- PIGEON COLORS -

There are a lot of unknown and unexplained genetic colors and patterns in pigeons. I think writing about genetics is like buying a brand new computer because as soon as you bring it home and set it up, you still have to download all the new updates. By the time you downloaded the new updates the new model of the computer you just purchased is already being advertised. It is like genetic science, where the geneticists discover new things everyday and sometimes prove the old theories to be wrong. No doubt mutants take a little more time to develop than the computers, but we can find a variety of colors and patterns in almost every pigeon breed nowadays. Thanks to careful and serious pigeon breeders everywhere in the world for contributing new breeds and colors ever since the rock dove was domesticated. However, having an explanation for that mutation may take some time for geneticists to figure it out.

Why is it very hard to write about pigeon colors and genetics? In spite of the years of study of the scientists for the inheritance of color, there are still many colors the inheritance of which is almost entirely unknown. In addition, there are many colors and varieties in pigeons, which often times blended together, that make it almost impossible to enumerate them all. There are over 150 varieties of colors in pigeons. In some cases, the effects of two entirely distinct factors may overlap and closely resemble each other, like recessive and dominant opal. Lastly, fans of different breeds and breeders from different parts of the world call each color different names, which creates confusion in terminology.

For now, let us look at the three basic colors that we understand and we can scientifically explain. After all, the rest of the colors and variations come from these 3 base colors.

There are 3 major colors in pigeons that we know of: red, blue/black, and brown. The pigment color Blue and Black is often confused and misused by a lot of fanciers. In reality, there is no blue pigment in pigeons, and the reason we see black as blue is the way the black pigments are bunched together in the cells of the feathers. However, because the bars are black in color, Willard F. Hollander, one of the foremost authorities in pigeon genetics, called this color Blue/Black. We have to understand that these 3 major colors (Red, Black, and Brown) are the base colors upon which the other color mutations work.

In the above pictures, I have used my Birmingham Rollers to demonstrate the base colors on pigeons. Notice the order of the colors from dominant to recessive: ash red, black, and brown.

The ash red bald head cock shown in the first picture is believed to be the first mutation color from wild type (blue bar). Notice that I am not talking about the bald head or pied ball pattern; I am talking about the ash red color. Ash red is dominant to the wild type. In addition, the ash red has no tail bar. Unfortunately, I can’t show you that using the first picture because his tails are not visible from this angle, and even if they were visible, we could not have seen it because he is a bald head and all his tails are white. I will talk about why white is not a color but is considered to be a masking color later. For now, just understand that ash red is the first mutation to wild type. It is dominant to wild type and it has an ash color tail and no tail band. Therefore, it is called the ash-red by Willard F. Hollander. There is also recessive red, which should not be confused with the ash red. Ash red is a dominant color and has its genetic symbol as B^A and the recessive red is lower case e indicating the recessive gene. Unlike Ash red, the recessive red is recessive to blue wild type and it is not considered to be one of the 3 base colors. In addition, recessive reds are not sex-linked.

Brown is the third base color in pigeons and it is recessive to wild type. Unlike ash red, brown has a tail band. The brown is usually confused with, and known as dun or silver, although brown is genetically entirely different color. The picture on the left is a very rare color found in Birmingham Rollers and it is silver-dun bar, not brown. The brown color can be distinguished by the fact that it is between dun and silver but also shows chocolate or cocoa color. In addition, the baby brown chicks are always normal-downed, unlike silver or dun colors. The genetic symbol for brown is lower case b, indicating that it is a sex linked recessive gene. "...That brown is not a dilute color is demonstrated by mating any dilute cock (dun, silver, yellow) to a brown hen. This mating is sex-linked, and all youngsters the color of the cock parent are hens, while the sons will be usually blue or black (intense)." (Wendell Levi, The Pigeon, p. 313)

Just remember that although mutations like pied ball markings or white-self make it hard for us to see sometimes, all pigeons have three pigment types: red, black, and brown.

