More Dove Pictures I, More Dove Pictures II, More Dove Pictures III, More Dove Pictures IV, Ice Dove Colors, Hatchling variants, Hybrids, Mutant Colors in other species, Oddities: Silky Doves, Flare, Bulge eyes, Bald Squabs, Dwarf Turtle Dove, Sex Ratios, Genetic Characters.

This pied silky ringneck is a heterozygote for the silky condition. It represents the more extreme expression of silky in just one dose of the mutant gene, L//+. The gene symbol is L, standing for Lace which is what the mutant was first called in pigeons.

This is a blond (fawn) extreme silky ringneck, L//L. It is still a young bird in its new plumage. Such double dose mutant silky birds cannot fly.

This pied extreme silky, L//L, is over 6 months of age and showing what happens to the older feathers as the vanes break off leaving porcupine-like quills. These birds are not afraid of a cliff and are perfectly willing to jump off.

599U at the top is a normal pied ringneck squab. Its nestmate, 599V at the bottom, is a pied flare mutant squab. The short down shows the pterolography very well and is unmistakable. Photos were taken in 1984.

599V grew into this two months old, blond pied flare. Note the wing tips and tail tips flared out. The contour feathers are normal. This is a recessive mutant which is now "lost".

Another view of 599V flare mutant. 40% of such mutants die early. In full adult plumage the bird looks entirely normal!

BULGE EYES:

713Cs, Female, Bulge eyes, light ash silky = d^B/ Fr//+ Ta//+ L//+
Note bill stripe.

The cornea of the eye bulges out without significantly affecting the vision, although this is not tested by more than casual observation.

In selected matings that I made, one mating yielded 5 bulge eyed offspring out of 30 total, and the other mating yielded 2 bulge eyed offspring out of 20 total. This would lead one to postulate a recessive mutant. However, when two bulge eyed parents produced two normal nest mates simple recessive inheritance was excluded.

This character was brought to my attention by Troy Berndt in Wisconsin.

Stubby Dwarf

Dark female ringneck dove from Gene Hochlan that carries its wing points under the tail. This was resurrected from Wilmer's stock.

749T showing very thick legs.  Neither parent
nor any of several siblings showed this character,
which is now segregating into the 3rd generation.

Silky curl

Featherless rump
 

SOME RINGNECK DOVE ODDITIES

By Wilmer J. Miller;  May 2006

            Hi ADA members. It has been some time since I have contributed to the newsletter.  I thought I would list some of the more unusual, presumably genetic, characters that I have been trying to work on in addition to the usual colors and silky, tuft, and crested.  I have only 18 mating cages. So the study has to be rather sporadic.  Perhaps a very few of you would try some of them.  Independent confirmation is always useful.

1. Ataxia/Tremor.  I’m not sure what the appropriate descriptive term should be. The squab has a nervous head tremor (reminding me of the homozygous sideburns in pigeons), and a “stiff” leg/wing use.  Very likely a recessive.

2. Bulge eyes.  The corneal (?) bulge makes the eye sight difficult.  The bulge tends to revert toward normal in many so affected, but some stay mutant.  One eye may be more affected than the other.  Photo on my web page.  Probably a recessive.

3. Crooked keel.  The flight muscles attach to the keel bone which may be  “waved” to various degrees.  Photo on my web page.  Some notched keels may be related.  Probably a dominant. 

4. Halli.  The hallux may have a straight long spike nail.  OR one or both halli may be shortened as a stub—nearly missing.   Inheritance not clear. 

5. Hatching bill ring.  Normal bill ring is one mm in width. Postulated genotype is T+//T+; the heterozygote T+//T has the ring half a mm wide, and the T//T homozygote lacks a bill ring.  The character is hypostatic (hidden) to albino, white, and by most pieds, frosty and some homozygous tangerines (?).  The inheritance has not yet been demonstrated from known parental genotypes.   Photos of this presumed codominant are on my web page. 

