Peacock anatomy info...where is it?

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new 2 pfowl

new 2 pfowl

Crowing
Jan 13, 2012
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Dunedin, NZ
Recently I asked about peacock flight feather growth, as I'm wondering when our boy Peggy (who was kidnapped and had his wings clipped!) will be able to fly free again. Thank you to those of you who gave me your opinions.

While searching for an answer, I discovered that finding specific and detailed information about peacock wings, and about peacock anatomy in general, is incredibly difficult.

So first of all, I wonder: does anyone know of good pea anatomy resources?
And second, am I correct in thinking that chicken-specific illustrations provide helpful information but are inaccurate in details when applied to peacocks?


I must add that one of the best places to find the answer to questions such as: How many flight feathers do they have? How many of these are rust, how many blue-black, and how many barred? was by looking at Clinton's beautiful illustrations.
This shows how important his work is!
An example:


(I hope you don't mind my re-posting your illustration here, Clinton. For more of his work see: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/594308/illustrations-of-adult-male-peafowls).

I guess all of this is just to see if you peapeople know of pea-specific resources, and if so, maybe you could post them and we could add them to the stickies or at least have them in one place...
 
I find info like this very useful and interesting. Now you have me wondering if we can use chicken anatomy for peas, so just for grins, I'll count the primaries and secondaries on a chicken and a pea.
big_smile.png


Thanks for finding those drawings, they're beautiful!

-Kathy
 
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For example, it's really frustrating that I can't find an answer to my questions about molt frequency.


From what I understand, the flight feather molt starts at the point where the primaries and secondaries meet.
The molt works outwards from that point. That is to say, P1 and S1 fall out, and when the replacement feathers are half their final length, P2 and S2 will drop out, and so on across the wing in two directions.

So my question is:
How many times a year do they complete their molt cycle? When the molt has finished its cycle (reaches the last primary and the last secondary on each wing), does it immediately start over from P1 and S1? Or is there an intermission, so to speak?

Sorry about this long post but it seems strange that I just can't find the answer to this.

*eta: I shortened this to make it more general. Sorry again for being so long-winded.
 
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From what I have observed from my peas is they molt a feather here a feather there threw out the year except during breeding season then they don't seem to loose hardly any , when the season is ending is when I noticed that they molt harder but never molt like a chicken .. my males have massive tail lost once breeding season is over and even the youngest with their first eye feather on their baby train are molting their tail feathers hard.
 
They do have a strange way of molting, it's not like chickens, turkeys or ducks.

-Kathy
 
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Kathy, you said that you have to clip your peas' wings a few times a year, right?
This must mean that they molt flight feathers a few times a year?
You're right, Zaz, these guys seem to always be molting a bit, but they do molt hard after breeding season.
 
I have a little mallard that I had to clip once, then several months later all I noticed she had all new feathers, but the peas grew back in way that made me think I had missed feathers, lol. It's hard to explain, but I cut all primaries and all secondaries and it's like they grew from where they were cut? Now you got me thinking, so I'll pay better attention the next time I clip.

-Kathy
 
casportpony said:
I have a little mallard that I had to clip once, then several months later all I noticed she had all new feathers, but the peas grew back in way that made me think I had missed feathers, lol. It's hard to explain, but I cut all primaries and all secondaries and it's like they grew from where they were cut? Now you got me thinking, so I'll pay better attention the next time I clip.

-Kathy
Click to expand...
My rouen/mallard crosses molt 2 times a year, the males even grow in feathers and look just like the females for a bit of time then they molt them and get the normal colors like a male should be
 

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