# The Little Red Hen.. Feral born or domestically bred?



## Crazy bird lady (Jul 25, 2011)

Hi again all,
Just a question thats been bugging me. Rosie, my hen, was caught wild, but having reading up on pidgy colours it seems to me like the red colouring is quite rare. Is that true? And if so, what are the chances of her being born from feral parents?
She is so easy to handle, much more than any other wild pidgies I've handled in the past. Could she have been bred domestically and then lost? The only thing against that is that she isn't tagged. Does she look like she could be a domestic breed?

Here are some pictures anyway. Any input will be appreciated as always . Thanks!


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

The slope of the head as it runs into the beak is like some of our rescued homer hens.

It is quite possible that she came from a mixed parentage of a dropped-out homer and a feral, or (to stretch it some) two feral-living homers. 

Not into genetics, but a guess would be that the homer in her may come from further back in her bloodline (any experts?)


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## horseart4u (Jun 16, 2011)

i agree she has that homer look to her, could be a homer went feral and bred with a feral and BOOM this what you got...she is very pretty to by the way..


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## Crazy bird lady (Jul 25, 2011)

Thanks John and horse art  I tried to get into the colour genetics and such but I just couldn't follow it all. I did read that the red gene is recessive, so that got me wondering if she would have needed two red parents? But I have to agree, she IS pretty! LOL. Her big orange eyes just get me


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Yes, she is a homer. There are a ton of backyard fanciers that do not band their birds. So when they get lost and join the feral flock, they blend in.

She is ash-red, not recessive red. Ash-red is the most dominant of the three base colors (ash-red, blue, brown). So that mena her dad was red, but her mom didn't have to be.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

you have a good eye!... she does look like a homing pigeon... her eyes are bigger than the wild type feral and as said the beak waddle or cere depending on who you are or what you want to call it..it's bigger and she has a sloped head, rather than a stop at the beak and a small cere and small red eyes like "wild type ferals" look .. she is so purdy.


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## PigeonX (Oct 17, 2010)

That's one hot looking homer hen you got there


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

I had two feral rescues within a couple days of eachother, both with broken Wings.

Short on Cages at the time, I had them in the same Cage together.

They got along fine.

Soon they were acting like a couple, and, upon release into the free fly free rove Aviary, they set up a Nest together.

Both were Blue Bar and very average looking...but, later, I realized each had a very subtle hint of a sort of 'rust' color barely visible on their outer primaries.

Anyway, they could both fly alright for indoor, but were not release-able in my opinion, so they lived here.

Anyway, I let them have a clutch, and, both Babys were 'Good Year Rubber' Red.

Over time, I let them have quite a few clutches and every time, the Babys were various patterns of Red, through and through.

Babys all grew up splendidly and self released, and, I still see various of them in surrounding areas here.

I gave this pair to a friend in So Cal who I assume still has them.


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## Crazy bird lady (Jul 25, 2011)

Well thats fantastic news, thank you all so much. Explains a lot. She is such a beautiful little lady. My boy homer (banded) thinks so too. He's feeling much better it seems and is now displaying up a storm to her even though he is still confined lol. Once I get their outdoor living arrangements sorted out I'll feel much more at ease letting them both have a fly.


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