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Golden rules and laws of
inheritance in Stipper and Almond breeding
I'm off then, said the
Stipper gene and disappeared!
Many breeders expect
phenotypes lost in breeding to reappear when grandparents had looked
like that. And that even if the parents no longer show the
colouration. Their belief, after all, it is empirical knowledge that
grandchildren resemble their grandparents!
A look at heredity shows why
this is sometimes true, but not always. Such a look can prevent time
and money from being invested in hopeless projects. In more complex
colourings, such as Almond, probabilities for desirable breeding
results can be determined with different breeding strategies.
This can be illustrated with
simple examples. From the mating of a Black Stipper cock with a
Black female pigeon one will get both Stippers and Blacks in both
sexes. In the picture of the supplement of the exercise booklet to
the brochure 'Introduction to Heredity in Pigeons' a black stipper
and a black female with one black and one stippled young.
 
Fig. 1: Black stipper family
(heterozygous black stipper cock and black hen with black and
stipper youngsters) and cover of the brochure ‘Introduction to
Heredity in Pigeons, demonstrating the interaction of genes in color
genetics
In Punnett's square as a
didactic form of representation it is as follows. A heterozygous
Stipper male in the left column with the genes St and the wild type
+ is mated with a female without the Stipper gene (●//+) in the
upper row. All combination of genes of sire and dam in the kittens
can be read in the inner fields of the matrix. Pigeons with the
symbol +//+ do not have the Stipper gene. Half of the female pigeons
do not have it either (+//●).
Source: Introduction to
Inheritance in Pigeons.
The black male (+//+) and
female (+//●) pigeons from such matings also have a stipper for a
father. Nevertheless, when mated with each other, they will not give
any stippers. Where should the stipper gene come from in the
grandchildren? None of the parents possessed it.
|
|
● |
+ |
|
+ |
+ //● |
+ // + |
|
+ |
+ //● |
+ // + |
The Stipper gene is gone, at
least in this branch of the family. The breeder can put together as
many such pairs as he likes. He will still not raise any Stippers.
Almonds as stippers
Almonds have the stipper
gene like the Black Stippers. However, they have other complementary
colours with Agates and Kites in breeding, which provide for the
special colouring of the Almonds. DeRoy is a speciality. They are
Agates with the stipper gene. The dilution factor is also present in
many strokes, but this will not be discussed here.
Fig. 2: Almond cock and the
complementary colours DeRoy, Red Agate and Kite (Source:
Introduction to Inheritance in Pigeons 2022)
The lottery of Almond
breeding
Already in 1876 Fulton wrote
of the 'lottery of Almond-breeding' in his recommendations for the
mating of the colourings in the breeding of the English Almond
Tumblers. One knew of many cases in which breeders had put together
animals of the best quality, which nevertheless had not produced an
Almond throughout the whole season. No one can predict if and that
two animals put together will produce almonds.
Fig. 3: Fulton on the
‘Lottery of Almond-Breeding’, (Source: Fulton 1876)
In the Almond breedings,
Almond coloureds and DeRoy have the stipper factor. The secondary
colour strokes Agates and Kites do not have it.
The term 'lottery' at Fulton
'limps' a bit. It's no longer a lottery if you put only studs in a
lottery pot. In civil law it would be fraud, in the vernacular it
would be dumbing down. It is not possible to predict that individual
pairs will definitely raise almonds in the current breeding year.
But one can determine probabilities. And for some pairs, one can say
with certainty that no almonds will be raised from them.
Fig. 4: Agate (Agate Mottle
in the terminology of Fulton) and Kite (Source: Fulton 1876)
Such a lottery pot with all
rivets, if the aim is to get Almonds, is the mating recommended by
Fulton of a red or yellow agate mottle with a Kite hen (p. 153).
Like the two blacks from the Stipper breed, neither has the Stipper
gene. So, it is an aerial number. Nevertheless, this mating is
mentioned among the Almond matings by Metzelaar in his book 'Colour
Breeding in Pigeons' from 1926. It is also printed in the anthology
'The Short Faced Tumbler Club Centenary 1886-1986 Part I from 1987
and as a guide they are still mentioned today.
Almond females from
kite-tumblers?
Little was known about
heredity in Fulton's time. Sex-linked inheritance as in the stipper
gene was only discovered after 1900. Breeding recommendations are
derived from observations and records. And this was mostly done in
open lofts where cross-fertilisation could not be ruled out.
The assumption that it is
possible to breed particularly good Almond hens from a Kite and an
Almond hen can probably also be traced back to such
cross-fertilisation.
„Then to breed Almond
hens we would … putting a good Almond hen to a Kite cock. This
is now seldom done, but is one of the best matches we know for
breeding what is so rarely seen and so difficult to produce – an
Almond hen of good sound colour all through the body.” (Fulton
1876).
Fig. 5: Almond-Weibchen aus Kite-Täubern? (Source:
Fulton 1876)
This too is an aerial
number. Punnett's square tell us something different in theoretical
analysis. Nevertheless, they are mentioned again among the Golden
Rules by Metzelaar and in later sources and recommendations.
Rules of Experience,
Colour Calculators and Inheritance Theory
As one can see from the
examples, many rules of experience handed down over decades should
be critically questioned. This is not only true for the stipper
colour strokes. Enumerations of the presumed results of colour
crosses and colour calculators are a helpful crutch for some
breeders. In some respects, however, they are also an indictment.
One can easily learn the basics.
It should be more satisfying
to be able to classify colourings genetically and to understand
inheritance processes than to look them up in a rule book. This is
the prerequisite for systematic breeding. One becomes familiar with
the mechanisms of inheritance through exercises. Therefore, the
80-page booklets published in English, French and Dutch is
accompanied by a 30-page exercise booklet.
https://www.taubensell.de/003_Neu_Buchshop/taubenbuch.htm
Literature:
Fulton, R., The Illustrated
Book of Pigeons, London, Paris, New York, Melbourne 1876
Metzelaar. J., Color
Breeding in Pigeon Plumage 1926
Mullan, Jim (ed.), The Short
Faced Tumbler Club Centenary 1886-1986 Part I, Inglewood 1987.
Published as a free supplement to ‘Fancy Pigeons’ Issue 7
Sell, A., Pigeon Genetics.
Applied Genetics in the Domestic Pigeon, Achim 2012
Sell, A., Introduction to
Heredity in Pigeons, Achim 2022 (80 pages with supplement
‘Comprehension Questions’, 30 pages)
Sell, A., Introduction à
l’héredité chez les pigeons, Achim 2022 (80 pages plus ‘Questions de
comprehension pour chaque chapitre’ 30 p.)
Sell, A., Inleiding tot de
erfelijkheid bij duiven, Achim 2022 (80 pages plus ‘Begrijpelijke
vragen over afsonderlijke hoofdstukken’ 30 p.)
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