# Red Saddle again!



## blongboy (Nov 10, 2009)

hen and cock bird 
both of them gave me a red saddle last year before i stop breeding 4 last year 
this year my 
1st round i got a redbar
2nd round red pied WF, bluebar pied WF
3rd round dark red check pied, bluebar
4th round red pied, and red saddle!!! last round for the year and when out with a bang! could be both cock


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## JM1120 (May 30, 2011)

I love red saddles. Gorgeous!


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## FreeFlying (Feb 15, 2011)

Getting such a variety of babies is fascinating! Now trying to figure out all the genetics is the challenge (but fun). Cute, cute little birds!


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## red2x (Nov 20, 2008)

This poses an interesting question for you gentic wizards out there. I guess I was under the impression that you needed to breed saddle to saddle to get anything close to a saddle back, mostly mismarks, etc... I guess there is a slight possibility that the blue bar has some saddle in it but that pattern is somewhat uncommon in the big picture of homers. 
Does this give any more theories on the genetics behind saddles? Love the pattern and want to understand more of how it works.
Great looking young bird. Let me know if you need a new home for it.


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## blongboy (Nov 10, 2009)

i think all homers carry saddle in them


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## Matt Bell (May 5, 2010)

blongboy said:


> i think all homers carry saddle in them


No I don't think that is it at all. I think that the saddle may be dominant meaning only one copy needs to be present in order for it to be expressed. One of the parents is a saddle I believe (pics are blocked on my work computer so I can't see them at the moment though I did see them the other day), which is what is happening, its passing that gene to the youngster. Or it could be a hierarchy of dominance also going on where several genes are present and depending on the hierarchy/co-dominance/incomplete dominance it results in a certain gene being expressed. Just my thoughts on the subject though as I have not studied up on saddles.


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Saddle isn't a gene, it's a combination of genes. Baldhead, whitetail, whiteflight, and whatever makes the body white, I'm assuming. I have gotten pretty good looking saddles from a couple of my non-saddle x saddle pairs. Not all the time though. They usually have some color on their legs, in their tail, and on their face. Or too much white on the wings. But still close enough for me to call them saddles.


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## george simon (Feb 28, 2006)

red2x said:


> This poses an interesting question for you gentic wizards out there. I guess I was under the impression that you needed to breed saddle to saddle to get anything close to a saddle back, mostly mismarks, etc... I guess there is a slight possibility that the blue bar has some saddle in it but that pattern is somewhat uncommon in the big picture of homers.
> Does this give any more theories on the genetics behind saddles? Love the pattern and want to understand more of how it works.
> Great looking young bird. Let me know if you need a new home for it.


 I breed saddles the red saddle hen that is shown in the first post is the key here while she is not of show quilty she does carry the genes to make saddles.What many do not know is that in the early days of development of the racing homer one of the breeds used was the SMERLE which was saddle marked and also had a frill it was an owl breed and was used to carry messages long before our race birds of today. The point here is that the genes are in the homers of today and pop up from time to time. THE RED HEN SHOWS IT NOW THE BLUE COCK MAY BE ALSO CARRING THESE GENES,this is why this pair produces so many saddle marked birds, I must point out that this mating is a sex linked mating so all the red birds will be cocks. One other thing the modern day racer was devepoled in the late 1800 around about 1860 or 1870.There is much lost history of the development of our fine race birds of today and that is sad. .GEORGE


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## blongboy (Nov 10, 2009)

george simon said:


> I breed saddles the red saddle hen that is shown in the first post is the key here while she is not of show quilty she does carry the genes to make saddles.What many do not know is that in the early days of development of the racing homer one of the breeds used was the SMERLE which was saddle marked and also had a frill it was an owl breed and was used to carry messages long before our race birds of today. The point here is that the genes are in the homers of today and pop up from time to time. THE RED HEN SHOWS IT NOW THE BLUE COCK MAY BE ALSO CARRING THESE GENES,this is why this pair produces so many saddle marked birds, I must point out that this mating is a sex linked mating so all the red birds will be cocks. One other thing the modern day racer was devepoled in the late 1800 around about 1860 or 1870.There is much lost history of the development of our fine race birds of today and that is sad. .GEORGE


that what i was trying to say...couldn't find the name SMERLE
and yes i know my hen is not a show bird ..she a sprint bird to got from Florida..well he dad was


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## horseart4u (Jun 16, 2011)

blongboy said:


> hen and cock bird
> both of them gave me a red saddle last year before i stop breeding 4 last year
> this year my
> 1st round i got a redbar
> ...


love the pic's, and hope to get a saddle next year..well you gave me an idea of what to do with the mail boxes i have laying around


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## vangimage (Aug 15, 2010)

Nice birds.


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