The last issue of our Mövchenpost provides us the Europa standard of the oriental frills, and
as a part of it , there is color chapter where the actual, and officially recognized color categories of our OFs are listed.
For your casualty copy that list as showed below:
I. Blondinettes_:
a.: with spot tail:
- red with white bands, yellow with white bands, blue with white bands, silver blue with white bands, brown with white bars, khaki with white bands,
- blue laced, silver blue laced, brown laced, khaki laced, red laced, yellow laced, sulphur laced (the last one with golden chest, and with sulphur lacing)
b.: with laced tail:
- black laced, dun laced, brown laced, khaki laced, red laced, yellow laced, lavandellaced
II. Satinettes and visors:
a.: with spot tail:
- red with white bands, yellow with white band, blue with white band (bluette), silver with white bands (silverette), brown with white bands, khaki with white bands
- blue laced, silver laced, brown laced (brünette), khaki laced, red laced, yellow laced, sulphur laced (with sulphur colored lacing, the base color of the shields are somewhat sulphur)
b.: with lace tail:
- black lace, dun lace, brown lace, khaki lace, red lace, yellow lace.
The other stronghold of the OF breed is the USA, and since the American standard contains exactly the same categories, it is safe to say, that we are dealing with a kind of a world standard here.
The color list above is a copy of the standard. This I must underline, since I have some problems with the categories, and /or I'd like simply release some comments about them.
Let's go step by step:
I'm sure, that it is wide known, that any wing pattern (namely: bars and checks) appears on an oriental frill, it is always white, or better saying, it should be white (sometimes they are a bit rusty) and not counting those narrow edges , it is never shows the base color, black or brown.
Why do I mean this? Because, by every bar category above, accurately repeated, that „with white bars”, but when we arrive to those check based laces ( geschuppt) no such mention made. (These are all white laced of course.) Does it counts as fault of the standard? Well, if I take the fact that any wing pattern by the OF can not be any other color than white, it is not fault to drop that notices by the checks, and it is also unnecessary to make by those of the bars. However if I take, that there is formal difference within the bar and check categories, it might cause some possibility for misunderstanding, especially for the beginners, and for inexperienced readers.
I noticed, that every base color, and their diluted version are listed, therefore we have more category as we had before. In the past, commonly the intense brown and the diluted black (dun) where not split, and every lace tail (with Spread) brown and dun, been called as dun.
From now, this wrong practice should be finished, and every breeder pleased to identify the the right color category before entering a pigeon to any exhibition. I do know, sometime how difficult is that!
It is a pity, that the text does not clear up, the difference among those „...fahl” categories. I mean the brown series differs from those silver and khaki series, while the lasts are diluted phases, but the brown is intense.
Even, if the list of the blondies starts with the red ones, let’s jump over them and anker by the most mystical color, which is the sulphur. I'd like to beton right at the beginning, that all those colors of the pigeon world, which seems red like, but did not caused either by the so called dominant red, nor the recessive red genes, we must call them as different bronzes. The name for the diluted bronzes is the sulphur. The way to the white wing marks by the oriental frills goes via different bronze stadiums. According to the system, published by L.P. Gibson, three genes must collaborate in great perfection in order to turn those bars and checks clear white.
(Gibsons system wide known, mostly accepted, but not fully proved. Being a test breeder, me too, have some reservations) At the beginning, a dominant bronze gene (TS1//TS1), which as said, identical, with that bronze gene we found by the modena breed, prelightens the pattern area to the bronze stadium, than, if the second brose like gene (Ts2//Ts2) presented too, the bronze pattern lightened further till a pink like shade, and finally the third rec. gene (ts3//ts3) makes the white finish.
After this short brake out, i'd like to point to the first fault of the color list. The sulphur category is a diluted sort of color, and I can't see the intense pair of it. How does it possible, that we allow and recognize a diluted color, but if its intese version appears, we not let it showed, or at least must punished as an color fail?
How many versions of the bronze/sulphur coloration can be? I think, more than one, but the text of the standard not reflexes that.
It is a fact, that we can met regularly blondinettes showing extra amount, of bronze colors, and/or with extremely expanded bronze colored areas on the body, meantime other blondinettes does not show such extremities. Thus, there is a reason to establish an own categories for those extra bronzes, but not only for the diluted ones. This is what I believe at least.
Genetically the extra bronzity depends on the presence of the gene called Sooty, which gene push the toy stencil bronze base toward on the neck and or the back area. Bar pattern pigeons with Sooty gene are not welcome on the shows, and this is the reason, why we can't find bronze bars, but bronze dark checks only.
