specks on the wings, usually less than a 'split white')
wpw = true pied (substantial white breaking the pattern)
wpwp = dark pied (white throat latches and white flight feathers)
Note that the true pied is a heterozygote (it has two different genes in the pair). Thus it will not breed true - crossing two true pieds will always give you some whites (25% ww) and some dark pied (25% wpwp) in addition to the true pied (50% wpw).
White-eye refers to the 'eyes' of the tail feathers, not to the actual seeing eyes. This mutation was discovered in the 1970s and is not yet widespread, though it has been crossed into most of the other colors. White-eye males have eye feathers with white eyes (some variability, edge feathers may retain normal eyes - and sometimes birds males that look normal India blue when young develop the white eyes as they get older) and a white throat patch - as well as a body color that is more 'grey' than the standard India blue (often blurring the normal shoulder barring). Females look very similar to an India blue hen, but with a faded paler grey color than normal.
I have been able to find very little information on the genetics of white-eye - but have found information on the results of crosses. While some sources seem to feel that white-eyed is a separate gene, most of the ratios which I see suggest it may be an allele of the W-series. IF that is the case...Using Ws for this allele. White-eyed appears to be dominant over the regular India blue -- birds that have white eyes are produced in the first generation.
WsWs = white eyed
WsW = white eyed (these may be the birds that have only some white eyes or which develop white eyes later?)
Information on the early breedings of F1 white-eyed birds (WsW) notes that the crosses produced 'mostly whited eyed birds and some India blue'. This would be consistent with WsW x WsW => 25% WsWs (white eyed), 50% WsW (white eyed) and 25% WW (India blue).
White-eyed pieds are possible and easily produced by crossing white-eyed birds with pied. This suggests these two genes are co-dominant...
Wswp = white-eyed pied
I have NOT run across the information on white-eyed pied x white-eyed pied offspring ratios that would be needed to confirm this, except for the information that unlike regular pied (which also don't breed true) white-eyed pieds do not throw white.
Breeding white-eyed pieds to whites produces a paler color known as silver pied - males have white eyes in their tails AND SUBSTANTIALLY more white than the true pied - birds are 80-90% white. Hens also have substantial white - with the colored patches faded relative to the normal India blue pied. Silver pieds do not breed true. The reported ratios for silver pied crosses -- silver pied x silver pied => 25% white-eye, 50% silver pied, 25% white suggests that the white-eye gene is a co-dominant allele of the W-series. However, some sources note that the '25% white-eyed' in this cross are actually dark pied with white eyes (they have some of the speckling of the dark pied, not normally present in the white-eyed) - which would suggest that the reality is somehow more complicated than I have presented here.
Wsw = silver pied
Black-shouldered
Black-shoulder is a separate recessive gene. I can't find any record of a standard genecode for this, so I'm just going to pick a different letter - B. Thus India blues (with the normal barred wings) are B- and black-shoulders are bb.
BB & Bb = India blue
bb = black shouldered
Although the trait is NOT sex-linked, it looks quite different on males and females. Black-shouldered males have solid blue-black wings (lacking the barring of the normal India blue). Black shouldered hens look similar to India blue hens, except that they have white speckles - which might be mistaken for pied or for one of the pied or white splits.
To repeat, this is a separate gene. Thus it can combine with the pied to produce a black shouldered pied ... e.g, a blackshouldered bird with substantial white patches.
WWBB, WWBb = India blue
wwBB, wwBb, wwbb = white
WWbb = black shouldered male, 'black shouldered' hen (with white speckles)
wpwBB, wpwBb = pied
wpwbb = black shouldered pied
WwBB, WWBb = India blue with small white patches on the wings
Wwbb = black shouldered male with small white patches on the wings, 'black shouldered' hen with white speckles and small white patches
WwpBB, WwpBb = India blue with small white specks
Wwpbb = Black shouldered male with small white specks, 'black shouldered' hen with white speckles
wpwpBB, wpwpBb = dark pied - white throat latches and white flight feathers
wpwpbb = black shouldered dark pied - males with dark shoulders, white throat latches and white flight feathers; hens with white throat latches, white flight feathers and white speckling.
WsWsBB, WsWBB, WsWsBb, WsWBb = white-eyed
WsWsbb, WsWbb = black-shouldered white-eyed
WswpBB, WswpBb = pied white-eyed
Wswpbb = black-shouldered pied white-eyed
WswBB, WswBb = silver pied
Wswbb = black-shouldered silver pied (distinguishable only if colored patches fall on the shoulders)
BB & Bb = India blue
bb = black shouldered
Although the trait is NOT sex-linked, it looks quite different on males and females. Black-shouldered males have solid blue-black wings (lacking the barring of the normal India blue). Black shouldered hens look similar to India blue hens, except that they have white speckles - which might be mistaken for pied or for one of the pied or white splits.