As I have mentioned in the first page, in pigeons the female determines the sex of the offspring. Genetically, all male pigeons carry two feather colors, the one we see and the other is hidden but always the dominant color is expressed. Females on the other hand, carry one color and one empty allele for feather color. This means every female pigeon carry only the color that we see on the outside. Cock birds will donate one of the colors he carries during mating. If the hen donates the color she has, then the offspring will have two colors, each donated by a parent, and will make that bird a cock bird. If the hen does not donate a color, the offspring will have only one color, donated from the father, and will be a hen. All of the hen's color comes from her father. The mother contributes nothing to the color of the young hen. The young cocks carry everything the hen is and one of the cocks feather color chromosomes.

Since hens only carry one color and one empty color, when referring to the sex-linked factors and hens, the term hemizygous is used to describe the arrangement where only one gene is present. Not all mutations are sex-linked; consequently a hen can be heterozygous for autosomal mutations such as recessive opal and recessive red.

Sex-link mating:

You might think if we cross a homozygous blue bar (both alleles are blue) cock to a heterozygous ash-red bar hen we would get all ash-red offspring as we know ash red is dominant to blue (wild type). But this is not true because if the hen does not donate the ash red color and donate the empty color allele, then all the female offspring from this mating would be blue carrying the only color they inherited from the cock bird. All the male offspring would be ash red carrying blue. We call this a sex-link mating as we can predict the color and the gender of the offspring. Not all colors are sex linked and we cannot predict the color and the gender of every mating.

Genetic explanation of the three base colors and "possible" results

Homozygous ash red cock - Both color pigment alleles are ash red, he has no choice but to donate ash red allele during mating. This also means that whichever color hen we mate this cock, all the offspring will be ash red. The male offspring will carry the color they inherited from their mother, but will still be an ash red since ash red is dominant to both blue and brown. All the female offspring from this cock will be ash red. If we mate this cock to ash red hen, all the cocks will be homozygous ash red cocks.

Homozygous ash red cock X ash red hen - All the cock birds will be homozygous ash red, all the hens will be ash red.
Homozygous ash red cock X blue hen - All the cock birds will be heterozygous ash red carrying blue, all the hens will be ash red.
Homozygous ash red cock X brown hen - All the cock birds will be heterozygous ash red carrying brown, all the hens will be ash red.

Heterozygous ash red cock - This means he is carrying two different colors and one of them is definitely ash red, as it is expressed because of its dominance. We don't know what the other color is but it has to be either blue or brown. If you look closely at a heterozygous ash red cock there will be dark flecks in his flights and tail if he is carrying blue or brown. The other color heretozygous ash red cock is carrying cannot be ash red; otherwise he would be called homozygous ash red. During mating he can donate either the ash red color or the other unknown (blue or brown) color he is carrying. This means, he may not have ash red offspring if he donates the other color he is carrying. This may confuse a lot of people if they don't understand the genetics. Heterozygous ash red cock mated to ash red hen may produce blue or brown offspring (all the offspring will be hens if they are not ash red). How? Because he donated the other color (blue or brown) he was carrying and the ash red hen donated the empty color allele.

Heterozygous ash red cock carrying blue X ash red hen - 25% chance that cock birds will be homozygous ash red, 25% chance that cock birds will be heterozygous ash red carrying blue. 25% chance that hens will be ash red and 25% chance that hens will be blue.

Heterozygous ash red cock carrying blue X blue hen - The picture on the right is the Punnett square that shows the four different possibilities of this mating. 25% chance that cock birds will be homozygous blue if both parents donate blue (top right in the picture). 25% chance that cock birds will be heterozygous ash red carrying blue if the hen donates blue and the cock donates red (top left in the picture). 25% chance that hens will be ash red if the cock donates red and the hen donates empty color (bottom left in the picture). 25% chance that hens will be blue if the cock donates blue and the hen donates empty color (bottom right in the picture).

Heterozygous ash red cock carrying blue X brown hen - 25% chance that cock birds will be heterozygous ash red carrying brown, 25% chance that cock birds will be heterozygous blue carying brown. 25% chance that hens will be ash red, 25% chance that hens will be blue.