There are some bronze shaded blondinettes, with entire different origin regarding to te bronzy color. The recessive red gene , in heterozygous form, (a pigeon split for the rec. red color),modifies the otherwise clear white pattern, and makes it evenly lighted bronze or sulphur, according to the color intensities case.
As we see, there is two different kind of bronzes (plus one is the combination of them), with genetically diff. backgrounds, with bronzed on different places of the body, and not clear what is allowed, and what is not. The standard meant the words „gold and sulphur” side by side, meantime the name „gold” refers to an other stadium of the color intensity, called: : pale.
It is not seldom, that breeders calls blondinettes with heavy, intense bronzing, „sulphure”.
I think it is an wrong habit (intenses should call simple: „bronzes”), but it is even worst, when a blondinette been called as „Sulphurette”, which name has satinette origin.
A few words about the lace tail varieties: The mirror effect on the oriental frills tail and primaries caused an fourth, recessive gene, commonly called „frill stencil” (not every expert agrees with this single gene theory!). Once this frill stencil gene become in combination with the Spread gene (this gene spread the color of the tail band all over the whole pigeon), the white spot of the tail feathers become large, and mostly fill out the entire feather, leaving colored a narrow edge only. The presence, or the not presence of the Spread gene, is the only genetical difference between the two tail group.
We must understand that genetically every single category of the spot tail group, has, or couldhave its Spread variation. The Spread pair of the blue laced color is the black lace; the pair of the brown (fahl) lace (with spot tail) is the brown lace... (Funny english :) ) , and so on, so on.
But! Not only are the check based versions possible in lace tail! Very nice, clear, regular white bar, lace tails can be produced as well! I don't mean those poor laced check based examples, where the frill stencil gene does not doing its best. The real white bar Spread frills is very seldom, but still exists, and thinks we should not let them extinct. Therefore, we should bring back this group in the standard too, as it was in some previous versions of the standards.
We must do this , otherwise i can't see the logic , if I take a look at the new Europe standard , where the rec red based versions listed in red white bar, in red lace spot tail, and red lace lace tail too, but I can t see the similar categories by the blacks. All three variations of the reds can, or can not hold the Spread gene, but in lion parts they do! If we take, that and red white bar blondinette is nothing else, but a black white bar covered with the epistatic rec. red color, than the black base coloration we should recognize too. The breeders and the judges must understand, what is the difference between a good black white bar, and a poor black white check in order to gain back the respect of these rare colorations.
Blondinettes in lavender lace color counts as „coocoo's egg”. Lavender in the pigeon genetic refers for a color which is based on dominant red (also known as „ash red”) base pigment, completed with the Spread gene. This appears in blood and feather , an even, light grey pigeon, maybe with some reddening on the neck area, and if the individual is split for the black base pigment, some black spots comes up anywhere on the body. Listing the lavender color among the blondinettes, suggests that the dom. red base pigment is available in the breed. If this was the fact, the question comes, why other (not spread) dom. red based versions are missing from the standard? May be (I don’t know) they are not exists yet. Not yet, within the standard, short face Oriental frills! Since the brand new/ age old classic OF breed known in many dom red versions, it seems not very difficult to transfer the dom red gene into the short beak blondinettes. Once this will happen, we must consider to the fact, that the ash red versions has not proper spot tails. It is genetically impossible, therefore should be tolerated, and the standard, should give special instructions for judging such colors.
Well, Again the rec red colors! I already meant that the rec. red is a „cover” color. Every rec red pigeon hide other coloration below its red coat. This hidden color is mostly the black, which is also a cover color, since there is an wing pattern blue color below the black pullover. All of this leads to the situation, that the rec red pigeons can be very different in their genome and in their appearance as well. Attached a pair of pictures, made on white, bar red/yellow blondinettes. There is one, on a blue bar based yellow one without the Spread gene, and an second picture (very familiar isn't it?) on an yellow bar, where the Spread gene enrich the color, and turns the tail's spot into a lace tail.
The color list of the satinettes makes a big question right at the beginning.
Every allowed recessive red/yellow blondinette version been recognized by the satinettes too!? This looks entirely logical at the first glance, but there is a problem!
Well known experts shares my opinion, that satinettes in rec. red base, are not exists, or at least, nobody seen one yet. Since rec. red/ yellow blondinettes are not seldom anymore, thus comes the question, why is this situation?
