# Pattern - Checkers



## sreeshs (Aug 16, 2009)

Hi,

I read in one of the websites that the order of dominance in the pattern from the most dominant to the least is:

'T' Checker - Dark Checker - Checker - Light Checker - Bars - Barless

I cant find images for the Dark Ckecker and Light Checker and not sure what this actually mean comparing to the 'T' Checker and Checker.

Have somebody got any reference pictures for these please ?

I have couple more questions to ask which I will put in a separate thread


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## Matt Bell (May 5, 2010)

T Checker the way I understand it looks like a Spread, except the tail is not the dark color as well. I have never heard of Dark Check and Light Check being used as genetic terms, only by racing pigeon folks (like myself). I believe it goes Spread, T Check(also known by a lot of people as velvet), Check, Bar, and Barless.


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## sreeshs (Aug 16, 2009)

The website mentions they are recent additions in the gene pool, the existing ones itself were bouncers for me 

http://www.national-federation.co.uk/pattern_breeding.htm


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Dark Check, Velvet, and T-Pattern are all the same to me. Just different names for the same gene.

Therefore, I call the various regular checks 'heavy' or 'light'. I guess you could even add 'medium'.
Although I have seen them listed in the dominance chain before, I still don't know for sure if the variation in checks are caused by separate genes, or if it's just a variation of one gene.
Notice on that website, that although they say a heavy check is more dominant than light check, they don't have the punnett squares to go with that, showing what combinations of light, heavy, or medium (normal) check will get you.

T-pattern/Dark Check/Velvet (whichever you'd like to call it)








Heavy check








Medium Check (or anything between this and the heavy, I would assume)








Light Checks would have even less checking than a normal one. Sometimes what we may call 'light checks' aren't even checks at all, but actually caused by the sooty gene. I've also seen some blue bars with what look like incomplete 3rd bars. Not genetically a check, but some may call it a light check. I'm not sure what causes that though.


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## Matt Bell (May 5, 2010)

Yep, to me light checks and pencils are the same. 'Dribanders' (I think thats how its spelled) is the word for the 3rd bar, and I would refer to that as a light check.


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## sreeshs (Aug 16, 2009)

Great, those answered my querry  Thanks


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