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The other side of the
coin – or the dream of a homozygous strain of Almonds
The stipple factor can
produce great colors with Almond, white and black sprinkles/stippers
and other variants. But all these colors also have in common that
homozygous cocks are almost white. Genetically, they almost always
have handicaps such as eye defects and / or movement disorders. A
vital homozygous strain of Almonds or Stippers can not exist
according to the currently available reliable information. Serious
breeders therefore regularly use the complementary colors in the
breed.
 
Fig, 1: Danish Stippers
(Almonds) cocks and Kite and Golddun as complementary colors
respectively
At English Almond Tumblers
and Danish Brown and Yellow Stippers (genetically almonds with a
black color base) those are kites and agates. It can be surmised
that those who rave about a strain of purebred Almonds are so far
removed from genetics that they do not know that in such a strain of
homozygous ‘Almonds' there can not be any showable almond cock. The
dream of a strain of pure Almonds and the subsequent disappointment
is traced in a photomontage.
Fig. 2: The dream from a
pure strain of Almonds or Stippers and what follows in reality
In order to convey a
realistic picture, it is also necessary to show offspring that are
affected negatively and not just the positive exceptions.
Fig. 3: The results from a
mating of two carriers of the St-gene with defective cocks in the
progeny
Only kept under one another
produces a sex-dimorph progeny with whitish cocks and differently
colored females. The difference to the sex-dimorph Texans with the
Faded gene lies in the fact that only less of the cocks reach the
maturity stage. This fact is neglected in reports that only show the
positive exceptions. Reports about exceptions serve as alibi for the
mating of two carriers of the gene that will produce the non-vital
homozygous cocks. Regrettably, since the rule not to match two
carriers of the St-gene from an animal welfare point of view has a
real basis.
Fig. 4: Mating of a
heterozygous Almond cock and a hemizygous Almond hen (Source: Sell,
Genetik der Taubenfärbungen)
According to own experiences
and observations in other breeds, these exceptions have movement
disorders and uncertainties in free flight. This is not noticeable
to many breeders who keep their pigeons in aviaries, others are not
interested.
From the non-bladder-eyes
St//St cocks, the dark color of the eyes changes to pearl within
four or five years, and the colored parts of the plumage increase.
Shown here is a cock at different age.
Fig. 5: Danish Tumblers and
the change of plumage and eye color of a homozygous St-cock with age
(Source: Sell, Pigeon Genetics. Applied Genetics in the Domestic
Pigeon, Achim 2012)
Literature:
Genetik der Taubenfärbungen,
Achim 2015
Pigeon Genetics. Applied
Genetics in the Domestic Pigeon, Achim 2012
Breeding and Inheritance in
Pigeons, Hengersberg 1994
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