# Look at this slate



## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

http://eggbid.com/listings/details/index.cfm?itemnum=1249227828

I like the color of that bird  They said it was slate, or is it faded? I'm assuming it is smokey, since faded would effect the tail bar and flights, right? Still, I've never seen a slate with bars that light before. Very pretty.


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## bluecheck (Aug 17, 2006)

It's a slate (smoky)


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## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

Very distinguished looking bird!


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## Airbaby (Aug 9, 2008)

Our breeders kicked out 2 slates this year, one we sent to a all to one loft race, kept the other.


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## dimerro (Nov 23, 2008)

Pretty sure it is smoky. After the first moult, it will turn to be a clearly bar bird without the white strips in the tail.


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## redleg23 (May 6, 2009)

I'm not an authority on this subject, but I thought a smokey also had dark pigmented feet?


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Alright, just wanted to make sure it was smokey for sure. I know some other things can look similar.


Redleg, smokey doesn't cause black feet and skin. There are three darkening genes

One is smokey, or 'slate' as we call them. Smudges up or fades out the pattern, where it isn't as sharp as a normal bird. It also gives the bird a light beak and skin. This is how you get blue birds with flesh colored beaks.

Next is sooty, which in racing pigeons, the blue sooty birds are often called 'pencils' and red sooties are often called 'strawberries'. This gives a barred bird false checks. An easy way to tell a real check from a sooty, is that sooty markings are just like little colored dots in the very middle of the feather, whereas real checks have a lot of black/color on the checked feathers.

And last is dirty, which is what you're referring to. Gives the bird dark beak, dark feet. Makes red birds a darker ash color, and makes blue bird look like you just pulled them out of a pile of coal. There's a pretty big variation of how the shade of blue is effected. Some birds look almost black.

I know one person, who will absolutely NOT call his dirty homers, dirty. Instead, he calls them smokey, which is REALLY confusing. It aggravates the snot out of me, but I deal with it  It's like calling sooty birds pencil, when there is a real pencil gene out there, that is completely different from any of the three genes I talked about in this post.
So the homer people are probably where you got the assumption that smokey = dirty, haha.


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## redleg23 (May 6, 2009)

Well, as stated Im definitely no authority on this. In fact, I had no knowledge of a dirty homer. I just recently purchased a pair of "smokys". After reading your comment I was as you just stated, dealing with a person either not willing to call them dirty or a lack of knowledge. thank you for explaining the various darkening genes. I am continously learning more and more from all you experts!!!


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