# The Progression of Ember in Pictures



## Chuck K (Jan 12, 2013)

These three sets of pictures show the change from a recessive red youngster just out of the nest to the bronze barred ash red expression of the gene on a blue pigeon. This first set of pictures show the bird just after it came out of the nest and began it's first moult. At that time I thought it was only a poor recessive red. I noticed the line of blue looking feathers appearing the wing shield and got these pictures.

This bird was raised in an individual breeding pen out of a black hen, and a blue bar cock bird.


----------



## Chuck K (Jan 12, 2013)

*Ember*

This set of pictures shows the bird has it matures through the first moult at about six months old. These pictures are brighter with a greater contrast. I can't seem to figure out the correct white balance setting for my new camera, but they still show the changes occurring in the plumage due to the ember gene.


----------



## Chuck K (Jan 12, 2013)

*Ember*

In this last set of pictures you can see that most of the recessive red feathering has disappeared. The bird looks a little blue in these pictures but to the eye the bird has the appearance of an ash red with some dark blue edging in the bars.


----------



## TimJ (Apr 24, 2008)

Very neat bird.
If you breed this bird to a Rec Red will you get 50% ember? From what I understand it only effects RR but can you see any sign of it in a bird that just carries it?
Now this has me thinking, dangerous, could you pair this one with a Deroy or Almond carrying RR and get Deroy Embers?

Tim


----------



## rasheed.rubeena (Dec 29, 2011)

I have literally zero knowledge about colors, so I can't tell anything about that but I must say your bird looks very cute and healthy  and the color is the best in the final pictures. It looks like your bird is patiently posing for the pictures  .
-Rubeena


----------



## Chuck K (Jan 12, 2013)

Tim,

If you breed this bird to a recessive red, you will get 50% embers. Ember is an alternative gene that is dominant to recessive red but with that dominance only showing in the birds as they age. Ember is recessive to wild type therefore the bird has to have ember and recessive red or two genes for ember to show it.

A bird carrying two genes for ember will show the ember coloration as a nestling, and will look like a normal blue except with bronze bars or checks, and bronze showing in the flights as an adult. 

I raised a blue bronze barred hen like this at one time from a brother/sister pairing. I thought the hen was a blue bar with some bronze factor showing in the bars, but the bronze factor seemed odd because the bronze faded to a peach color at sides with a black edging. The hen had partially webbed toes on both feet. Since I didn't want to perpetuate that trait in my rollers, I gave her to a friend that only wanted her to fly. I kind of wish I had her back. 

I think this bird in the picture may be a hen. If that turns out to be correct, I have an ember cock that does not show as the drastic change as in this hen, but I will put him on her to produce more of the bronze barred or bronze checked blues.

Rubeena thanks, I am fighting the white balance on this new camera to get the pictures true to color, and I still don't have the settings right. The inside of my photo box is bright white, and the pictures keep coming out tinted yellow. I know if the background isn't true to color the bird's color is off too. I am thinking about putting a black background in the box to see if I can get the colors exactly like they look to the eye. I have found the secret to getting them posing so well is to take them off the roost at night, but even then some of them look like they've been through a war just trying to get a picture of them. They see the hole I shoot through with the camera, and keep fighting to get out of the box. Taking pictures of those is like trying to herd cats.


----------



## gingerpoo (Jul 31, 2008)

Wow, Gorgeous!


----------