Heterozygous ash red cock carrying brown X ash red hen - 25% chance that cock birds will be homozygous ash red, 25% chance that cock birds will be heterozygous ash red carrying brown. 25% chance that hens will be ash red, 25% chance that hens will be brown.

Heterozygous ash red cock carrying brown X blue hen - 25% chance that cock birds will be heterozygous ash red carrying blue, 25% chance that cock birds will be blue carrying brown. 25% chance that hens will be ash red, 25% chance that hens will be brown.

Heterozygous ash red cock carrying brown X brown hen - 25% chance that cock birds will be homozygous brown. 25% chance that cock birds will be heterozygous ash red carrying brown. 25% chance that hens will be ash red, 25% chance that hens will be brown.

Homozygous blue cock - Both color pigment alleles are blue; he has no choice but to donate blue during mating. If he is mated to ash red hen, all the male offspring will be ash red carrying blue and all the female offspring will be blue. If this cock is mated to another blue hen, then all the offspring will be blue (all the cock birds from that mating would be homozygous blue). If this cock is mated to brown hen, then all the offspring will be blue since brown is recessive to blue. From this mating all the male offspring will be blue carrying brown and all the hens will be blue.

Homozygous blue cock X ash red hen - All the cock birds will be heterozygous ash red carrying blue, all the hens will be blue.
Homozygous blue cock X blue hen - All the cock birds will be homozygous blue, all the hens will be blue.
Homozygous blue cock X brown hen - All the cock birds will be heterozygous blue carrying brown, all the hens will be blue.

Heterozygous blue cock - This means he is carrying two different colors and one of them is definitely blue, as it is expressed and the other one has to be brown. The other color allele cannot be ash red; otherwise this bird would not be showing blue pigmentation. Remember that ash red is dominant to blue and dominant color will always (I hate using the word "always"!) be expressed. During mating he can donate either the blue color or the brown color that he is carrying. The color of the offspring will depends on what he donates as a color and what color the hen he is mated to carries. Again, is it possible for this cock bird to produce brown offspring? The answer is yes, even if he is mated to an ash red hen. If he is mated to an ash red hen, all the males will be ash red carrying either blue or brown, and the female offspring will be either blue or brown depending on what he has donated.

Heterozygous blue carrying brown X ash red hen - 25% chance that cock birds will be heterozygous ash red carrying blue, 25% chance that cock birds will be heterozygous ash red carrying brown. 25% chance that hens will be blue, 25% chance that hens will be brown.

Heterozygous blue carrying brown X blue hen - 25% chance that cock birds will be homozygous blue, 25% chance that cock birds will be heterozygous blue carrying brown. 25% chance that hens will be blue, 25% chance that hens will be brown.

Heterozygous blue carrying brown X brown hen - 25% chance that cock birds will be homozygous brown, 25% chance that cock birds will be heterozygous blue carrying brown. 25% chance that hens will be blue, 25% chance that hens will be brown.

Homozygous brown cock - Both color alleles are brown; he has no choice but to donate brown during mating. If he is mated to ash red hen, all the male offspring will be ash red carrying brown and all the female offspring will be brown. If he is mated to blue hen, all the male offspring will be blue carrying brown and all the female offspring will be brown. If this cock is mated to brown hen, then all the offspring will be brown. A brown cock has to be homozygous to express brown since brown is recessive to both ash red and blue. So, is it possible for this cock to produce brown cock offspring? The answer is yes, but only if he is mated to a brown hen. Otherwise, all the male offspring from this cock will be either heterozygous ash red carrying brown or heterozygous blue carrying brown.

Homozygous brown cock X ash red hen - All the cock birds will be heterozygous ash red carrying brown, all the hens will be brown.
Homozygous brown cock X blue hen - All the cock birds will be heterozygous blue carrying brown, all the hens will be brown.
Homozygous brown cock X brown hen - All the cock birds will be homozygous brown, all the hens will be brown.

