Autosomal Colors
This section deals with genetics for AUTOSOMAL colors. Autosomal means the mutation is on a chromosome that is NOT one of the sex chromosomes.
On this page, we will fill in the Punnett square like we learned in Genetics 102. If you have not read that page, and you do not know how to use a Punnett square in general, you should start there instead.
As of Jan 2025, single-gene autosomal mutations include (but are not limited to):
Opal - A light grey mutation, with dark blue-green iridescence on the neck and train.
Bronze - A deep chocolate brown mutation, with forest-green iridescence on the neck and train.
Midnight - A melanistic mutation which causes an overall darkening of the whole bird, and deeper green iridescence.
Charcoal - A dark grey-brown to black mutation with little to no iridescence - hens DO NOT lay.
Jade - A mutation with paler browns and greener color in the neck and train.
Montana - A brown mutation with blue iridescence in the neck and train, and white in the eye feathers without the presence of the white eye gene.
Steel - A mutation with dull, navy blue neck and train.
Ultramarine - A mutation which lacks yellow/gold, resulting in a stunningly blue bird in neck and train.
To find the notations I use on this page, please visit the gene abbreviation key. Although I am using opal in these examples, you can replace the opal mutation notation with any of the others and the result will be the same.
The current autosomal mutations are all single-gene recessive mutations. This means that they will not show in the phenotype if the bird has only 1 copy of the mutation (ie, the bird will appear wild type/blue). Both males and females may be heterozygous for autosomal mutations. No autosomal colors are known to be alleles for any other autosomal color.
On this page, we will fill in the Punnett square like we learned in Genetics 102. If you have not read that page, and you do not know how to use a Punnett square in general, you should start there instead.
As of Jan 2025, single-gene autosomal mutations include (but are not limited to):
Opal - A light grey mutation, with dark blue-green iridescence on the neck and train.
Bronze - A deep chocolate brown mutation, with forest-green iridescence on the neck and train.
Midnight - A melanistic mutation which causes an overall darkening of the whole bird, and deeper green iridescence.
Charcoal - A dark grey-brown to black mutation with little to no iridescence - hens DO NOT lay.
Jade - A mutation with paler browns and greener color in the neck and train.
Montana - A brown mutation with blue iridescence in the neck and train, and white in the eye feathers without the presence of the white eye gene.
Steel - A mutation with dull, navy blue neck and train.
Ultramarine - A mutation which lacks yellow/gold, resulting in a stunningly blue bird in neck and train.
To find the notations I use on this page, please visit the gene abbreviation key. Although I am using opal in these examples, you can replace the opal mutation notation with any of the others and the result will be the same.
The current autosomal mutations are all single-gene recessive mutations. This means that they will not show in the phenotype if the bird has only 1 copy of the mutation (ie, the bird will appear wild type/blue). Both males and females may be heterozygous for autosomal mutations. No autosomal colors are known to be alleles for any other autosomal color.
Examples
This first example shows what happens when you breed a homozygous autosomal mutation to a wild type.
A homozygous opal bird would be denoted with o/o (which I may shorten to "oo" to save space in the graphics) because the bird has two copies of the opal gene "o." Any bird with only one copy of the gene (one "o" in the box) would be heterozygous ("het") for that color (ie: "split" to that color).
A homozygous opal bird would be denoted with o/o (which I may shorten to "oo" to save space in the graphics) because the bird has two copies of the opal gene "o." Any bird with only one copy of the gene (one "o" in the box) would be heterozygous ("het") for that color (ie: "split" to that color).
In this case all of the offspring are the same- heterozygous opal (ie "split" opal). These birds will look blue, but will carry one opal mutation.
Next, we will look at what happens when a heterozygous mutation is bred to a wild type. Again, it does not matter which axis the parents go on, just that all genes are accounted for.
Next, we will look at what happens when a heterozygous mutation is bred to a wild type. Again, it does not matter which axis the parents go on, just that all genes are accounted for.
This time, half the offspring will be full wild types (no mutations) and half the offspring will be heterozygous opal. Since these are autosomal mutations, there will be no visual difference between the two- a wild type and a het opal bird will look exactly the same.
Next, we will see what happens when you breed an autosomal mutation to a split of the same autosomal mutation, in this case opal to het opal.
Next, we will see what happens when you breed an autosomal mutation to a split of the same autosomal mutation, in this case opal to het opal.
As you can see, there are two different kinds of offspring produced- het opal (WT/o) and opal (o/o). The het opal offspring will look blue, but they will carry one copy of the opal mutation. Since the split is even, this means 50% of offspring will be hets, and 50% of offspring will be full mutations.
Next, we will look at an example of het x het, in this case het opal x het opal.
Next, we will look at an example of het x het, in this case het opal x het opal.
As you can see, three different kinds of offspring are produced- full wild types (WTWT), heterozygous opal (WT/o), and full opal (oo). The spread of offspring types in this case is NOT even; 1 in 4 boxes is WT, 2 in 4 boxes are het opal, and 1 in 4 boxes is opal. This translates to 25% of offspring will be normal blues, 50% will be het opal, and 25% will be opal.
Now we will get a little more complicated, but not much. Let's look at what happens when you breed a full color to a non-same full color mutation, in this case opal to bronze. Click here if you need a refresher on tracking multiple genes in a single Punnett square.
Now we will get a little more complicated, but not much. Let's look at what happens when you breed a full color to a non-same full color mutation, in this case opal to bronze. Click here if you need a refresher on tracking multiple genes in a single Punnett square.
The results look busier, but you can see that all four boxes are the same- het opal, het bronze. All of these offspring will look like blues, but they will carry one opal and one bronze gene. This is why putting non-same autosomal colors into the same pen won't produce anything except visual blues.
Except! If a non-same autosomal color carries a copy of the same color.
Let's take a look at bronze het opal bred to opal.
Except! If a non-same autosomal color carries a copy of the same color.
Let's take a look at bronze het opal bred to opal.
In this case, even though we bred the same visual birds as the previous example, because the bronze bird was het opal (carrying one copy of the opal gene), it doesn't produce the same results. This time, 50% of offspring are still het opal het bronze, but 50% of offspring are opal het bronze. These birds will appear opal, but carry a single bronze gene.
As a last example, let's have a look at what happens when you breed two hets that are not the same gene. In this case, I will use het bronze and het opal.
As a last example, let's have a look at what happens when you breed two hets that are not the same gene. In this case, I will use het bronze and het opal.
As you can see, we get 4 different genotypes, but all of the birds will be the same phenotype. We will get wild types, het bronzes, het opals, and birds het both opal and bronze. Visually, there will be NO way to distinguish between these four kinds of birds. The only way to know the difference, would be to breed each baby 1:1 with the matching color mutation in some way.
Now, you may be wondering what happens when a peafowl has two copies of two colors, instead of one copy of two colors. This is covered under Peafowl Genetics 203: Multiple-Expression Phenotypes. I suggest browsing through Peafowl Genetics 202: Sex-Linked Recessive Color Mutations first, as multiple-expression phenotypes mostly contain sex-linked colors.
Now, you may be wondering what happens when a peafowl has two copies of two colors, instead of one copy of two colors. This is covered under Peafowl Genetics 203: Multiple-Expression Phenotypes. I suggest browsing through Peafowl Genetics 202: Sex-Linked Recessive Color Mutations first, as multiple-expression phenotypes mostly contain sex-linked colors.