What breed are these?

[Hokum Coco]

I see no distinguishing features that would pigeon hole any of your birds into a specific breed. The only factor that is available to me is colouration. The colouration of your particular birds are available in a wide assortment of breeds from homers, racing pigeons, rollers, parlour rollers to name just a few. I hope you have better luck with other fanciers who maybe able to isolate certain birds more.

 

[paramount]

99% of the "Rollers" in this country are Birminghams and the majority of the 1% that are not Birminghams are usually mistaken for them, because they share a similar type and similar ancestry.

As a general rule of thumb, if someone says they have "Rollers", what they really mean are Birmingham Rollers. Most of the ones in this country descend from birds that have been imported from England since the early 1930's (most of the Birminghams that were imported to the U.S. and Canada prior to that time were crossed into Oriental Rollers and Flying Flights and gradually evolved into a separate breed, now relatively rare, that was cultivated to fly higher and longer periods, as well as to roll deeper. I will not go into that because it is bound to get confusing fast).

The fact that your birds have a few feathers on the legs does not necessarily indicate that they have been crossbred into some tumbler breed. Grouse legs are relatively common in Birminghams simply because birds with feathered legs (the same forerunners of English Saddleback Muff Tumblers, English Long Face Muffed Tumblers and West of England Tumblers) were also used to create the Birmingham Roller. 200 or so years ago, these were all the same breed, until fanciers in the British Midlands began selecting only for birds in their tumbler flocks which exhibited rolling type aerial performance.

Your birds are typical Birminghams, although the quality of the birds will be in dispute until you test them in the air for over one year. It is possible that they will be rollers in name only, as if Birmingham Rollers are not cultivated correctly, numerous aerial faults will be perpetuated that often lead to the birds deteriorating back into just common tumblers.

The Birmingham Roller is the second most popular pigeon breed in this country and has been since the 1940's. They are very common and exist in great numbers is most areas. As a consequence, most of the Birmingham Rollers that you buy in a situation like yours (unknown origin) are not good examples off the breed.

I have been breeding and flying this breed (very seriously) for 35 years.

As for colors, I will number your photos #1 through #4.

#1 is a Dark Check Mix-Wing (or Mixed Flight). If all the primary feathers were white, it would be called a White-Wing or a White Flight)

#2 will probably mature into a Recessive Red Spangle. It will change considerably after its first moult, as it will develop more and more white plumage.

#3 is what is called a White Tick (genetically it is a grizzle)

#4 is a Tortoiseshell (genetically that is grizzle with Tippler Bronze)

If you are serious about trying them for what they were intended to do, I would suggest picking up a few books. You might start with Dave Henderson's book "The Birmingham Roller: A Performance Pigeon" which is just a good basic introduction to this breed.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Birmingham-Roller-Performance-Pigeon/dp/149914203X/

This should give you some good instruction on what's involved with these birds and how to see if they are more than just "Rollers" in name alone.