# beak color



## Hambone (Feb 19, 2008)

Hi all ,

My little babies are 5 days old today  . I havnt checked yet this morning but their eyes are probably open today . I'm headed out to check after I post this  

I noticed that one little guy/gal has a pink beak and skin and the other has a black beak and skin on its back . Both are same size ( and I cant believe how much they grow in a couple of days  !!! ) 

Does this have any meaning ? Like sex of the bird or anything , or just the way it is ? Homer the cock is light grey and white , but Ruby is a very dark grey almost black check feral hen with purplish neck feathers . Maybe that dark beak youngster is a female ? 

Hambone


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## TheSnipes (Apr 9, 2007)

it reflects future feather / beak color is all I can tell you. I usually see that pink skin leads to light feathers..etc.


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## Hambone (Feb 19, 2008)

Oh OK . And since the babies carry both color genes it could be either sex then I guess ? I dont have a clue about that sort of thing . Bill , George and others are really up on the genetic thing and probably know the percentages etc etc .

I was just thinking out loud when I saw the beak/skin colors . Time will tell  


Hambone


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## george simon (Feb 28, 2006)

The bird with the light colored beak will have a lot of white feathering while the dark beaked bird will be a blue or black colored bird.I don't think that this is a sex linked mateing but if it is the dark colored bird may well be a cock while the lighter one would be the hen. But I REALY DON'T THINK THIS IS A SEX LINK MATING. ..GEORGE


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hambone said:


> Hi all ,
> 
> My little babies are 5 days old today . I havnt checked yet this morning but their eyes are probably open today . I'm headed out to check after I post this
> Hambone


Are you going to band them in the next few days? They sounds like a lovely color combination of siblings!!  

I have a black bird with pink and black legs, black beak (like a checkerboard and he came from a black diamond mom and white male pigeon), he seems to be a boy (He is 2 months old). They had another baby earlier that was lighter and she turned out to be a hen! George is right!


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## re lee (Jan 4, 2003)

The light colored beak is called a horn colored beak. You find that color in white, white pied, silvers, yellows ressesive reds red vevelts ect. Now you have a pied cock onto a blue henSo like It hs been said you will probably get a near whit or pied bird then a blue bird check or bar. Not sex linked though you could get 2 cocks 2 hens or 1 of each. You will notice color in the pins in a few days That will let you know for sure the main color.


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## Hambone (Feb 19, 2008)

Hi Treesa ,

I thought about it ( banding) ... but they only seem to come in big lots and seems like you have to get a large quantity of the same color when ordering . I wish somebody sold a sampler pak of different colors , say 50 assorted colors but I havnt seen any like that . Its sorta too late now for permanent bands , because by the time I got them it would be too late to bend their little feet to get it on . 

What do you think of the split snap-on bands ... Are they any good ? I could get some of them and band them anytime . I just want them to identify my own birds . Maybe pink on the females and blue on the male birds  , I dont know , just an idea . I just have them as pets no racing intentions or anything .

Your young male bird color sounds like it could be same as my hen ? My hen is a check dark charcoal , not really black black but very dark . Red legs . Bright orange eyes , really a very pretty gal .



Hambone

I promised some pics too .... I havnt forgotten , just lazy


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## jbangelfish (Mar 22, 2008)

*As George says*

There should be no sex-linkage here to tell you what you have. Dark beaks mean dark feathers, at least on the head or face. Black pigeons with light colored beaks are smokey blacks but look normal, other than a light or horn colored beak.

If two non-dilute birds (blue, black, ash red, red) have a dilute baby (silver, dun, ash yellow, yellow), it will always be a hen. Dilute babies are easy to spot as they have short thin down and appear almost naked.

When you mate a dilute male to a non-dilute female, all of their young hens will be dilute and their young cocks will all be normal, split for dilute. Sort of auto sexing or sexing made easy.

There are some other sex linked genes as well. Knowing a few of these little tricks is very helpful in breeding.

Bill


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## TheSnipes (Apr 9, 2007)

jbangelfish said:


> Dilute babies are easy to spot as they have short thin down and appear almost naked.


almond does that too


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## jbangelfish (Mar 22, 2008)

*That's the dilute base color*



TheSnipes said:


> almond does that too


There are at least two types of almond, one is called DeRoy Almond and is possibly more common than the very dark almonds of Oriental Rollers. The DeRoys do not have as much black and are lighter based. I believe that they can also have a recessive red base (DeRoys) which would probably result in long down chicks. Most are the more familiar creamy or yellow base which is dilute and would make the short downed chicks.

I read that the best base color for almond is kite, which is nearly black with a bronze cast to it. I'm not sure if almond sorts all of the black pigment to small streaks and patches, leaving the bronze base or not but seeing some very dark almonds in Oriental Rollers would seem to verify this, at least in appearance. They also have random streaks of white. Those birds would not be dilute but would certainly be almond.



Bill


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