Breeding for Colours and Size (Standard/Jumbo)

[ChickenTenderKesha]

Hello all!

I am starting this thread to discuss the different colours and sizes of Guineas out there, while exploring the genetics of my own flock I’ve accumulated! Anyone and everyone is welcome to share their knowledge on Guineas, and to share photos of what colours they have! I’m constantly learning as this is only my second year with Guineas and I’m already so enthralled by them!!

I currently have what will be 2 different groups, hopefully. With a male for each group over a half dozen of hens give or take.

At the moment, my plans are to breed for more colours and see what comes from my groups of birds!
I have;
-3 Royal Purples (2 pied, all hens)
-4 Pearl Grey (1 cock/3 hens, 1 hen pied, 2 hens are jumbo)
-1 Lavender (hen)
-1 Cinnamon (cock)
-3 Chocolate (2 pied, all hens)
-1 Dundotte (hen)

Correct me if I’m wrong on what colours I have! I’m going off two different references I’ve found and one only has partially been filled with photos of the birds as they hatch them out so it’s been an ongoing post, but seemed to have died down a few years back unfortunately so I’m looking for more people to discuss them with as they are fascinating birds to have around!

The Cinnamon cock bird:

From left to right—Jumbo Pearl Grey hen, Royal Purple hen, Lavender hen, Jumbo Pearl Grey hen, 2 Pied Royal Purples:

The chocolate(?) hens:

I have yet to get photos of the Pearl Grey cock, Pied Pearl Grey hen, and the Dundotte hen as they are the most recent additions!

 

[Zenmonkey]

I love this, thank you for posting!

I've been thinking of adding whites or Jumbos, but I'm afraid I don't know much about the genetics of the various colors.

I suspect the jumbo in most birds that have it is not a single gene. Or at least they're may be quite a few auxiliary gene that augment or mitigate it. I'd love to see what you find out!

 

[ChickenTenderKesha]

I love this, thank you for posting!

I’m thrilled someone else enjoys this as much as I do!!

I've been thinking of adding whites or Jumbos, but I'm afraid I don't know much about the genetics of the various colors.

For whites it’s my understanding that, if it’s a pure white (without the pearling present) bred out to any other colour, you should always get pied offspring. I have yet to test this out myself, but it is something I recall reading/hearing!

I have no pure whites, yet, but I do have pied females of three different colours. It’s my hope that those females can create more pieds upon crossing to solid coloured males.

The fun part will be seeing what the pearl grey and cinnamon coloured males will produce over the various hens.

I suspect the jumbo in most birds that have it is not a single gene. Or at least they're may be quite a few auxiliary gene that augment or mitigate it. I'd love to see what you find out!

This is one I’ll be testing through breeding and have yet to start my search for what others have written about that specific genetic or if it’s been studied or not!

I’m curious on if it’s possibly a dominant gene, and if you can selectively breed to produce offspring with double copies of this gene which causes the 30% larger birds. Although, if there is auxiliary genes augmenting the size, I’m curious on what exactly causes the jumbo gene to express itself vs not

 

[R2elk]

For whites it’s my understanding that, if it’s a pure white (without the pearling present) bred out to any other colour, you should always get pied offspring. I have yet to test this out myself, but it is something I recall reading/hearing!

I have no pure whites, yet, but I do have pied females of three different colours. It’s my hope that those females can create more pieds upon crossing to solid coloured males.

The fun part will be seeing what the pearl grey and cinnamon coloured males will produce over the various hens.

White crossed to white produces only white.

White crossed with any solid color produces 100% pied.

White crossed with pied produces 50% white and 50% pied.

Pied crossed with pied produces 25% white, 50% pied and 25% solid.

Pied crossed with solid produces 50% pied and 50% solid.

Pure Pearl Gray crossed with anything other than pied produces 100% Pearl Gray. Pearl Gray is dominant and only requires one copy of the gene to cause the Pearl Gray color. If your Pearl Gray cock is heterozygous for Pearl Gray, the outcome will depend on which recessive color gene it carries and which recessive genes its mate carries.

 

[ChickenTenderKesha]

I got photos of the Pearl Grey cock bird, the Pied Pearl Grey hen, and the Dundotte hen. Someone correct me if I’m wrong on her being a Dundotte

It’s rather fascinating seeing how quickly the flock blends with new additions. It only takes a day and I can free range the new Guineas with the others and the chickens of my main coop! I’ve also witnessed the most feisty pair of Guinea hens leaving the coop at roosting time if any Guinea is outside calling looking to see where to go and leading them to the coop. So while they are keeping their higher level in the pecking order, they are still taking care of the new Guineas I add to the flock and not just chasing them away like I mostly witness!

