Kazan X Old German Owl

Recording the results of crossbreeding between

Kazan Tumblers and Old German Owl pigeons.

Ash Red Kazan cocks

Blue Bar Old German Owl Hen

The pair in their breeding compartment



In this project, for 2016, I crossbred a Red Check Kazan cock with a Blue Bar Old German Owl hen that were supplied to me by a friend who occasionally picks up birds for me. As I understand it, the Kazan cock was shipped in from the Midwest, while the Old German Owl hen was shipped in from California. Nothing was known about their genetic backgrounds.

 

The Red Check cock was one of two sent me (supposedly a pair, said the Midwest breeder - but that's okay) and is a pretty typical American "Kazaner". He has normal grouse legs and typical American Kazan carriage which includes drop wings and a broad tail of 16 tail feathers carried at an elevated angle. He has gravel-pearl eyes. He has a few ink spots which indicates that he carries Blue, as well as slightly downturned beak that is a little shorter than most tumbler breeds.

 

The Old German Owl is a Blue Bar with typical shield markings  and is a pretty decent example of her breed. Like other members of her breed, she has a shell crest and zipper frill, as well as a shortish heavy beak. She is bull eyed. She has a very gentle disposition.

The pair was mated in an individual breeding compartment to control the genetic outcome of their resulting offspring.

Expectations:

As the shell crest and the zipper frill of the dam are known to simple recessives, neither feature was expected to express itself in the offspring. The grouse leg of the cock is a partial dominant, and therefore was expected to be expressed in the offspring. Relatively little is known about the inheritance of extra tail feathers, the carriage of the tail or the drop/dragging wings of the Kazan, hence no expectations were had. Since most self colored owls have orange eyes, it is expected that the young would be orange eyed unless they had a considerable amount of white plumage which would result in the bull eye or some variation thereof (ie. the cracked eye or odd eyes). Judging by the phenotype of the parents, it was expected that the majority of offspring would be either Ash Red or Blue Checkers, probably with varying degrees of white.
 

 

Round 1:

The first round included two offspring, a Blue Check and a Red Check, both with small amounts of white plumage. The Blue Check suffered from an infection a few days after hatching that resulted in the loss of the bird's right eye. This physical handicap has done little to effect the bird's overall existence, apart from suffering from 100% blindness on its right side. The bird has a short downturned beak with an owlish head, a plain head and no frill. Tail and wing carriage is normal, though instead of a normal size tail, she possesses 13 tail feathers. She has partial grouse legs, as expected. The Red Check clutchmate was practically identical, save color, but did not survive to maturity. As expected, she is orange eyed.

 

 

Round 2:

 



The second round also included two offspring, one of which died at a few days of age, which did not allow me to glean any information apart from the fact that it had down on its tarsi and was therefore grouse legged, and also, that it had dark pigment and a shortish beak. The second squab was a Black Splash bird marked in a way that is remindful of a Lahore or Shaksharli Tumbler. This was surprising. Like the Blue Check in Round 1, he has a shortish downturned beak, orange eyes and lacks a crest or zipper frill. He has slightly more developed grouse legs than his Blue Check sister. The carriage of the tail, as well as its size, is normal. Though the wing carriage is typically normal, often the bird would carry his wings below the tail. He is extremely long backed compared to either parent.

 

Round 3:

 

Both eggs infertile.

 

Round 4:

The fourth round resulted in two offspring, which as of this writing (7-7-16) are still in the nest. These include a Shield Marked Lavender with a colored facial blaze and a Red Check Splash. at this stage, they are more or less similar to the Blue Check hen from Round One. An exception to this is the Red Check Splash which has a peculiar whorl or "rose" on the back of its head. This is quite a surprise, since it is not a shell crest and is more remindful of a beak rose on the back of its head. In my nearly 40 years with pigeons and 20 years studying pigeon genetics, I have not seen a similar characteristic before, which leads me to believe that it could be a new structural mutation. Time and breeding tests will establish if this is the case.