* More Colors and Patterns

	Photo Page 3
	MEDICINE TREE FARM \| Click on one of the following: * A Little About Medicine Tree Farm \| * Some of the colors being bred at Medicine Tree Farm \| * Birds Currently For Sale \| * 2007 Breeding Groups \| * Peafowl Youngsters \| * Black Shoulder Pattern Comparisons \| * Peafowl Chicks \| * Extra pix \| * More Colors and Patterns \| The Medicine Tree Great Pyrenees Page \| Garrett's page

Here are more pictures to help viewers get a sense of color and pattern variations in peafowl. Things tend to get really complicated when you realize that there are both colors of peafowl as well as patterns of peafowl. The colors and patterns are often intermixed. It might be easier to suggest that you can breed a peafowl of every color in every pattern. Some of the colors are sex-linked and some of them are recessive. To the best of my knowledge there are no sex-linked patterns, but some of them are recessive.
This male shows a white patch at his throat. If you did not know his parentage, you would not be able to know if he was a dark pied bird or if he was split to white. There has been a lot of discussion about the definition of a "dark pied" bird. A dark pied must have two pied parents.
Opal black shoulder cock This is one of my favorite colors and favorite patterns. The opalescent green is especially evident when the snow reflects the light back onto the bird. The recessive colors are bronze, charcoal, jade, midnight, opal and white. White tends to behave more like a pattern than a color in peafowl genetics.
	Sign posted at a Buddhist temple in Hawaii.
Spalding cock with 15/16 green blood Without good record keeping it is often hard to know the percentage of green blood a spalding bird carries. This male shows strong java body and color traits, but the barring on his back and lack of scale definition in his neck and chest reveal his India blue ancestors. This bird's mother was a 7/8 blood cameo spalding hen. One half of his daughters will be cameo colored spaldings.
	Cameo black shoulder hen The sex-linked colors are cameo, peach and purple.
Bronze spalding cock The presence of java blood tends to darken the coloration of hybrid birds. Once again, the combination of snow and sunlight iintensify the colors of this bird. The bronze spalding is one of the darkest variants I have seen to date. It is interesting to note that this bird is NOT a blackshoulder bird.
	Opal black shoulder cock in the snow
A young black shoulder opal spalding cock
	A pied spalding hen, possibly midnight colored. I find it very difficult to identify a midnight spalding hen. The spalding hens are darker and their necks are greener than other peahens, which creates confusion when looking for the darker traits of the midnight hens. There is also a good view of a purple spalding hen's neck and shoulder behind her.
A group of spalding yearlings When working with spaldings you will find a great degree af variation in the color on the neck, chest and shoulders. The barring patterns are also very different from birds with India blue ancestry.
	Some spalding hens showing extreme barring as well as rust coloration in their breasts.
Color comparison of midnight, spalding midnight and blue These 3 young cocks were bred and are owned by Rod Groce. I think this photo is one of the best illustrations I have seen of the difference between a midnight bird, on the left, a spalding midnight, on the right and a blue, in the forground. The 2 midnights are also black shoulder patterned, while the blue cock shows the strong barring useful in identifying india blue males. The India blue bird also shows discrete white markings typical of a dark pied bird or a bird split to white.
	Silver pied hens These hens clearly show the "fading" trait associated with the silver pied gene.
Purple silver pied spalding hen Take particular note of the intensity of the rust coloring on her head and neck as it compares to the faded rust trailing towards the back of her body.