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- Colours and genetics — reading your bird's feathers
Series
Colours and genetics — reading your bird's feathers
Three parts explaining base colours and patterns with their Egyptian names, then how to plan a pair for the colour you want.
3 articles
- Breeds
Base pigeon colours: blue, ash-red, black and how they are inherited
However many pigeon colours there seem to be, they all come back to three base pigments and two genes that modify them. Understand those three and most colour surprises in the loft explain themselves.
15 September 2026 - Breeds
Patterns and markings: bar, checker, ablaq and masood in Egyptian fancier terms
Colour is one thing and pattern is another. The wing is patterned in four grades, and colour is distributed over the body in patterns whose Egyptian names are decades old.
15 September 2026 - Breeds
Planned pairing: how to plan a pair for the colour you want
Genetics is not luck once you keep records. With four rules and a simple table you can predict the squabs' colours before the eggs hatch — and know when to break the rules.
15 September 2026