PigeonGenetics.com Forum

got two more chicks and these are also indigo - so the ash red parent is very likely homozygous indigo - you cannot distinguish this bird from an ash-red T cheq. One day perhaps we can find out the molecular basis of this semi-dominant mutation. Obviously it is switching eumelanin (blue/black) to ph...

thank you and all the best for 2024 !!

On the other hand, possibly the ash-red cock is homozygous for indigo (which look like ash-reds) - hence the all chicks will be be heterozygous indigo, which is what I am getting (so far, although only 2/2). Am not entirely sure what indigo looks like however.

Hi Adam. Parent hen is standard looking blue bar. Parent cock is standard looking T-check ash-red. These are their first chicks. Was expecting standard colouration but instead got this. Perhaps this is opal?

The smoky or 'slate' phenotype (see pic, a slate blue bar hen — she has flown a 800 km race) is caused by inactivation of the 'melanocortin 1 receptor 1' (Mc1r) gene, synonym 'sy'. The mutation is a large deletion of the protein coding region, and would almost certainly result in complete loss of MC...

what colour would you get if the pigeon was slate (homo) and also spread (het or homo) - perhaps a solid colour but not black? perhaps a washed out version, e.g. grey?

I did a bit of searching for the genetics of 'smoky' (aka 'slate') and it appears it is a null mutation (large deletion) of the melanocortin 1 receptor (Mc1r) gene [https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/792945v1]. Mutations in this gene cause red hair in humans, different to the effect in pigeons,...

Hi Adam - thank you for the colour diagnosis much appreciated - I find the colour quite attractive - 'slate' sounds better than 'smoky' so will call it that - cheers Jeff

will try to upload again - it did upload before but did not show

sorry i just saw this area - pigeon of unknown colour is shown - a hen
would much appreciate thoughts on the colour of this bird