Rare Colored Homing Pigeons

Within the homing pigeon fancy there are two divisions. First there is the racing pigeon fancier who's primary focus is racing performance. Color is almost never a factor in breeding. In the show breed color and genetic factors of the phenotype are the main factor, and performance may not be a factor at all. Both types of fanciers though enjoy the same special homing pigeon but with two comletely different goals. Occasionally there are the fanciers who specialize in one but dabble in the other.

Within the two types of fanciers there are two types of shows. In the show breeds, the birds are separated into color classes and any flaw within a color will easily disqualify a bird or the bird will be moved to the "any other color" (AOC) class. In the racing community shows have a diploma class in which performance birds need to have earned a diplomas by scoring in a sanctioned race to enter the show. Within the show, the birds are usually divided by sex and by distance class. Both shows will stil demand a high quality pigeon, but it's very interesting to see the difference in judging.

Within the racing pigeon lines, many rarer colors still are present such as, self or spread, dilute, opal, faded, recessive red, whites and indigos. I'm sure there are others, but these are the one's I've personally seen the most of. I personally have self (black), opal, indigo, recessive red, barless (in both blue and brown) and dilute. Thanks to Randall Carney for the barless birds. Using mulitple traits, I would like to have the rarer colors that score up to the long distance. In addition, I am working towards creating a family of recessive yellows, yellows, browns, barless and blacks.

Regardless of which type fancier you may be, what color types of homing pigeons do you keep? If you are of the show breeds, do you work with a racing enthusiast to maintain color classes which also maintain a racing performance? If you are a racing enthusiast, what genetic traits have perhaps accidentally shown up in your breeding program?

For an excellent reference for understanding rare colors in homing pigeons check out Ron Huntley's website: http://www.angelfire.com/ga/huntleyloft/