Apparently, the birds below are MADE. The colored feathers are plucked until the pigment reservoirs are depleted and the bird's feathers then come in white. So the genetics seem to be similar to that of the European breed such as the Tiger Swallows where the pattern is also created. I asked the breeder how these birds came about and part of his answer to me is posted here:
Hi Mr Frank Mosca.
How are you?
Thanks for reply me.
(your questions)
(1) yes I pluck the feathers then come white.
(2)the birds colour black. red.gray.golden. not white.(we call them this breeds kach paray)
(3) thanks very much for liking my birds.
I'm hoping we will stay in touch.
Your sports friend, Kamileen Khan.
A month or so after I received the note above, I also received some further clarification from the young man who sent me the note below. I really appreciate this update as well.
Hi Frank Mosca,
Hope you are well and doing fine.
I happened to browse your website recently and came upon the contribution from Kamileen Khan and his color patterns. It tempted me to ask you if you knew what "kach paray" were, and what kind of genetics do they obey. Now let me explain first what are "kach paray" pigeons.
From an observer's view point it seems that a particular color trait can be bred (I don't know how) into any pigeon breed. The peculiar point is that the color is always a self black, a self brown, or a recessive red (always a solid color), and if you continuously pluck out a particular pattern of feathers, let them grow back again and pluck the pattern out again; then repeating this process 2 or 3 times, makes those feathers (that were plucked) grow white instead of the rest of the body which continues to grow the solid color. This type of pigeons are quite common in the indian subcontinent and are called "kach paray" (the ch in Kach is pronounced as the ch in "cheddar").
"Kacha" (or Kach) has diverse meanings in the local language. It stands for "unripe" (in case of fruits), for "immature" (in case of brains), not-fast (in case of colors). So if your jeans gives out a blue color when you wash it then the color is "kacha" (not fast).
I might have been got carried away in explaining too much of something which might be very simple and obvious to you, but couldn't resist the temptation and curiosity of asking you if you were aware of pigeons whose feathers grow white when plucked out a couple of times and thus which allowed one to obtain a particular pattern in white on a solid background. I can bet that many of the pigeons from Kamileen Khan are "kach paray" and thus display patterns that which have been carefully designed by humans. :)
I have seen "kach paray" pigeons in Mookees, in fantails, and in many other local varieties; but only in recessive red or self blues ("solid blacks").
Anyway, I hope you are doing fine and keeping well, you website is a delight to browse like always.
Best regards,
Hisham
This is Frank typing again. I'm sometimes mentioned as some sort of 'genetics guru'. The reality is that I DON'T know it all and sometimes I don't even know what I don't know.
The birds pictured here are such a moment. I'd NEVER seen anything like them, nor had I even imagined them. I won't even pretend I knew what caused this pattern. When I first saw them, a wild guess would be that it's a variant of "pencil". I was wrong. On the other hand, I do pat myself on the back because I also guessed that they might be similar in some way to the red birds that turn to white (can't remember the name) that Karlheinz Sollfrank of Germany has show. I have never seen colored bars on white before. I'd heard stories in old books, but never really believed it possible without Toy Stencil involved. I said on one of the pages at this site that 4000 years of breeding has allowed fancier to to put together unusual and unique genetic combinations. These birds definitely fit that description.
I am thrilled to have lived long enough to see something I didn't think could happen in pigeons, and I'm humbled to think it's probably been around for many more centuries than even the pigeon hobby in the west has existed.
Thank you, Kamileen Khan for sharing them with us.