Heterozygous brown cock - There is no such thing! Brown color is recessive to both ash red and blue and therefore cannot express itself in heterozygous stage.

Diluted & Reduced Colors

So far we talked about the three base colors but what about the rest? Where is yellow, dun, khaki brown, white, spread black, spread red (recessive red), etc? We get cream bar from ash red, dun from black, silver-dun from blue, recessive yellow from recessive red, and khaki from brown by a mutation called dilution. Dilute is self descriptive and it 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. The dilution is located in different locus (different forms of a gene at a particular physical location on a chromosome) and therefore inherited independently of color and it is a sex-linked recessive mutation. The dilution happens where the pigments on the feathers that absorbs the light to show the color is cut by half. You can see the white edge on the dun bar's tail to indicate that this bird is not spread. Under the microscope, the pigment of an intense color like black and its dilute dun are similar except that in the dilute there are smaller and fewer pigment granules, thus creating appearance of another color. This is why we have 3 basic colors and their modified versions which can go up to 150 different variations.

Remember that for a cock bird to be a diluted bird, both parents have to be diluted or carry dilute. I am not sure it was a coincidence or most diluted birds are hens, but I noticed after I posted the pictures that the first row of the following pictures are all cocks, and the second row showing the dilution is all hens. Hens are diluted only if the father is diluted or carrying dilute factor. See examples below for dilution. Click on each picture to make it bigger.

Reduced is different than diluted and has become a color in demand by many breeders and because of this, the quality of reduced birds are quickly improving. The reduced gene mutation was discovered in 1951 by Carl Graefe. He saw it in his rollers and recognized the difference. This was the beginning of the reduced gene as we know it today. Mr. Graefe, curious with this new color, proceeded to cross and backcross this color gene and perhaps because he was very knowledgeable breeder, we now have reduced genes in many pigeon breeds. It did not take him long to discover that it was a sex-linked dilution gene and recessive to the wild type. He discovered that reduced will influence every color. "Pastel" is a word that best describes the influence of the reduced gene. Most breeders tend to prefer reduced mated with black (spread blue). From this mating you would get reduced on black and it would look like a silver bird with the wing shield feathers laced with a black edge.

These pictures on both sides are called rosy neck dominant opals and they are more than likely reduced from a blue bar as we can see the tail band. Notice the beautiful rosy neck and the white (opal) bars in the left bird, thanks to Dal M. Stone for putting this color into Birmingham Rollers. The incomplete version of this bird would show pinkish neck and pink bars shown on the right and would make it easier for us the see the tail band. Reduced is a single sex linked recessive gene but there is some hereditary problems associated with hens laying poor quality eggs which can affect hatchability. Unlike dilution where the pigment production cut by half, reduced seems to cut it by about a quarter. Reduced color changes a wild type (blue bar) bird to gimpel opal (rosy neck) where it changes a dark red/green neck to whitish color. Reduced birds have a tendency to change quite a bit in the first molt and it might take a reduced bird a couple of molts to reach its true color. Dilute birds and reduced birds are short-downed and almost naked when they were first born but the short-down in reduced is usually nowhere near the shortness produced by dilute.

Reduced is a single sex linked recessive gen. If you mate a reduced cock to reduced hen, all the young would be reduced. If you mate a reduced cock to any color hen, all the hens would be reduced and all the cocks would be a color-carrying reduced. If you mate any color cock to reduced hen, then all the young cocks would be a color-carrying reduced, and all the hens would be father’s color not carrying the reduced gene.

Multiple alleles?

I don't like to confuse you after explaining base colors, patterns and alleles each gender carries, but I have to mention that there could be multiple alleles according to Willard F. Hollander. I think this could be the explanation to almond series where there are four different colors showing as a color. Take time to read his article after you finish reading this page and fully understand the 3 base colors and their possible mating results first. Keep in mind that there are always exceptions to rules when we deal with Mother Nature and genetics, as we constantly experiencing different mutations. Click here to read the article.