The Pigeon Realm

PIGEON COLORS AND PATTERNS-ELEMENTARY GENETICS

TERMS:

Color - The pigmentation of plumage on pigeons.
Sex Linked - Carried on the sex chromosome(color only)
Dominant - Certain colors and patterns are dominant over other
colors and patterns. Where 2 colors or patterns are carried genetically the
dominant will show.
Recessive - Certain colors and patterns are recessive to others.
Where 2 colors or patterns are carried genetically the recessive will always
be hidden.

Single Factor- One dose. One color, pattern etc.

Double Factor- Two doses of the same color or pattern.

COLORS:
Ash Red, Blue and Brown.(all pigeons)

Colors are carried on the sex chromosome in pigeons and are therefore termed
sex linked. Cocks carry 2 sex chromosomes while hens have only one. Each sex
chromosome carries a color. Cocks carry 2 colors, hens only one. Young cocks
receive one color(sex chromosome) from each parent. Hens receive only one color
which comes from the father. The mother contributes nothing (no color) to a
young hen. Since a hen has only one color, it comes from the father. Only cocks
carry 2 colors, with the dominant color showing. Hens only have one color and
it will always show. Color and order of dominance
Ash red is dominant over blue, blue is dominant over brown. Ash red is shown
by the ash colored feathers, usually flights and tail. Blue cocks cannot carry-ash
red. Ash red cocks can carry blue.

Example;

Blue cock X Ash red hen- all young hens color comes from father Blue cocks
cannot carry ash red hence; All young hens will be blue. All young cocks get
one color from each parent. Mother is ash red(dominant) hence; All young cocks
will be ash red, carrying blue. This mating produces Auto sexed young by term.

PATTERNS:

T check, check, bar and bar less. Patterns are not carried on the sex chromosome
and therefore not sex linked. Both cocks and hens carry 2 patterns in any combination
of above (bar less is rare) and can pass either pattern to its young. Young
receive one pattern from each parent.
Patterns and order of dominance

Like in colors, highest order of dominance will hide anything below it in
order. Order of dominance is; T checks, check, bar and bar less. Highest order
of dominance will be seen, the other will be hidden. T check is very tight check,
sometimes barely visible. T check is often referred to as “velvet”.

Example:

T check cock X T check hen; Since T check is most dominant, either parent
can be hiding check or bar and any number of checked or barred offspring could
occur.

Bar cock X bar hen; Since T check and check are dominant over bar(neither parent
showing), no T check or check offspring are possible. In other words, from what
we’ve learned so far, a red check youngster cannot possibly come from a pair
of blue bars for 2 reasons.(1) Two blues cannot raise a red and(2) two bars
cannot raise a check

SUMMARY:

All pigeons are either ash red, blue or brown and carry 2 patterns each of
which could be T check, check, and bar or bar less. Color is sex linked, pattern
is not. Cocks carry 2 colors and only the dominant color shows. Hens carry only
one color and it’ always shows. Cocks and hens carry 2 patterns each with the
dominant one showing.

MODIFIERS:

There are many modifiers of which 2 of the most common are Spread and Grizzle.
Spread and Grizzle are dominant but not sex linked. Most lofts have some representation
of Spread or Grizzle present.

Spread;

Spread is basically a self descriptive term. The Spread factor takes the checks
or bars on blue pigeons (the clustered areas of pigment) and spreads it evenly
throughout the bird. Blue pigeons(T check, check or bar) carrying the spread
factor appear as black pigeons. Spread factor on ash red is not as simple. An
ash red pigeon carrying spread can range from silver( lavender ) to mahogany
(deep brownish-red) and everything in between. Because Spread is dominant, any
pigeon carrying Spread can pass it on to it’s young. Single and double factor
spread appear the same. All young from double factor spread will carry and show
spread.

Grizzle;

Grizzle is another common modifier that changes the color of a pigeon, sometimes
quite drastically. Grizzle “washes out” the color of a pigeon in which
the flights, tail and head areas seem to be effected less. Grizzle added to
bar pattern gives us the typical red and blue grizzles(showing a bar pattern
to some extent). Grizzle added to checks gives us tortoise-shells, which will
range from very light to very dark. Grizzle, like Spread,’ is dominant and not
sex linked so either sex carrying grizzle can pass it on to the young of either
sex. Double factor grizzles are different than single factor grizzles. A second
factor of grizzle “washes-out” the feather color even more, to almost
white. Since grizzle effects the flights, tail and head areas less, ‘hence the
stork marked pigeon. Most Tipplers are double factor grizzles and raise young
the same. Because grizzle is dominant, when you breed a stork to any other pigeon
you will get grizzle in all young.

Dilute;

Dilute is also self descriptive. Dilute does what it says… it dilutes the
original color giving us a faded version of that same color. Dilute is recessive(not
dominant) and can be carried but not shown. In order to raise a cock showing
dilute, both parents must be carrying it. Hens can be raised showing dilute
if the cock carries a single factor. When dilute is added to ash red we get
yellow. Depending on the pattern we will get cream bars or yellow checks in
descriptive terms. If we add dilute to blue we get silver bars or silver checks
(commonly referred to as dun).If we add dilute to blue with spread we get Dun
which is a self marked bird, the same for dilute to ash red with spread, we
get a yellow self.

Example;

Red bar cock(carrying single factor of dilute)X blue check hen, Any yellow
checks raised will all be hens.Red check cock(not carrying dilute)X cream bar
hen,

No young showing dilute is possible. All cocks will carry
a single factor of dilute but won’t show it because dilute
is not dominant.