# Color modifier charts



## Bobuki (Sep 26, 2013)

So, when I first started studying horse color genetics, I put together a cheat sheet of what modifiers would do with the base colors. In horses, there are only black and red horses. 
My cheat sheet for a horse would look like:

Black+Agouti=Bay
Bay+Creme= Buckskin
Buckskin+Creme=Perlino

Red+Agouti=Red
Red+Creme= Palomino (agouti won't show on red but can pass to foal)
Palomino+Creme=Cremello

This cheat sheet doesn't take the white markings into account as white hides all of the base color which I understand happens in pigeons as well.


I was wondering if there was a cheat sheet like this anyone has already made for pigeons (which has a ton more modifiers than horses!)

Like what would it take to end up with a Kite color?
Base color+ xxxx= XXX
XXX+Modifier= Kite

Like a color tree... Anyone got a good starting point that I could put something like this together?


Also, are there color modifiers that hide in the base colors? Like Agouti and silver hides in red horses and creme hides in black.
Thanks!


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## NZ Pigeon (Nov 12, 2011)

Generally Kite is Blue/Black - with Kite Bronze. T patterns show the most bronze. The problem with pigeon genetics is not all could be simplified into this format.

Black for example is
Blue - Spread

Yellow is
Ash red - Dilute or recessive red - dilute or Homozygous Indigo and dilute.

Grizzle however would need to be broken into many phenotypes and then the genotypes listed to cover all of these, It would be a mammoth task.


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## Bobuki (Sep 26, 2013)

Grizzle is a white modifier, correct? So the genetics that go into making a grizzle kite, would be the same as kite+grizzle, right? Grizzle doesn't erase the color, it just hides it?

But kite could be broken down into 

Blue+spread=Black
Black+Bronze=Kite

I'd like to start something like this with the basic pigeon colors like 
Ash red, Blue, Yellow, Almond, Brown, Opal, Indigo...
What modifies what to get the end result. 

What do you think? Would it be an excercise in futility?


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## Bobuki (Sep 26, 2013)

And in your yellow example, what makes an ash red?
I would like to take the end colors and work back to the base colors which are brown, red, and blue?


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## NZ Pigeon (Nov 12, 2011)

Base colours are brown, Blue/black and Ash red

Blue/black is wildtype, Brown is recessive, Ash red is dominant.

Then you have base patterns,

Bar (wildtype), Barless (recessive), Cheques and T patterns, The cheques are broken down into 3 genes, Light, Mid and Dark, T pattern is the most dominant, Light cheque is the least

Yellow is a phenotype, Ash red, recessive red or homozygous Indigo on blue with dilute can all produce a yellow phenotype, I would suggest reading Ron Huntleys site and or Frank Moscas to understand the basics before undergoing a task a complex as this one, I competed in equestrian for about 10 years and horse genetics are a wee bit simpler than pigeon. 

Remember, Pigeons are one of the most adaptable creatures on this planet, Hence Charles Darwins idea to use them to prove evolution.


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## Henk69 (Feb 25, 2010)

Kite would be hidden by spread.

Mammals have the agouti locus and the extension locus that somehow work opposite (if only in dominance of more red/more black). Extension is epistatic to (covers) agouti.

In pigeons black is often caused by the dominant Spread "gene", which covers most bronzes.
Recessive red, a different gene, behaves a lot like chestnut (=extension). Dominant black in mammals is often on that same extension locus.
Similarities end there I am afraid.

In chickens extension and columbian behave like the mammal system.


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

There aren't a whole lot of fancy names for color combos in pigeons. For the most part, they are pretty straightforward. 

Kite itself is a dominant gene. I believe considered partial dominant as it does show better in the **** form. Generally the birds you see that are called kites, are kite bronze + blue t-pattern + dirty + hetero recessive red. Smokey can also help bring out the bronze color but it depends on whether or not a light beak is allowed.

Usually, a bird that is just called "yellow" is actually a recessive yellow (dilute recessive red). While a yellow bar, yellow check, or yellow t-pattern would be ash-yellow bars, checks, and t-patterns. Some people also call these creams, although that can be confusing because sometimes people will also call khaki (dilute brown), cream. So best to stick to yellow bar or ash-yellow bar, for example.

Velvet and t-check are both nicknames for t-patterns. So when a bird is a red velvet, it is a ash-red t-pattern. Usually they are the saturated t-patterns, which means the pattern is very solid with small or no "T"s on the shield.



"I'd like to start something like this with the basic pigeon colors like 
Ash red, Blue, Yellow, Almond, Brown, Opal, Indigo..." 

Those are all their own traits. Ash-red, blue, and brown being the base colors and everything else being modifiers of those colors. Opal can go on ash-red, blue, or brown, although blue is the most common. Same thing with Indigo. Almond is a bit different though. It is a gene, yes, but there are different combos people prefer. Such as a classical almond, which is the usual "almond" you find in shows. It is almond + blue t-pattern + kite + hetero recessive red + dirty + smokey. So basically, almond on a typical "kite".


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