Nov/December 2025

15 – Purebred PIGEON RECESSIVE RED COMMENTS: The question remains what factor creates the shield to be white in the reds, is it Pied, Grizzle White or an unknown Enabler. The recessive red juvenile is solid red in the nest as recessive red is epistatic to all other colors. It is my experi- ence that the white shield in the reds is Grizzle white. We know that Homo or Print Grizzle on ash red lightens after each molt, plus the delayed Sooty factor, hence the white side expression after the first molt. The Ash Red base factor in the recessive red birds cannot be over looked. compared to the black white sides which are Blue series. Therefor it should be obvious that the red and blacks are genetically compatible except for base color and the sharing of compatible modifiers. The recessive red shield mottle variety are from the influence of saturated T-check and the modifier Sooty. The reality is that the recessive reds, the blacks and the bronze have long been crossed with each other to create the variety we have today. Those who believe that an unknown “Enabler” is present in the reds and or the “Pseudo” theory in the blacks, have not bred or studied this breed. BLACK WHITE SIDE COMMENTS: The creation of a show quality black white side in any breed is not possible unless Kite/bronze and or Hetero reces- sive red is present, Hence the blacks must be blue base and non-spread plus complimentary darkening modifiers. Homo and Hetero Dirty, plus the Kite factor all help to clean up the Grizzle in the face and underbody area of blacks. The Dirty and Kite factor combination will continue to darken the black markings after each molt. If the shield in the nest is lightly grizzled it is usually from hetero smoky or sooty when it is present. It is my experience that Homo smoky lightens the beak in the blacks but darken after each molt in the produc- tion of black white sides. The Hetero Kite/bronze factor is often visible at the juvenile stage in the Dutch HF black white side variety if it is present. I have not seen any bronzing of any kind in the Vienna I am working with, although we know and have proven that they are Hetero recessive red as well. BLACK SHIELD MOTTLE COMMENTS: These are like above white sides except are often “Hetero Spread” and or carry the modifier” Sooty” as it adds flecking to the shield after the first molt. I have not seen any bronzing in the “shield mottle” variety of black white sides. The pres- ence of Spread as well as Sooty eliminates these of having any chance to develop into black white sides. How ever the shield mottle pattern is a nice legitimate variety and deserve a place in the show case. FINAL SUMMARY COMMENT TO EXPLAIN THE RED AND BLACK DIFFERENCES So Sooty behaves differently in the blacks then they do in the recessive reds, mainly due to the difference of blue based versus ash red base. Perhaps Sooty is the “enabler” factor as it is a delayed modifier and does not show up until after the first molt of the recessive red juveniles. That is not the case of Sooty on blue base as it can mottle and darken the shield. Pending darkening modifiers. The white shield is Classical or Print grizzle in both black and recessive red white sides. It lightens on ash red and darkens on blue base. The above writing is from my personal experience breeding black and red white sides over a six-year period.