 

[ChickenTenderKesha]

White crossed to white produces only white.

White crossed with any solid color produces 100% pied.

White crossed with pied produces 50% white and 50% pied.

Pied crossed with pied produces 25% white, 50% pied and 25% solid.

Pied crossed with solid produces 50% pied and 50% solid.

Pure Pearl Gray crossed with anything other than pied produces 100% Pearl Gray. Pearl Gray is dominant and only requires one copy of the gene to cause the Pearl Gray color. If your Pearl Gray cock is heterozygous for Pearl Gray, the outcome will depend on which recessive color gene it carries and which recessive genes its mate carries.

Thank you for your wonderful knowledge! I got looking through the older threads and saw your information on another thread and that’s where I read it!

I was sort of hoping you might show up! You seem to have great knowledge on Guineas. Do you know much about the genetic that causes them to be Jumbos or not? That’s going to be the deepest part of my breeding adventure! The colours are just an added bonus as I had no idea there were so many.

 

[R2elk]

I was sort of hoping you might show up! You seem to have great knowledge on Guineas. Do you know much about the genetic that causes them to be Jumbos or not? That’s going to be the deepest part of my breeding adventure! The colours are just an added bonus as I had no idea there were so many.

The Jumbos were created through many years of selective breeding.

I had no interest in Jumbos so only know what I have read about them.

They are calmer, less flighty and less aggressive than the standard helmeted guineas.

 

[Zenmonkey]

Pied crossed with pied produces 25% white, 50% pied and 25% solid.

Pied crossed with solid produces 50% pied and 50% solid.

This is my understanding of how pied works in a number of species.

Allow me please to ask this. I've got the Hoover's Hatchery stock via TSC, most of which were sold to me as "pied mix". Even at the time I thought it seemed a significant dearth of white. Mine have never had a significant amount of white. Quite literally they've got some white wing feathers. Variable numbers of wing feathers are white, and typically the left and right wings on the same bird will differ. I think it is always primary flight feathers, though I might be wrong about that.

The offspring are similar. No white birds, and no white anywhere but the flights. Admittedly I ended up with a significant number of hens, and possibly my founding males were normal pearl grays. I can't recall.

When I had pigeons, the genetics for white flights and for pied were quite different. No one I knew would ever describe a bird with white flights as pied.

Is this something that is known with guineas? After your description of pied inheritance, I'm feeling pretty confident that I don't have pied birds, just white flighted birds.

Thank you!

 

[R2elk]

This is my understanding of how pied works in a number of species.

Allow me please to ask this. I've got the Hoover's Hatchery stock via TSC, most of which were sold to me as "pied mix". Even at the time I thought it seemed a significant dearth of white. Mine have never had a significant amount of white. Quite literally they've got some white wing feathers. Variable numbers of wing feathers are white, and typically the left and right wings on the same bird will differ. I think it is always primary flight feathers, though I might be wrong about that.

The offspring are similar. No white birds, and no white anywhere but the flights. Admittedly I ended up with a significant number of hens, and possibly my founding males were normal pearl grays. I can't recall.

When I had pigeons, the genetics for white flights and for pied were quite different. No one I knew would ever describe a bird with white flights as pied.

Is this something that is known with guineas? After your description of pied inheritance, I'm feeling pretty confident that I don't have pied birds, just white flighted birds.

Thank you!

White flight feathers and pied in guineas are not the same thing although some people make the mistake that any white on a guinea is pied.

I have never seen a reason posted for the white flight feathers on guineas. It is obviously an inherited condition but is definitely not related to the white gene that causes pied guineas.

 

[ChickenTenderKesha]

The Jumbos were created through many years of selective breeding.

I had no interest in Jumbos so only know what I have read about them.

They are calmer, less flighty and less aggressive than the standard helmeted guineas.

Thank you for your time and knowledge on their genetics!! You’ve been a great help with what you’ve shared, I appreciate it immensely!

I have to chuckle at the comment on their demeanour as mine seem to have themselves backwards lol. My standards are half and half for calmness, I have been told mine seem very tame but the last trio I posted is the most tame yet. I’ve been able to hold the dundotte hen and the pearl grey cock bird and they’ve been the easiest to handle. My Jumbos are by far the flightiest out of them all, minus the royal purple hen she’s always been my flightiest but I think that’s due to her origins before I got her. It’s very interesting to see the different groups I have develop into a cohesive unit as they’ve been brought together!