Wayne Frampton / 24 May 2005 21:43

Classical Almond

A rich yellowish, buff, burnt-orange colored ground, the body liberally
sprinkled with dark flecking, with the flight and tail feathers showing
three distinct colors, black (kite) buff (ground), and white a distinct
patch work ensemble. It is also possible to create the exact dilute of this
color.

Spread Almond:

These are the almonds referred to as "sprenkels". The ground color resembles
a washed out gray or gun metal type base, with rich dark, black flecking,
The flight and tail feathers will only show two distinct colors. It is also
possible to create the dilute of this color, resulting in a dun almond, with
dun break.

DeRoy:

A DeRoy is a recessive red almond. Its body color resembles a shade in
between red and yellow, (darker or lighter, the intensity varies), and may
or may not exhibit darker red break here and there. The dilute of this color
is something the Oriental Roller breeders are calling "Cream". This very
pale or pastel buff-yellow shade is actually a dilute DeRoy.

Ash-Red Almond:

The ground color for an Ash-Red almond is very light to near white. the
flecking color is ash-red. The dilute of this would be an ash-yellow. The
ground color would be very light to near white, and the flecking would be
ash-yellow colored. (The bird pictured is actually a young classic almond.)

Brown- Almond:

The ground color of a brown almond would also be very light to near white.
The flecking would be brown in color. The dilute of this would be a khaki
almond, the ground color being very light to near white with flecks of break
being khaki colored. (The bird pictured is NOT a brown almond. It's a blue
series almond, but I'm trying to hunt down a correct photo.)

Homozygous - Almond:

"Two Almonds should generally not be mated together if possible. One quarter
of the youngsters will be white, will have defective eyes and usually will
be of reduced vigor, if they hatch at all. There are some exceptions from
this rule. that does not mean that is would be impossible to breed beautiful
Almonds from two Almonds." Axel Sell in "Breeding & Inheritance in Pigeons"

Kite

"Kites are genetically dark checkered (Ct) birds with a trait for rich
bronze which can be seen at the breast, in the wings and in the base of the
tail. This trait (K) or perhaps better the complex of genetic factors
behind that coloration is also called "kite". Kites with a very rich bronze
in addition are heterozygous recessive red." A. Sell in "Breeding &
Inheritance in Pigeons"

The standard way to make the classic almond is to pair a kite with a classic
almond. You can make any color of almond you want. the point is, what do
people want; what's attractive to them, and then to classify it for what it
is.

Compiled by Wayne Frampton on Tuesday 5/24/2005 9:43 PM