Purity in Peafowl

The reason I'm writing this is because of all the confusion I have noticed in a number of people regarding the 'purity' of peafowl. It never ceases to amaze me at what I read on some of the bird forums and especially on auctions. Some people only want birds from 'pure' stock even when the birds they are interested in are something like a White-eyed Pied Black Shoulder Purple Spalding. OK.

Not long ago I saw an auction where the person claimed their Spaldings were from 'pure' stock. Spaldings are a hybrid cross (Blue x Green). Another person says their Midnights chicks were from 'pure' Midnights, not splits. What difference would it make if they were from splits? A Midnight is a Midnight is a Midnight. Because a few years ago there was only one Midnight in the world, the parent birds they have had to be from splits (split to Midnights).

A few years ago I had a lady at a trade-day sale who wanted an India Blue. When I told her I had some that were split to White or Purple, she insisted she only wanted 'pure' birds. So she went down the road and bought a pair of yearlings and when she walked by I noticed they had white wing feathers. When I told her that they were split to white, she cursed at me (literally) and kept on walking. Later that year I had a lady who wanted a Purple cock. I informed her that I had one that was split to Black Shoulder. Oh no, she only wanted a 'pure' bird. A month later she bought a Black Shoulder Purple cock from me and went looking for a Black Shoulder Purple hen because she only wanted 'pure' birds.

Not always, but a lot of the time when a bird is split to something, it is worth more than if it was 'pure'. A Midnight split to Silver Pied is worth more than a 'pure' Midnight. A Cameo Spalding split to Black Shoulder is worth more than a 'pure' Cameo Spalding. I have trouble even saying 'pure' Cameo Spalding.

The way I see it a bird is pure if it does not have any hidden gene and breeds true. This leaves out all Pieds because they do not breed true. A true Pied is in fact split to white and split to pied. If you only want true 'pure' birds then stick to the wild-type India Blues or the three subspecies of the green peafowl - and nothing else - if you can find them and know they are pure.