To repeat, this is a separate gene. Thus it can combine with the pied to produce a black shouldered pied ... e.g, a blackshouldered bird with substantial white patches.
WWBB, WWBb = India blue
wwBB, wwBb, wwbb = white
WWbb = black shouldered male, 'black shouldered' hen (with white speckles)
wpwBB, wpwBb = pied
wpwbb = black shouldered pied
WwBB, WWBb = India blue with small white patches on the wings
Wwbb = black shouldered male with small white patches on the wings, 'black shouldered' hen with white speckles and small white patches
WwpBB, WwpBb = India blue with small white specks
Wwpbb = Black shouldered male with small white specks, 'black shouldered' hen with white speckles
wpwpBB, wpwpBb = dark pied - white throat latches and white flight feathers
wpwpbb = black shouldered dark pied - males with dark shoulders, white throat latches and white flight feathers; hens with white throat latches, white flight feathers and white speckling.
WsWsBB, WsWBB, WsWsBb, WsWBb = white-eyed
WsWsbb, WsWbb = black-shouldered white-eyed
WswpBB, WswpBb = pied white-eyed
Wswpbb = black-shouldered pied white-eyed
WswBB, WswBb = silver pied
Wswbb = black-shouldered silver pied (distinguishable only if colored patches fall on the shoulders)
Somatic Color Mutations - Charcoal, Bronze, Opal, Midnight, Jade, and Taupe
Six new non-sexlinked color mutations of peafowl have been isolated and accepted by the United Peafowl Association since 1980. Breeding ratios from crosses of these to the above types indicates that none are alleles of the W-series or B-series genes and that all are simple recessives. Thus each color can exist in combination with the patterns - base color, black shouldered, pied, black-shouldered pied, dark pied, black-shouldered dark pied, silver pied, black shouldered silver pied, white-eyed, black-shouldered white-eyed.
Preliminary data from the F1 crosses of these colors (e.g., Charcoal x Bronze) indicate that they revert to India blue on an F1 cross which suggests that each mutation is a separate gene and that no two are alleles of each other.
Charcoal was isolated in 1980 from India blues at the Pheonix Zoo. Charcoal hens appear to be sterile, so the color is maintained through breeding Charcoal peacocks to split hens. Both males and females lack iridescence. Males are a dark charcoal grey color with pale wings. Hens are very similar to India blue hens, slightly darker and lacking the neck iridescence.
Bronze was isolated in the 1980s by Buford Abbolt from India blues. The greyish color of India blue is replaced with a chocolate brown. They do not completely lack iridescence, but the purples and blues are shifted to shades of brown and gold.
Opal was isolated in the 1990s in Delaware from India blues. Hens are similar to India blues, but much paler in color. Blue portions of males shift to a chocolate with an iridescent aquamarine tint. The barred wing pattern of males breaks up into much finer barring in two shades of brown. The train is dark brown, with eyes of opal, black and copper.
Midnight was isolated in 1998 in Kansas from blackshoulders. This color is substantially darker than charcoal and does not lack iridescence.
Jade was isolated in 2000 in Nebraska from low percentage Spaulding stock. Blue portions of the male shift to a more jade-green shade and the body is darker. The train has sage and olive tones in addition to deep jade-green. Peahens are brown with jade tones in the neck.
Taupe was isolated in 2005 from India blue x purple. Unlike the parent purple (below) this mutation does not appear to be sex-linked. Taupe birds lack iridescence and are pale beige in color. Eyes blend with the train, in shades of brown, beige and cream.
Data is not available from F2 crosses to determine how these genes interact (e.g., what does the double-recessive genotype look like for each). Gathering this data will be difficult and time-consuming given that the double recessive will appear only in 1 out of 16 offspring from F2 crosses.
Preliminary data from the F1 crosses of these colors (e.g., Charcoal x Bronze) indicate that they revert to India blue on an F1 cross which suggests that each mutation is a separate gene and that no two are alleles of each other.
Charcoal was isolated in 1980 from India blues at the Pheonix Zoo. Charcoal hens appear to be sterile, so the color is maintained through breeding Charcoal peacocks to split hens. Both males and females lack iridescence. Males are a dark charcoal grey color with pale wings. Hens are very similar to India blue hens, slightly darker and lacking the neck iridescence.
Bronze was isolated in the 1980s by Buford Abbolt from India blues. The greyish color of India blue is replaced with a chocolate brown. They do not completely lack iridescence, but the purples and blues are shifted to shades of brown and gold.
