Hi Dani! Do you think you could tell me about the genes of my rescue Winnie? He was bred to do "dove releases" but I don't know much about his breed specifics. He has a few feathers on his feet as well
Birds trained for wedding release are all white Racing Homers, trained at churches, wedding venues, and funeral homes with in a generally 30-50 mile radius of their home loft.
Racing Homers are the only breed that can be trained for dove release, because none of the other breeds have retained their homing sense.
There are lots of genetic combinations that result in a white bird, but yours is most likely Recessive White.
The feathers on his feet are interesting in that they are an anomaly, not the result of a known muff gene.
Cirrus's Slippers (Slight feathering of the legs, but not the toes) are a dominant gene.
Heterozygous birds also express slippers.
Cher's feathered legs and toes are caused by the recessive Grouse Muffs.
Heterozygous birds don't have any leg feathering.
Grouse and Slipper combine to cause full length Muffs.
Cody's aren't terribly long by Muff standards, but they were long enough for him to be uncomfortable walking.
Clean legged birds with neither of the muff genes can occasionally have an individual feather or two on their toes, which is what I think is happening for Winnie.
Clean legged breeds can't be shown if they have errant foot feathers, but Release Doves are not shown, so they aren't culled for it.
You'll also see it crop up in Birmingham rollers, which are flown almost exclusively and not typically shown.
