Domestic Guinea Fowl Colors
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There are several different guinea fowl colors and patterns in guinea fowl, and these are how varieties in the breed are distinguished. Most varieties have black eyes and bright red wattles, with the distinctive “helmet” protruding from their heads.
by Sherri Talbot
The domestic guinea fowl is a descendant of the helmeted guinea variety in Africa. This noisy game bird, despite being referred to as domesticated, shares many traits with its wild kin. Its piercing cry, skittering run and odd appearance are familiar to many farmers, who value them for their ability to clean up parasites around a barnyard and warn of predators.
One of the most distinctive things about guinea fowl is their appearance. Their heads are tiny, when compared to the watermelon-shaped bodies, and are so white they appear to have doused themselves in clown paint. Most varieties have black eyes and bright red wattles, with the distinctive “helmet” protruding from their heads. There are several different color patterns in guinea fowl, and these are how varieties in the breed are distinguished.
The most common guinea is the pearl grey — also just called “pearl”. This is the natural color of its helmeted guinea ancestors, with a distinctive dark gray body covered in hundreds of white speckles. There is a pied version of this color, also found in the wild, where solid white patches may be found on the breast, back or wings. These are the most prevalent colors in many areas of the world, and pied makes up one of the dominant color genes in guinea fowl.
In many areas of the world, another common color variety is the royal purple. In some studies, the royal purple coloring was found even more commonly than the pied plumage. Royal purple patterning looks much the same as the pearl grey, but plumage on the chest and neck carry a purple hue. This is often enhanced in photographs to show the differences, but can be much more subtle in person. If the royal purple feathers lack the pearling pattern, the variety is known as violet, though several hatcheries were found that refer to the non-patterned variety as royal purple as well.
The lighter version of this coloring, known as lavender, is one of the few colors recognized by the American Poultry Association, despite being less common worldwide than some other colors. The plumage in these birds is pale purple or gray. The color is popular in certain European countries and is rumored to thrive better than most other varieties in cold climates.
White guinea fowl are also common in many areas and have several variations. They may be a solid white, or have the speckling of their gray counterparts, creating a difficult to see white-on-white plumage pattern. Some studies suggest that the genetics for solid white plumage may also be one of the more dominant combinations. Other variations on the white coloring are extremely rare. A solid blueish white is called an opaline, while those with white spots are called porcelain. This blue in the plumage can also be more pronounced, producing coral blue, or powder blue.
When discussing plumage colors, different sources and studies may have different color names for the same birds, even with common coloring patterns. For instance, hatcheries in the United States refer to white birds as simply being white, while some studies done in Africa refer to this color as cream. Other sources may refer to them as albino, even though they do not suffer from albinism.
After the commonly recognized plumage colors, guinea varieties become more difficult to definitively identify. Even those who breed guinea fowl may be unaware of the numerous other plumage options in the breed. Since many research studies only look at plumage types common in their area, it can be difficult to identify how many colors actually exist. One source identified twelve different colors in guinea fowl, while another identified seventeen. One study estimated forty possible color varieties! Generally, most studies around color are most concerned with finding ways to autosex guinea keets to increase productivity. There are genetic hobbyists that enjoy trying to determine how to produce various colors, but only one professional study — done in 1996 — could be found looking at the plumage color entirely for its own sake.
This study was focused in large part on the dun guinea fowl – also called chamois — and the dundotte. The dun guinea is a light tan color, while the dundotte is the same shade, but with white pearling on the feathers, similar to the pattern on the grey pearl. Researchers mated a number of guinea fowl pairs of different colors, to determine the best matches to produce rare colors. However, in the outcome it became apparent that the rarest colors cannot be guaranteed, even when breeding parents of that color together.
For those intending to show guineas, learning the proper standards for grey pearl, white and lavender is important. Despite the wide range of colors available with guinea fowl, only these three are acceptable varieties by the American Poultry Association. Admitted to the APA in 2004, the standards of perfection for each variety are similar in body conformation, but each color is given its own areas for disqualification. These include any white feathers in the pearl or the lavender, or any colored feathers in the white. Colored guineas are expected to have distinct, even markings over their entire body. White guinea should have no patterning and be pure white — yellowing is considered a major flaw in the bird.
Study and identification of specific guinea fowl coloring is an unfortunately under-studied area in poultry research. Many different organizations acknowledge only a small subsection of the possible color variations, and it is difficult to find a single, concise resource to identify all color varieties with universally accepted terms. However, for those who love guineas, the variation of available colors can be another novelty in their noisy flock.
Sources
Colored Guinea Fowl (1998-2024). Murray McMurray Hatchery. Available online at https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/colored-guinea-fowl.html
Francis, Dongmo & Meutchieye, Félix & Massawa, Jean & Jean Pierre, Mingoas. (2023). Morphometric Assessment of Common Guinea Fowl (Numida meleagris) in Cameroon. Open Journal of Animal Sciences. 13. 478-495. 10.4236/ojas.2023.134034.
Helmeted Guinea Fowl Report: The Admission of Pearl, Lavender, and White Helmeted Guinea Fowl to the American Poultry Association’s American Standard of Perfection (2004). APA American Standard of Perfection. Available online at https://archive.org/stream/srp18407_gmail_13/ Guinea%20Fowl%20Standard%20of%20Peerfection_djvu.txt
Roiter, Ykov & Degtyareva, Olga. (2023). Evaluation of guinea fowls by genetic markers of plumage color. BIO Web Conf. 71 01068. DOI: 10.1051/bioconf/20237101068
Roiter, Ykov & Degtyareva, Olga. (2024). The influence of selection of sires according to the degree of plumage pigmentation on the autosexness of guinea fowl. E3S Web of Conferences 510, 01032. https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202451001032
Sharma, Depak & Singh, Harpreet. (2013). Guinea Fowl: Genetics and Breeding. India: Satish Serial Publishing House. ISNB 9789381226483.
Soara, Aïcha & Talaki, E. & Dayo, Guiguigbaza-Kossigan & Tona, Jacob. (2020). Morpho-Biometric Characterization of Indigenous Guinea fowl (Numida meleagris) Populations in Northern Togo. International Journal of Poultry Science. 19. 432-446. 10.3923/ijps.2020.432.446.
Somes Jr., R.G.. (1996) Guinea Fowl Plumage Color Inheritance, With Particular Attention on the Dun Color. The Journal of Heredity. 87:2
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Sherri Talbot is the co-owner and operator of Saffron and Honey Homestead in Windsor, Maine. She raises endangered, heritage-breed livestock and hopes someday to make education and writing on conservation breeding her full-time job.
Originally published in the August/September 2024 issue of Backyard Poultry and regularly vetted for accuracy.
