Almond is Dominant, classic almond has a light nut brown color in head and hackle feather.  It also carries one grizzle factor to allow for the tri-colored feathers.  This is similar to tortoiseshell grizzle.  Almond and tortoiseshell are not identical.  Almonds may range from almost white to almost black.  Patches of color are sprinkled throughout the bird's feathers.  Almond maybe combined with ash red or blue-black.  The only factor that will mask almond is white.   Recessive red combined with almond produces an almond called "DeRoy".

               The almond color comes in all patterns.  In my opinion, the  " T " pattern is by far the most beautiful.  The almond color may be distorted by adding genetic modifiers such as Opal, reduced, white, dirty, smoky, sooty, and many others.  Keep it simple and you will raise beautiful almonds.

                When you mate almonds, use the blue-black color in the "T" pattern.  The modifier kite or bronze is the only modifier that will enhance your almond's color.  Beware: the almond to almond mating will produce birds that are blind and may die before hatching.

                The ideal mating is an almond cock to a blue-black "T" pattern, carrying kite (bronze).  An almond cock will produce almond cocks and hens.  An almond hen will produce only almond cocks.

                Your selection for rich color will improve your almond color with each successive mating.  The almond pigeon becomes darker with each molt.  The older the male bird, the darker it will become until it is almost black

               When breeding almonds, select first for the nut coloring in the head and hackle, second for pattern, and the third for rich tri-color feather in the body flights, and tail.

                NOTE:  "Pure" or "double almond" or magnani birds are white and always males.  they have defective eyes - pop-eyed, irregular iris, sometimes referred to as bladder eyes.  These birds usually die before hatching or shortly there after.