I don’t know anything about pigeon genetics, however, now that I have the “Encyclopedia of Pigeon Breeds” book, which has a chapter on genetics, I might be able to figure out why Dora’s first babies came out the colour they are. But genetics isn’t a light subject so bear with me on this.
Here’s what I found one day (a year ago) under a hutch in the pigeon aviary:
Pidge and his and Dora's two babies
Finding no nesting area free Dora found her own little hide-away under a hutch!
So I uncover the babies and realise that they are pure white! How unusual. … I highly doubt that Pidge is the biological father of these two. It just seems impossible.
Wait a minute! They're pure white! What's going on?!
A bit squashed under there?
How did Dora manage to feed her babies under there?
Pidge (left) and Dora (right) are a bonded pair
My suspicions are that Stanley pigeon is the biological father since he courts Dora all the time, however, due to a broken wing he cannot be with her when she perches high up. I think that he got lucky one day when Pidge wasn’t looking.
Stanley - a single male and obsessed with Dora. Is he the daddy?
White tends to be a recessive gene, so it is possibble that either of the cocks could be the father. Since Stanly appears to carry the gene for grizzle like Dora, I would expect Pidge is actually the father and carrys the recessive white gene.
I’ve been working with pigeons and genetics for 30 years, and stilll get surprised as often as not.
Thank you for your comment!!
(Dora’s subsequent babies came out a mixture of Pidge’s and her colours.)
I have yet to read more about pigeon colour genetics so I really don’t know anything on the subject. And since I haven’t intentionally bred pigeons I don’t have much first-hand experience. So it is good to have you on board!
Who is the father? Lol, they should go on The Jeremy Kyle Show and do the lie detector test.