Albino ringnecked Pheasants

Finch · **Posted:** Fri Feb 25, 2011 8:29 am

How rare are albino ringnecked pheasants? I was under the impression that they were relatively common but have rarely seen them advertised.

andre · **Joined:** Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:21 pm **Posts:** 612

I have seen some but they are not common.

Finch · **Posted:** Fri Feb 25, 2011 11:21 am

I am interested in finding out the mode of inheritance regarding albinism in pheasants. There is not much on the net and what I have found is superficial.

andre · **Joined:** Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:21 pm **Posts:** 612

I dont know for certain in Ringneck pheasants, but albinos in just about every other species are a single autosomal recessive allele.

parvo · **Joined:** Sat Jan 02, 2010 7:39 pm **Posts:** 735

In green feathered birds you need to have a combination of 2 mutations to get an albino- lutino, which is often sex-linked recessive and blue- which is autosomal recessive single gene mutation. This is because the colour green results from the combination of blue and yellow colours in bird feathers.

However, in ringneck pheasants, since the base feather colour is not green, it may just involve a single point mutation as Andrewschooks has suggested. I'm sure there is somebody on this forum who has a better idea on the exact nature of inheritance of the albino gene in ringneck pheasants.

RINGPHEASANT · **Joined:** Tue Feb 15, 2011 8:07 pm **Posts:** 24

I have 5 pairs of white ringneck pheasant and 1 pair have blue eyes the rest are pink eyed and some have have reduced sight and others don't. They are not rare just harder to keep the chicks alive long enough to mature.

Types of Mutations known to cause albinism in various animals:

* Dominant Mutations

* Autosomal Recessive Mutations

* Sex-linked Recessive Mutations

* plus several others

Albinism in Pheasants (from Crawford, R. D., 1990. Poultry Breeding and Genetics. Elsevier Amsterdam, The Netherlands.):

Types:
• Pied Spotting (autosomal recessive; pied with white feathers; dirty blue eyes)

• Blue Eyed White (autosomal recessive; completely white feathers and blue eyes; pearl white shanks and beak)

• Brown Eyed White (autosomal recessive; completely white feathers and brown eyes; buff beaks and shanks)

• Incomplete Albinism (sex-linked recessive; white bird and pink eyes; reduced viability)

• Albino (inheritance unknown; white feathers and red eyes)

• White Skin (autosomal dominant; white skin [pinky hue])

If you take the most common definition "Albino = a pigmentless "white" phenotype determined by a mutation in a gene coding for a pigment synthesizing enzyme.", you have to interpret an albino as anything where there is a mutation in a gene which results in a pigmentless phenotype. This means that any mutation leading to a pigmentless phenotype (white hair, feathers, OR skin or red eyes) should be classified as an albino. This can be extended to animals expressing these phenotypes for only part of their body (e.g. lacking pigment in their toes, have splashes of white feathers, only have red eyes). These may not be complete albinos (red eyes, white skin, & white feathers/hair), but they are partial albinos.
Referance http://www.aviangenetics.com/Pheasant_G ... lbino.html

andre · **Joined:** Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:21 pm **Posts:** 612

Great info RINGPHEASANT. To my mind, Albino means complete lack of pigment. The other types are variants of white.

Its interesting, there is a blue-eyed white phenotype in turkeys too. It happens when you put the allele for white into a black background. Regular brown-eyed whites occur in bronze and black-winged bronze.

Pheasants, Turkeys and Chickens are closely enough related that many of the same sorts of colour mutations occur, just their expression can be a little different in the different species.

PeaBreeder · **Joined:** Sat Jan 29, 2011 8:54 am **Posts:** 13

Yes that is really good info RINGPHEASANT and interesting because white peafowl have blue eyes?? so a form of Albinism??

parvo · **Joined:** Sat Jan 02, 2010 7:39 pm **Posts:** 735

Thanks Ringpheasant,

Great information.

I agree with Andrewschooks in that a true albino should lack all pigment throughout the body. The partial albinos are, I suppose, in reality pieds?

It also shows that different genotypes( genetic combinations) with different modes of inheritance can produce similar-looking phenotypes( ie similarly coloured birds)

Finch · **Posted:** Sat Feb 26, 2011 4:28 am

Thank you to all, for the information presented.
I currently have two hens ,white with red eyes hens with a 'normal' rooster which produce about 25% white progeny.
It is interesting to note that white with red eyes can be either two genotypes, albino, with an unknown inheritance or incomplete albinism, sex linked recessive which may have a lethal allele in association, while white with blue eyes is autosomal recessive.
Question for Ringpheasants: With the information you have provided, I assume your blue eyed white produce 100% blue eyed whites but what phenotypes are you producing with your red eyed whites and what survival rate are you seeing in your clutches?

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