6. Pink eye dilute. --A parallel mutant to pink eye dilute pigeons and chickens.  Like albino, a light can shine through the eyes from one side to the other.  It dilutes the feather color.  Discovered by Kevin Stalder in Dr. Miller’s colony, 2005.    Presumed recessive. 

7. Red eyed-pied.  One pied from Arizona is not bull-eyed [black eyed], but  is “normally” red-eyed! (?)  Progeny are being tested.

8. Sparse down.  Some squabs are hatched with abundant down (normal), and some have sparse down.  White and albino squabs seem to always have sparse down (?), but it also occurs in other colors.   Photo on my web page.

9. Square Tail and Length. Probably a majority of doves have a nicely rounded  tail?  However, some have the center 10 with tips in a straight line.  The outer rectrices are usually half a centimeter shorter in most examples, but a very few doves have them nearly in line with the others.  Length of tail also may indicate sex in many cases. Longer tail for males.  Photos still needed.

10. Small feet.  This is associated with the thick leg/body mutant, but not all the thick L/B mutants have small feet.  Shorter leg bones seem to be associated as well.   It seems to be some kind of dominant.   A few measurements by Kevin Stalder show that a 5 week old squab compared to a normal [same age] had the following percent of normal:

     Left Hallux     11/14 mm  =  78+   Right Hallux 11/14  = 78+
     Inner toe  12/17 mm = 70+ %        Inner toe 15/19 = 78%
    Mid toe    19/25 mm = 76%             Mid toe  19/25 = 76%
    Outer toe 17/23mm  = 74%         Outer toe  17/20 = 85%
     

11. One eye reduced!   A few related doves in my stock seem to have the left or the right eye slightly smaller and flatter than normal. Sometimes that eye has its eyelid slightly closed. 

12. Copulation.  One side around the female’s tail is preferred by the  male?  Whether this is inherited or not, remains to be seen. 

13. Wing points under the tail. =WPUT   Long ago in my University dove colony, I noticed a few ringneck doves that habitually carried the point of the closed wing below the tail line.  I lost these when I went to Brazil. However, I had given a very few birds to Eugene Hochlan.  He turned this up again years later, and sent me one. 

14. Down color.  Normal color is tan for the down color.  Yellow down is rather common especially in pied birds, but seems to occur in at least some other colors.  White down is the rule in albinos, and whites.   I have not noticed it in other colors.   I have postulated yellow down, ye//ye,  as a recessive, since it can come from tan down parents.   But I have very few matings to prove this and  the corollary, that yellow down parents will breed true. 

15. Thick leg and body mutant.  This mutant has gone into the third generation.   The legs get so thick that the leg band needs to be removed after 2 years or so.  The “drumstick” and wings are also thickened, and presumably interior body parts.  The skin seems to have a yellow (fat?) under color especially seen in the wings.  The doves typically weigh at least 180 grams by 6 months of age and usually approach 200 grams or more.   [This is not to be confused with my other heavy weight doves, which seem to be normal otherwise.]  This is surely some kind of dominant, since in outcrosses I get some with the character.   I get the impression that perhaps it results from a chromosomal abnormality (trisomic?= extra chromosome). 

16. Egg albumin.  Extra or surplus dove egg may be hard boiled, sliced in half and the albumin surrounding the yolk examined for being glass-like = transparent (common), or porcelain-like (infrequent).   Age of the egg may make some difference.  I assume either the egg is fresh within 2 days of being laid, or infertile.  Lots more data needed.  

     

     

    SILKY DOVES: picture 1, picture 2, picture3
    More Dove Pictures I, More Dove Pictures II, More Dove Pictures III, More Dove Pictures IV, Ice Dove Colors, Hatchling variants, Hybrids, Mutant Colors in other species, Oddities: Silky Doves, Flare, Bulge eyes, Bald Squabs, Stubby Dwarf paper, Stubby Dwarf photo, Wing points under tail, Tailless, Thick leg/body, Crooked keel, Long curved bill, Short halli.
    Dwarf Turtle Dove, Sex Ratios, Genetic Characters,.