# Colour Combos 2



## rudolph.est (May 14, 2009)

Hi all,

I have been told that this bird is an ash-red check dominant opal...









Would you agree?

Regards,
Rudolph


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## jbangelfish (Mar 22, 2008)

*Hi Rudolph*

The bird doesn't look dominant opal to me. All my dominant opals have been with other colors so I can't be sure but this just looks too plain to me. Opal usually tends to lighten color, bring about white or bronze and the feathers usually have an opalescent look to them. I know that sometimes opal can be very subtle and hard to recognize, probably more so in the ash reds.

I can't tell from the pic if the bird is check or spread with maybe sooty. I've had a number of them that I though were some muddy patterns (checks) but alot of them have turned out to be spread with modifiers.

Bill


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Smokey red check? Looks a bit smudged up. The wings look pretty lightly colored though. Pretty bird


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## jbangelfish (Mar 22, 2008)

*Hi Becky*



MaryOfExeter said:


> Smokey red check? Looks a bit smudged up. The wings look pretty lightly colored though. Pretty bird


The beak is too dark for a smoky, sooty is more likely and possibly dirty. It may just be a light check (het) with some false checks from sooty.

It could even be opal as it was said to be, some of them are really hard to spot, especially ash reds. 

Bill


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## rudolph.est (May 14, 2009)

Thanks everyone,

Seems to be yet another mate to blue situation...

Regards,
Rudolph


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## Roger Siemens (Nov 12, 2011)

a fine looking bird and i have a male twin to it. i m going to breed mine to a white hen just to see what happens. his full brother in my loft is white and brown with white almost white bars, and has come home well for me not a race winner but he gets home every time.


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## NZ Pigeon (Nov 12, 2011)

I have ash red spreads that have the same shield as your bird but they are more of a grey tone around the neck, This bird is very dark around the neck but the barred areas are smudged more than you would expect from a standard light check or sooty


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## Roger Siemens (Nov 12, 2011)

i think rudolph is right breed that to blue and see what you get, true the one in my loft is almost a grizzel, i think the picture does not do the bird justice. i m still new and learning the homing pigeon thing, i had alot of fancy birds in my youth. i do like to play the odd colors to see what the out come is. look how dark the flights are it is an odd color,even if its just a mealy or light check its still a great looking bird as color goes. think if you breed it to blue and you get one blue and one the same great if you get even wilder colors thats good too and you know it is not a regular color, no harm trying? i ll post some of my birds soon i got a camera that i can down load from.


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## indigobob (Nov 12, 2008)

rudolph.est said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I have been told that this bird is an ash-red check dominant opal...
> 
> ...


Rudolph, it does look like a dominant opal ash-red chequer. These photos are of two ash-red bar Od cocks, the first has dirty and the second dirty and sooty. The ash-red cheq bald Od hen is a much lighter/paler colour so may not have the V and sy.


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## NZ Pigeon (Nov 12, 2011)

Looking at the last pic of indigo bobs he is probably right that it is Dom opal. Looks very similar and I cannot think of any other explanation for the smugded shield apart from spread and smoky, Smoky has been ruled out and I don't think the bird has all the attributes you would expect if it was spread. Ofcourse as you have said guys mating to a blue is best option but guessing is fun aswell.

I actually got told off by a member on here as I made reference to how we " guess colours " They told me that the colour experts ( you guys ) would be offended that I suggested you may " guess " colours on some occasions, This is exactly the example I was thinking off, I guess anyone that understands genetics would agree that without records of parentage and breeding results it is a guessing game to some extent.


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## Roger Siemens (Nov 12, 2011)

hi guys i ve got three pictures on my profile, of a male bird of mine i talked about earlier. he has one black tail feather and blue/grey on his face. he is the closest i ve got to opal or what i would call opal. i ve got an old hen who is a dark check with one brown feather on its wing might pair them.


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## Faith G. (Sep 15, 2021)

rudolph.est said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I have been told that this bird is an ash-red check dominant opal...
> 
> ...



They look like an ash-red to me, possibly Smokey since the colour is not fully solid. I don't think it' dominant opal, generally in those birds there is obvious lacing ect, in recessive opal as well. They could carry one copy of dominant opal though which might mess with the base colour.


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