Opal was isolated in the 1990s in Delaware from India blues. Hens are similar to India blues, but much paler in color. Blue portions of males shift to a chocolate with an iridescent aquamarine tint. The barred wing pattern of males breaks up into much finer barring in two shades of brown. The train is dark brown, with eyes of opal, black and copper.
Midnight was isolated in 1998 in Kansas from blackshoulders. This color is substantially darker than charcoal and does not lack iridescence.
Jade was isolated in 2000 in Nebraska from low percentage Spaulding stock. Blue portions of the male shift to a more jade-green shade and the body is darker. The train has sage and olive tones in addition to deep jade-green. Peahens are brown with jade tones in the neck.
Taupe was isolated in 2005 from India blue x purple. Unlike the parent purple (below) this mutation does not appear to be sex-linked. Taupe birds lack iridescence and are pale beige in color. Eyes blend with the train, in shades of brown, beige and cream.
Data is not available from F2 crosses to determine how these genes interact (e.g., what does the double-recessive genotype look like for each). Gathering this data will be difficult and time-consuming given that the double recessive will appear only in 1 out of 16 offspring from F2 crosses.
Sex-linked Color Mutations - Cameo, Purple, Peach and Violete
Four sex-linked color mutations have been isolated and accepted by the United Peafowl Association. As sex-linked genes, they cannot be alleles of the pattern genes (B and W series) nor alleles of the somatic color mutations (not on the sex chromosomes). Each appears to be recessive in the male birds (can be carried by males), but to always appear in females (who have only one copy of sex-linked genes) when present.
Cameo is the oldest color mutation of peafowl, isolated in 1967 in Maine from India blues. Birds lack iridescence. Hens have heads which are dark rust which fades to a pale cream over the body. Males change color seasonally - following the annual molt new feathers grow in dark brown (head and train darker than the body) but bleach to a 'coffee-milk' color with exposure to sun. Cameo black-shoulders were known for some time as oatens, until it was realized that this was the combined effect of the two genes.
Purple was isolated in 1987 in Arizona from blackshoulders. Iridescence is shifted towards purple (from blue). The train is darker, with green and purple in the eyes. As with the cameo, iridescence and color fade seasonally - birds are often cream in color prior to the molt, though with purple and green still visible in the eyes. Hens are darker than cameos, with purple iridescence in the neck and do not fade as much as the males.
Peach first appeared in 1991 our of the original purple stock. Peach is strongly associated with cameo and purple stock (all known peaches can trace to both cameo and purple ancestors) and may be a linked double recessive (cameo + peach) rather than a separate mutation. Alternatively, purple and cameo may be alleles of the same gene-series and peach the split. The color is similar to cameo, but shifted to more red/pink tones.
Sonja's Violete are a very recent addition to the color suite, and very rare. They appear to be a more intensely colored, non-fading version of the purple. Their train is actually darker than the midnight's, with all the green pigments shifted to a deep ocean-blue. It is not clear whether the violets are a separate gene from the purples, a different allele of purple, or simply modifier genes influencing purple expression.
Cameo is the oldest color mutation of peafowl, isolated in 1967 in Maine from India blues. Birds lack iridescence. Hens have heads which are dark rust which fades to a pale cream over the body. Males change color seasonally - following the annual molt new feathers grow in dark brown (head and train darker than the body) but bleach to a 'coffee-milk' color with exposure to sun. Cameo black-shoulders were known for some time as oatens, until it was realized that this was the combined effect of the two genes.
Purple was isolated in 1987 in Arizona from blackshoulders. Iridescence is shifted towards purple (from blue). The train is darker, with green and purple in the eyes. As with the cameo, iridescence and color fade seasonally - birds are often cream in color prior to the molt, though with purple and green still visible in the eyes. Hens are darker than cameos, with purple iridescence in the neck and do not fade as much as the males.
Peach first appeared in 1991 our of the original purple stock. Peach is strongly associated with cameo and purple stock (all known peaches can trace to both cameo and purple ancestors) and may be a linked double recessive (cameo + peach) rather than a separate mutation. Alternatively, purple and cameo may be alleles of the same gene-series and peach the split. The color is similar to cameo, but shifted to more red/pink tones.
Sonja's Violete are a very recent addition to the color suite, and very rare. They appear to be a more intensely colored, non-fading version of the purple. Their train is actually darker than the midnight's, with all the green pigments shifted to a deep ocean-blue. It is not clear whether the violets are a separate gene from the purples, a different allele of purple, or simply modifier genes influencing purple expression.