How to read a pigeon pedigree

A pedigree is a family tree with a purpose: it tells you where a bird comes from and what its family has done.

The layout

The bird itself is on the left. To its right are its two parents, then four grandparents, then eight great-grandparents, with each generation doubling. Most pedigrees put the sire (father) on the upper line and the dam (mother) on the lower line, and repeat that pattern for every bird, so the top of the page is the sire's family and the bottom is the dam's.

What each box tells you

The ring number, which identifies the bird. See how to read a ring number.
A name, if the bird has one. Famous ancestors are often named.
Colour and sex.
Notes: race results, the breeder, or what it produced.

What to look for

Results close to the bird count for more than results far back, since each generation further away contributes half as much. A great-grandparent is only one eighth of the bird's ancestry. A famous name in the fourth generation means less than strong performance among the parents and grandparents.

Repeated names

If a bird appears on both the sire's and dam's side, the pair were related, which is line breeding or inbreeding. It is often deliberate, to concentrate a good bird's qualities. You can put a number on it with the inbreeding calculator.

Keeping your own pedigrees

Paper gets lost and retyping is slow. MyPigeons.net keeps them all, and you can scan your paper ones from a photo.

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