Diamond Dave wrote: Wed Oct 07, 2026 8:31 am
Forgive my lack of understanding with this King.
You say that "reds with black splashes show the blue gene" but you dont distinguish between cocks and hens , so I have read that that cocks or hens can show the blue gene - which could of course be black.
Then you go on to say in brackets that cocks "carry 2 colour genes." Which is likely to be red and blue which could be black.
I am reading that correctly - not questioning what you are saying mate - just trying to get a better understanding.
Its bloody confusing yet there are only 3 colours involved.
Think I missed those biology/science/art lessons at school along with a few other subjects as well. lol.
Cocks can carry two colour genes, they get one from each parent. Because they carry two colour genes for their base feather colour—such as ash-red, blue/black, or brown—they will visually express (show) whichever gene is the most dominant, but they can still pass the recessive gene down to their own offspring. Hens can only carry one. So a red hen cannot carry or show the blue gene. And yes blue & black are the same colour, black is just blue spread. A hen gets her single colour gene from her Sire.
Whilst red hens normally have brown splashes, I've spoken with fanciers with more knowledge of genetics than me and they say having black splashes is not impossible but very rare.
Below is from a genetic expert.
All plumage color found in our pigeons is produced from one of two melanic pigments. These two forms of melanic pigments are eumelanin and phaeomelanin.
In the production of these two melanins it is the biochemical process which decides if you get eumelanin or phaeomelanin pigment and this outcome is dependent on an activity ratio between tyrosinase and tyrosine. A higher ratio of tyrosinase in the biochemical process results in eumelanin being produced, while a lower ratio gives phaeomelanin. In other words, if you increase the amounts of tyrosinase you end up with brown or blue/black eumelanin pigment; while, an increase in tyrosine results in red phaeomelanin pigment. The thing that decides if eumelanin will result in either a brown or a black pigment depends upon the completeness of the oxidation process. When this process is incomplete, eumelanin results in brown pigment while a more complete oxidation process yields black pigment. On the other hand, phaeomelanin is a reddish brown pigment and it is from this pigment, that our birds get their red color. Diluted forms of brown eumelanin becomes a khaki color; diluted black eumelanin yields a silver dun color; while diluted phaeomelanin gives us our golden yellows. Therefore the three basic color forms we have are brown, blue/black which is the normal wild type and ash red. It is the ash red pigment color that is the most dominant of the three and ash red is the color form which we will discuss here.
Ash red or dominant red (as it is sometimes referred to) is a sex-linked mutation, with the genetic symbol BA. It can be found in many varied phenotypes from the normal ash red patterns of barless, bar, checker and t-pattern velvet to any number of combinations with other mutants such as dilute, pale, reduced, rubella, grizzle, spread, indigo etc just to name a few. Each of these combinations will differ in some color form, yet genetically their base color remains.
Having said that, I must point out that our pigeons are not just one form of melamic pigment or the other, rather they are combination that is predominantly one form or the other. In other words, studies show that varying amounts of both eumelanin and phaeomelanin will exist jointly in our birds feathers. Black and brown will be predominantly eumelanin with small amounts of phaeomelanin, while ash red will be predominately phaeomelanin with small amounts of eumelanin present. This explains why some blues will have bronze showing in their otherwise blue/black feathers; or why some ash reds will have black ink spots.. In the case of many ash red cocks, these ink spots often points to their being heterozygous for both blue/black and ash red. However their presence being found on some hens cannot be explained by a heterozygous condition since these hens are never heterozygous for basic color. In their case, and in the case of some cocks, these small amounts of black are the result of other factors in the pigment production process; mainly the availability or ratio of tyrosinase / tyrosine within the cell.
