Through my online reading and browsing about pigeons, I have came across a few articles and statments that have said the lighter colored feathers do not hold up as well to the sun as the darker colors. I am not sure that is true, but I will tell you something I have noticed.

The first baby my birds had after I acquired them is Jesse. She is a silver red bar or an ash red bar to some people. You can see her at the link below. Every year, she the first bird to start showing signs of the moult, at least several days and maybe as much as a week or two earlier. Is this something anyone else has noticed?

http://myviewmytake.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/jessie21.jpg?w=128&h=96

Hi DynaB ,

I have also read that ... and I believe thats true about the feathers and the UV sunrays . I live in AZ where the sun is fierce ... it cooks the paint off of everything and destroys it unless you keep it covered or garaged . Ditto on the birds feathering . I have noticed the white flights tend to frazzle or get uneven a wee bit along the edges and dont stay a brilliant white . Its not real bad , but noticable to me since I've watched them grow from babies . My 2 couple month old YB's look pristine with sharp coloring , but the older birds are starting to show a few miles on them . Its also very dry and that doesnt help either .

The greys and black or blue bands stay sharp , but the whites are where it really shows up . Also on several birds I see a very slight brownish cast to the grey wing feathers , but I dont know if thats a UV problem or just a resessive color trait that has shown up . I tend to think its a color trait one of them is carrying . Common sense would say the colored feathers would show the effects the worst not the whites , but it doesnt seem to be that way .

I have changed their diet a little bit to give them more nutrients and oils to see if that helps . I havnt had the birds but 6 months so I'll see if it changes as the weather cools off this fall and the sun isnt so intense .

Dont know if this helps , but thats what I have noticed here .

take care ,

hambone

by the way , thats a great website you have put together !

hambone wrote:Hi DynaB ,

I have also read that ... and I believe thats true about the feathers and the UV sunrays . I live in AZ where the sun is fierce ... it cooks the paint off of everything and destroys it unless you keep it covered or garaged . Ditto on the birds feathering . I have noticed the white flights tend to frazzle or get uneven a wee bit along the edges and dont stay a brilliant white . Its not real bad , but noticable to me since I've watched them grow from babies . My 2 couple month old YB's look pristine with sharp coloring , but the older birds are starting to show a few miles on them . Its also very dry and that doesnt help either .

The greys and black or blue bands stay sharp , but the whites are where it really shows up . Also on several birds I see a very slight brownish cast to the grey wing feathers , but I dont know if thats a UV problem or just a resessive color trait that has shown up . I tend to think its a color trait one of them is carrying . Common sense would say the colored feathers would show the effects the worst not the whites , but it doesnt seem to be that way .

I have changed their diet a little bit to give them more nutrients and oils to see if that helps . I havnt had the birds but 6 months so I'll see if it changes as the weather cools off this fall and the sun isnt so intense .

Dont know if this helps , but thats what I have noticed here .

take care ,

hambone

by the way , thats a great website you have put together !

Hambone,
Thanks for the nice comment about my blog. I have put a lot of effort into it and although it is a bit political, it is something I enjoy doing and feel very strongly about.

Funny that you should mention the dark birds with just a tinge of brown in their wing feathers.

Hi again DynaBman,

I went over there and read that thread ..... very interesting . I walked out and checked my birds again . The cock is white and blue grey , no bronze ....but the hen which is a dark blue check has a bit of the bronze / brownish color on the ends of her flight feathers . I never paid much attention to be honest until you posted about it . I couldnt get a hold of a bird to open the wings to check if its partly sun discoloration or not like Bjanglefish mentioned . I will say this , it seems to be getting more noticable lately , so either the sun is doing its thing or colors are changing as they mature . The two older YB's are slightly bronze cast , and two younger ones arent . So it could be sun or heredity ? I'm going to check and see if I have any pics of the hen when I first got her .

Take a look at my bird pictures in the gallery , I dont know if it shows up or not . I'll try to get some better photos tomorrow and upload them .

You have some good looking birds ! I like the reds a lot .

hambone

hambone wrote:Hi again DynaBman,

I went over there and read that thread ..... very interesting . I walked out and checked my birds again . The cock is white and blue grey , no bronze ....but the hen which is a dark blue check has a bit of the bronze / brownish color on the ends of her flight feathers . I never paid much attention to be honest until you posted about it . I couldnt get a hold of a bird to open the wings to check if its partly sun discoloration or not like Bjanglefish mentioned . I will say this , it seems to be getting more noticable lately , so either the sun is doing its thing or colors are changing as they mature . The two older YB's are slightly bronze cast , and two younger ones arent . So it could be sun or heredity ? I'm going to check and see if I have any pics of the hen when I first got her .

Take a look at my bird pictures in the gallery , I dont know if it shows up or not . I'll try to get some better photos tomorrow and upload them .

You have some good looking birds ! I like the reds a lot .

hambone

I can faintly see a little glimpse of it. It doesn't seem to be as noticeable as it is in Darky's wings.

To give you a little background on Darky, he is a bird that showed up at my loft and acted as if he had been there all his life. He is most certainly a homer, because he has been on at least one road trip of about six miles. His wings looked like that when he arrived. It will be interesting to see how he looks when this year's moult is finished.

Thanks for the comments on my birds. When I first started getting into pigeons, I determined that I didn't want to stick with just one color or pattern. I wanted a variety. I believe I have accomplished that and they can fly to boot. I haven't raced them, but I hope to raise a few young birds next year for a one loft race.

This is why racers don't typically use the dilute colors (ash yellow, recessive yellow, silver, dun). The feathers of ash red and blue are considered harder feathers and better for racing birds. There are racers who have chosen to go against this train of thought and many are racing ash yellows, and maybe other dilutes. Ash yellow is probably a stronger feather than a recessive yellow and recessive red or yellow is not very common among racers anyway. Whether white feathers are weaker than colors, I don't really know but alot of people race birds with white flights.

As to sun fade, any feathers will fade to some degree over a years time. Even white feathers lose their luster and the new feathers appear brighter. This is why it is fairly easy to recognize new feathers from the old ones. They are brighter with better sheen and just more life to them in general than the feathers from the previous year. Certain colors are more prone to fading than others such as recessive red or brown. These colors have very pronounced fading when exposed to the sun.

Bill