Non-Classic Almond in Domestic Pigeons
by
Frank Mosca
 AU 96 ARPU 41620 Almond Male (Het Almond, het check, het recessive red - Flown 500 miles many times. Bred by F. Mosca) Photo is linked to A. U. site. |
 Danish Stipper (Spread Almond) Photo is linked to Danish Tumbler site. |
 DeRoy (homozygous recessive red, heterozygous almond)Photo linked to United Oriental Roller Association |
Almond is just one allele in a group of them at the same place on the sex-chromosome.
Others are Faded, Qualmond, Sandy, Frosty, etc.
I actually hate
calling this article non-classical almond --- non-classical to whom? Thousands of breeders worldwide have
bred “non-classic” almonds. Most of those have reared their birds
for centuries before “classic” almond became classic.
In Denmark, they’ve bred “non-classical” almonds for at
least five centuries. In Italy, they’ve
bred “non-classical” almonds even longer. In
Turkey and sections of the Middle East, they’ve bred “non-classical”
almonds longer than on the Italian peninsula.
So exactly when did classical almond become
“classical” almond? Well it seems
to be a little over one-hundred fifty years ago when the British began
seriously breeding the Almond Tumbler, now known as the English
Shortface Tumbler (ESF), for show. This
show expression of almond is actually a combination of many factors in
the same bird. It is extremely difficult
from a breeding standpoint and, most definitely, one of the glories of
pigeondom, but it is not necessarily the be-all and end-all of
beautiful expressions of almond.
A good part of our pigeon
breeding tradition and that of shows came to us from the British. The Almond Tumbler was one of THE top show
breeds throughout the nineteenth century and many considered it as the
ultimate color bird. Today, few aside
from dedicated fanciers of the breed realize that at the start only
the almonds were shown. DeRoy, Kites,
etc., were all considered simply as stock birds. That
idea of this expression of almond being almond arose during
this period. We inherited that idea along
with many others as we began our shows along British lines.
However, beautiful almond
birds don’t necessarily have to be created simply by matching the ideal
of the ESF. The ESF almond is basically a
wild-type T-pattern, kite bronze, single dose recessive red bird. There are a few other factors that added to
that mix will enhance ground color, but that’s basically what the bird
is.
The Danish Stipper is also
an almond breed. So is the Magnani Modena. So are the Oriental Roller and many other
roller and tumbler breeds. Many of these
birds are gorgeous and most come with almond in combination with other
factors than those found in the ESF. The
easiest change to make is simply to add spread to almond.
Doing so gives you the “classic” Stipper and what are
known as “sprinkled” in Oriental Rollers. Here
the ground color is not the deep yellow-orange of the classic almond,
but rather a light gray or whitish color. If
the bird is also T-pattern underneath its spread overcoat, then it will
also show multi-black breaks against that lighter gray color. They look to me almost like an ice cream
sprinkled with something.
Other factors can be added
simply to barred birds. Blue bar almonds
are pretty. They are usually born whitish
colored and darken up as they grow. Some
flecking appears, but it’s often blue rather than black except on the
bar areas. The same goes for check almonds
except here you get a bit more black flecking. Always,
the ground color is much lighter than you see in the ESF since there
are no other factors darkening it.
If you want stunning birds,
try adding ash-red. Ash-red almonds are
handsome birds. Ash-red check almond cocks
carrying blue are beautiful and much of their break is ash-red
intermixed with some black. Almond blue
cocks carrying brown have both blue and brown break.
Brown almonds are hard to get, but they, too, are
attractive.
Almond plus two doses of
recessive red gives you DeRoys. Here, the
flecking is often a darker reddish bronze over the lightened recessive
red background. Dilute DeRoys are a soft
cream color.
All of these colors have
been bred in dozens of breeds for hundreds of years.
They are as “classical” as ESF almond and as beautiful, some, to
my eyes, are more so. That’s not to say I
don’t find ESF almond very attractive. I do. I used to raise the
breed and know just how difficult it is to try to get a bird that
approaches the standard. By the way,
notice that word: Standard.
Almond is a factor that creates varying colors no
matter what it is paired with. -- (Yeah, yeah,
yeah. I know if it's under recessive white it isn't going to show, but
you know what I mean.)
If you are adding almond to
your breed or if you are planning to allow almond in various other
combinations than that we consider “the classical almond” then there is
absolutely nothing wrong with defining exactly what you are looking for. We did it for the ESF, why not for all almond
factors. The Danish Stippers have a
standard. The Magnani Modenas have a
standard. Why not standards for
everything else?
There are admittedly some
problems. Is that bird a poor ground
colored classic almond or is it a spread almond? Should
we allow barred and checked almond or simply barred ones in the
standard? These questions, though, are no
more difficult for the fancy than are those that ask: Do we want blues
with white rumps or dark rumps? Do we
accept light blue or dark blue birds? For
centuries we have chosen just which expressions of a particular color
we would accept. It’s no different with
almond. It also need not be the same
from breed to breed. Is Jacobin or King
blue anywhere near that blue demanded in Wing Pigeons or Saxon Priests? Of course not. So
why shouldn’t one breed accept barred almonds in ash, blue or brown
while another considers them anathema. Conversely,
there is nothing wrong with one breed accepting only various
combinations of almond. The ESF and some
others have chosen the “classic” model as their color standard, though
even here, they have also accepted DeRoy.
The Oriental Roller breeders accept spread almond as well as classical almond as well as DeRoy. They also accept Ash-red almonds. Modena breeders accept dozens of variations in their Magnani, so do Stipper breeders.
I have seen Indigo or
Andalusian almonds. They are attractive. I’ve seen brander bronze almonds.
I’ve heard of people working on Toy Stencil almonds, on reduced
almonds, on just about any other factor almonds. Some
of these experiments will undoubtedly turn out birds that are yucky. Some will create birds that are
stunning. They may not be “classic”
but they will sure be beautiful.
A few years back, I raised an almond blue bar homer carrying one dose of recessive red and one dose of reduced. Supposedly, reduced has no effect on a bird in a heterozygous state, but this bird was a much softer pastel than any other bird I’ve ever bred. He was so beautiful that another fancier tried to sucker me out of him. I should have let him have it, since my resident Cooper’s hawk also loves pastels. I was trying to create another one to see if reduced was the reason, but the hawk also ate the almond parent. You, too, can play with almond. If you want to create the “classic” almond, it will take some work. If you want to create “non-classic” birds that can be as beautiful in their own way as any “classic” than you have almost infinite possibilities available to you.
Copywrite F. Mosca 2002