The transfer of the rec. red gene from the blondinettes into the satinettes does not seems very difficult, but must be an unknown reason, why does it not happened until now?
One explanation might be that the rec. red/yellow satinettes would not be very attractive. The remarkable neck part would be erased by the pied white pattern, and the shields and the tail would appear very light, thanks for the usual over laced phenomenon of the red frill stencils.
All the process would not worth the money.
There is however, another explanation too. It is possible, that somebody, somewhere already tried to create the red satinettes, but failed, since this is not possible, because of some genetical reason. There is a new, rec. red based frill breed in the USA called Seraphim. This looks like as an classic oriental satinette, but its squabs born over all white, with only some rec. red tinged feathers in their juvenile plumage, what moults away normally by the first moult, and what remains, is a snow white frill pigeon. We can only estimate, that the rec. red gene, with the frill stencil genom combined with the pied factor(s) of the satinettes might causes such a cocktail, what forms a so called „moult to white” effect. This is not proved yet, but if this would be the fact, than we should accept that the rec. red satinets are practically pure white. What ever! The idea, that the rec. yellow, white bar satinette should try to make, I can't chase away.
Familiar words are popping up randomly here and there among the color categories of the satinettes. These lovely old fantasy names of the certain colors however might cause some trouble. I still remember of my childhood, when the word „satinette” meant self the blue lace color version, and than the question was:” What would you like to have, satinette or bluette”? (I did like both of them of course! :)) These are nice memories, it would be a great pity to forget the old terms, but according to the actual standard we should not use them in official texts (catalogues, cage flags, serious articles)
It is good, like this! Every reader might see that only three fantasy names are available, for a dozen categories. Some class has „nick name”, but more has not. Using parallel the two nomenclatures, would sure lead to confusions. I’ve been the witness, that even at such high level as an Europe show is, happened, that the row of the satinettes began with „ bluettes”,
Than apart of them, somewhere in the middle they appeared again as „blue, white bars” too.
The name „Silverette' was an collective term in the past. Both the dilute, blue, bars, and the intense brown, bars (sometimes even the khaki bars) were packed here. Something similar used to happened with the „Brünette'. Not only the brown spot tails, but brown lace tails too, I heard to use for it.
Now, we arrived again to the „Sulphur (sulphurette)” term. It might seem that here is everything is true, what I wrote by those of the blondinettes! Unfortunately, this is not the case!
Let's to think in chronological order! It is known, that the first Oriental Frills been imported to Europe, where satinettes, and the full body colored blondinettes been developed later in time by the European breeders. Therefore, within the O.Frill breed, the term „sulfur(ette)” has had born in the satinette group. It is not difficult to suppose, that there were only a few basic colors available at the beginning of the time, or at least, only a few genetical class were recognized (sensed) by the that days breeders. It is also easy to suppose, that the wing patterns were not spotless white (even today, are not).
The light bronze hue on the intense categories remembered the satinette breeders for the color of the rust, and the yellowish hue of the diluted categories, found the breeders similar for the color of the sulfur. Therefore comes the conclusion, that the term „Sulphur” been used for every of the diluted, imperfectly white lace patterned plumage. Thus, it been a collective term for the silver (dilute blue) lace, and for the khaki (dilute brown) lace categories.
Because of their pied appearance, the satinettes has no chance to show extra amount of bronze on their chest, or neck, nor the rec. red gene (making the shield base yellowish) is not introduced to them.
There are own categories in the actual Europe standard for both the silver laces, and for the khaki laces, thus I can not see, what we should to enter into the Sulphur class?
I think, the sulphur category should erase from the satinette standard, since it has no genetical background. It is against the logic, that we punish the imperfect rusty color hue on the intense categories, and same time, we not recognize the same as fault by those of the diluted colors.
With other words: If a dilute lace has a nice white wing pattern, than it will be good for as silver lace, but if it's shield is rusty, no problem, it will be good for sulphur!?
It demonstrates good the uncertainty of the recent situation, that at the last international shows, there was a pigeon entered as khaki lace, and there was an other which been judged, as sulphur, mean time both represents the one and same class.
I'd like to close of the colors of the satinettes with a short sentence. There are missing those lace tail wing bar categories here too. I wish, if they would be allowed to show, and I'd like to encourage every breeder to create these versions, or not let them extinct.
The same I feel about the dominant red based series. As I already meant , our German breeder friends were already developed every versions of the dom. red based classic satinettes, thus it is just matter of time and willingness, that this categories will emerge within the short faced standard satinettes too.
Árpád, Cséplő - HU |
