Gimpel Pigeons and Gimpel Bronze
The special features of the Gimpel Pigeon
Gimpel pigeons were admired early on for their unique exotic-looking
colors. The contrast of the shiny bronze and gold body color to the
color of the wings and tail is impressive. In the case of the black
wings, in addition the green shine on the wing covers. One is now
well informed about the basic features of the inheritance of the
figure, the peak crest, gold versus copper, the black-, blue- and
white-wings among each other, the gloss and other factors, although
there are still questions. For fine tuning, there are detailed
reports from experts (Schröder/Gebhard 2009).
Fig. 1: Gimpel Copper
Blackwing (Archangel) and Gold-Blackwing
The inheritance of gimpel bronze in pairings with non-gimpels
The decoding process of coloring and the special contrast between
body and wings and tail is associated with errors and confusions. At
crossings of blue wings, black wings and also white wings, the
bronze factor shows up in the chest area and to different extents in
other parts of the body. In the F2 there are some young
individuals, in which bronze extends to large parts including the
head. When the F1 mated back to pure gimpels, some of the
young surprisingly regained widely the appearance of gimpels. You
can also explain why it is so.
Fig. 2: Youngsters from Blue
bar Racing Homer and Copper and Gold Blue-Wing and youngsters from a
heterozygous Copper/Gold Blackwing and a blue check Racing Homer (at
the right). Source: Sell, Genetik der Taubenfärbungen 2015 and Sell,
Pigeon Genetics. Applied Genetics in the Domestic Pigeon 2012.
The decryption process in fast motion
Some striking points in the decryption process of gimpel bronze and
the constrast between gold or copper body and the color of wings and
tail.
Fig. 3: Striking points in
the decryption process
In 1926/1928, Metzelaar placed bronze of the Gimpel Pigeons in the
canon of a series of dominant bronze factors, each of which touched
individual feather corridors, e.g. in the case of Gimpels the body,
on the other hand e.g. with the 'centrifugal mahogany' (Modena
bronze) especially the pattern such as bars and checks. In 1930,
Horlacher came up with a recessive factor in his own experiments at
crossing black wings (Archangels) with solid blacks. He didn't know
that the Spread factor of blacks covered the bronze. As a result,
bronze as well as the contrast of body plumage and wings and tail
have disappeared in the offspring. Bjaanes, after crossing with red
and black, confirmed Horlacher's inaccurate conclusions. He also did
not yet know that both the Spread factor and the recessive red can
cover gimpel bronze. Therefore, both had not shown the recessive
character of gimpel bronze, but the epistatic effect of the
recessive red and spread. Quinn returned in 1971 to Metzelaar's
perspective and the thesis of dominance. In 1993 Gibson introduced
the term ‘gimpel pattern bronze’ and, after his own attempts, which
were not documented further, spoke again of recessiveness. ‘Gimpel
pattern’ means the different colors of the body plumage and the
wings plus tail. If he did not find bronze in the F1, it
may be due to other factors blocking the bronze, in a similar way
such as spread and recessive red do. In 2005 he only wrote of a
recessive gimpel pattern and let out bronze. According to him, the
color gradation of basic body plumage on the one hand and wings and
tail on the other hand should also exist for other body colors. What
it means for Gimpel Pigeons with the gimpel bronze is not clear. The
recessive yellow and red, which occasionally are raised from correct
gimpels, and the foxes, which are overmarked with bronze, cannot
logically be heterozygous gimpel pattern, since they themselves,
like the epistatic recessive red and gold, when homozygous, are
raised from two homozygous gimpel.
Fig. 4: Self Gold from Gimpel Gold-Blackwing and a Gold Blackwing
(upper line) and overmarked young from Gold Bluewings, and a Gold-Bluewing
Outlook
What happens at the bio-chemical level cannot be resolved through
experimental breeding attempts. The picture sketched by Metzelaar
and taken over by Quinn of a (partially) dominant factor affecting
the body plumage seems to be a helpful idea for understanding and
breeding practice. It must be supplemented by recessive supporting
factors that have been enriched by centuries of selection. Not
unique in pigeon breeding, because in most breeds e.g. even black
pigeons successfully shown at the exhibitions are not simply pigeons
with a black base color and the Spread factor. Like many other
colors, they also need a number of positive and freedom from
negative factors to represent their color-class.
Sell, Axel (2015), Genetik der Taubenfärbungen,
Achim.
Sell, Axel (2012), Pigeon
Genetics. Applied Genetics in the Domestic Pigeon, Achim.
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