Blue Series:

Black: (Spread Blue-Intense) Jet Black throughout without any bronze or rust effect. Should not show any sign of blue in rump or back areas. Should be covered with rich beetle-green and pink iridescent metallic sheen throughout.

 Dun: (Spread Blue-Dilute) A soft even shade of dull brown with no tendency toward a purple or bluish tint. The neck and neck areas should be covered with an iridescent metallic sheen as in black.

 Blue Bar: A clear gray-blue, free of sootiness. The head, neck, and tail should be a darker shade of blue. The wing and tail bars should be black, well defined and of equal width. The tail feathers should be edged at the end with the same shade of blue as the wing shield. The head and neck areas should be covered with an iridescent sheen.

Silver Bar: (Dilute Blue Bar) A soft silver gray with no tendency toward a creamy color. The wing and tail bars should be din, well defined, and of equal width and well defined. The tail feathers should be edged at the end of the tail feather with the same shade of silver as the wing shield. The head and neck areas should be covered with an iridescent metallic sheen.

Blue Check: Should have the general description as the Blue Bar, but with a checking pattern in the wing shield areas. The check pattern varies from an open pattern with very little black to a "T" pattern (black velvet) with very little blue in the wing shield.

Silver Check: (Dilute Blue Check) Same as the Blue Check except silver gray instead of blue.

Brown Series:

Chocolate: (Spread Brown-Intense) An even shade of dark chocolate brown throughout. Good spread browns should be a rich and even shade with no sign of bars or checking. Brown birds tend to fade when exposed to excess sunlight. This condition should be avoided if possible. Spread browns should have a rich pink metallic luster.

Khaki: (Spread Brown-Dilute) An even shade of light creamy brownish-gray color should be even throughout and free of bars or checking. Good khaki looks like creamed coffee. Khaki should have a pink metallic luster.

Brown Bar: A brownish-gray tan. The head, neck, and tail should be a darker shade of brownish-gray. The wing bar and tail bar should be slate gray with a hint of brown pigment. The bars should be well defined and of equal width. Good brown bars should be free

Brown Check: Shall have the same general description as the brown bar but with a checking pattern in the wing shield areas. The check pattern varies from an open pattern with very little slate or checking to a "T" pattern (Brown Velvet) with very little brownish-gray in the wing shield.

Khaki Bar: (Dilute Brown Bar) Same as brown bar except creamy, brownish-gray instead of the darker brownish-gray.

Khaki Check: (Dilute Brown Check) Same as brown check except creamy, brownish-gray instead of the darker brownish-gray.

Red Series:

Spread Ash-Red: (Spread Ash-Red-Intense) A very wide range of phenotypes occur when ash-red and spread are combined. Color varies from rich mahogany red to lavender with many drab brownish-bluish reds in between. For show purposes, however, good spread ash-red should be the rich mahogany red with ash-gray tail or the clear lavender.

Spread Cream: (Spread Ash-Red-Dilute) Same as above except that instead of mahogany red, the base color should be butterscotch yellow with an ash-gray tail or a very light pastel, clear lavender.

Mealy Bar: (Ash-Red Bar-Intense) The wings, body and tail should be a clear light lavender gray. The neck and mane should be a darker reddish-plum gray. The two well-defined, even wing bars should be a rich mahogany red. Mealy bars should be free of sooty and dirty.

Cream Bar: (Ash-Red Bar-Dilute) The wings, body, and tail should be a clear, light grayish-yellow. The neck and mane should be a darker shade of grayish-yellow. The two well defined, even wing bars should be a rich butterscotch yellow. Cream bars should be free of sooty and dirty.

Ash-Red Check: (Ash-Red Check-Intense) Same general description as the mealy bar but with a checking pattern in the wing shield areas. The check pattern varies from an open pattern to a "T" pattern (Red Velvet) with very little reddish-gray in the wing shield.

Cream Check: (Ash-Red Check-Dilute) Same as above except that the base color should be a butterscotch yellow instead of the reddish-plum gray.

Grizzle:

Grizzle is a pattern not a color per say; a peppery combination of color and white intermixed in the same feather, with neither color dominate. The grizzling effect is most noticeable on the body, neck, head and wing shield, while nearly absent on the wing and tail bars. Grizzle can be bred in all colors but should express these colors well. Pattern and self, in conjunction with many other pigment affecting factors. (dilute, milky, etc.) The classic "dragoon grizzle" is the expression on blue bar. Tortoise shell effects are produced when grizzle is in conjunction with spread check. Pure grizzle produces stork marks. Grizzle in combination with spread or recessive red can produce an evenly grizzled bird but most often produces black or red splashed birds. Birds should show the grizzle coloring up to the lower stained beak. Eye cere, beak and toenail color varies according to feather color.

Recessive Red:

A deep even shade of chestnut red throughout, with the neck showing rich sheen. Plumage free from any blue tints. The beak and toenails a light horn color.

Rare Colors:

Indigo: The body and tail should be a even shade of midnight blue, shading to black on the head and neck. The wings are to be a slight shade lighter, with two well defined chestnut red bars.

Andalusian: (Spread Indigo) The body and tail are to be an even shade of midnight blue, shading to black on the head and neck. The wings are a slight shade lighter with dark blue edging on each feather of the wing shield. There should be no hint of bronze or rust.

Dominate Opal: The opal is an autosomal mutation which produces white bars. The normal phenotype produces a lighter shade of body color in combination with off white bars in bar pattern birds. The tail bar is faded in appearance. Opal in combination with toy stencil will produce bar and check pattern birds with clear white bars and checks.

Almond: The ground color of the almond is a rich, golden-buff. Rich black flecking should be evenly dispersed throughout the plumage. Flights and tail feathers are to be splotched irregularly with distinct patches of ground color, white, and black.

Reduced: Reduced is a recessive, sex-linked mutation that reduces the pigment in the color, to give it a lighter and softer base color. In blue pattern birds, the bars and/or checks will have a soft pink appearance.

Qualmond: The base color is a light, pencil lead, gun metal blue. The plumage should have rich black flecking with white on each feather. Flights and tail feathers should correspond with the plumage on body.

Self Colors:

Self colors should be a solid color, meaning no white head markings or white flights in colored birds. All solid white birds to have bull, "dark" eye color. All colored birds will be allowed to have orange or Pearl colored eyes, as bull eyes can not be produced on birds with a solid colored head. (Lack of piebald markings.)

Sooty is an autosomal gene which appears to act as a dominant. It has a variable expression, in that it adds small smears of spread pigment in areas that would normally be blue. These small black patches have no distinctive pattern, and should not be confused with checkering. The checkers are formed by rather clear blue and black areas, while the barred sooty birds show smeary patches of spread pigment, which can at first glance, appear as checkering. Sooty in barred brown and ash-red produces this same condition. A mealy (ash-red barred) carrying sooty will have red flecks {minute patches} and the barred brown will have brown flecks in the shield area.

Dirty darkens noticeably the pigmentation of the pigeon. Dirty is appropriately named

Copyright © 2006-08 American Mookee Association. All rights reserved

Revised Thursday, December 11, 2008