# Is white a dominant gene?



## FredaH (Apr 5, 2016)

These two have just given me an all white male with half a dozen grey tail feathers. I thought at least he'd have more grey, so which is the dominant colour here?


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## Trimo (Jul 9, 2017)

I just posted in another thread you mentioned these birds in. But anyway if the white is albino it is very dominant but if the white is caused by another gene it sometimes show the less dominant colour. Is the baby a male and can you post a picture.


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## sreeshs (Aug 16, 2009)

There different types of (or causes for) whites, whole clean whites mostly with recessive whites. Since your baby pigeon has coloured tail feathers, it's not a recessive white. Can be combination of pied and grizzle may be.
White like lack of pigment means that underlying there still is the pattern and colour but it has been washed off, hence complex too. Interesting?


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## FredaH (Apr 5, 2016)

He's a DNA tested male at two weeks old and no other grey colour anywhere.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Freda, it's more complex than that. I have a pair like yours, feral female and white male. Just the opposite. Two different times this is what they had.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Pigeons have quite complex genetics! Our two tan red bars produced Buzzy who is white with black spots. The photos you posted are quite lovely btw!


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## FredaH (Apr 5, 2016)

Thanks cwebster, he's growing fast now. 

Jay even the eye colour of your bird is different, it's the same as my greys, whereas the mums eye colour is solid black and looks like the baby's will be the same. My tumbler whites have orange in their eyes also - quite different to Olive and Rileys. 
Such a beautiful bird you have there, love the flecking of colour. 

Yes very complicated this genetic stuff.


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## Blisters (Jul 1, 2016)

Dark tail feathers are very common in white homers even if they have been bred down from whites for many generations.


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## FredaH (Apr 5, 2016)

I'm rather pleased with his feathering as his tail is quite evenly marked, he's wonderfully tame too - added bonus.


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## Chuck K (Jan 12, 2013)

*White*

As someone stated there are a number of ways to for a pigeon to be white. However, there are also some tell tell signs to see what is at work. One form of white that will give you a completely white bird is recessive white. In order for the bird to show the gene it needs two genes for recessive white. Recessive white pigeon are always bull eyed (dark eyed), but not all bull eyed whites are recessive whites. The reason for that is that the piebald pattern for white heads can also produce bull eyes. The other most common form of an all white or almost all white pigeon is the gene grizzle. When a bird has two genes for grizzle it can be close to all white. The homozygous grizzle birds also need genes for white flights and white tails. The grizzle whites usually show themselves with some colored feathers in the neck and/or shield areas. They also have colored eyes. The other form of white occurs when a bird has multiple piebald genes. There are many piebalds genes and they affect different areas of the body. If enough of those genes are present you can get an all white bird. The original white in this thread appears to be a recessive white. The young bird off that pair with the dark tail has a lot of piebald factors in it. Those factors could come from both parents.


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