Color/ Mutation Identification

[JKTM]

Good day, Sir. I would like to ask your help in identiying some of my racing pigeons.

Pigeon #1:
Gender: Hen
Age: Aprrox. 1-2 yrs old
Phenotype: According to my friend where I got the bird, he said that the bird is an indigo. But after digging further into color mutations, some say that it might be an ember?

Pigeon #2:
Gender: Unknown
Age: 1 month old
Phenotype: Indigo?

Pigeon #3:
Gender: Cock
Age: 2 yrs old
Phenotype: Not sure (mother: Advertised as hen, unfortunatelty she died last year so I don't have a photo of her; Father: Pigeon #4 below, which I'm also not sure of the phenotype.)

Pigeon #4:
Gender: Cock
Age: Approx. 2-3 yrs old
Phenotype: According to my friend where I got the bird, he said that the bird is an indigo. But, when I paired it to a spread the chick grew up to be a t-check (unfortunately it died from canker last year.) instead of an andalusian.

[AdamArcher]

First of all, these pictures are great! I might use them as an example of what people should aim to post in the future!

Pigeon 1 - I agree, this looks like ember. A shot of the tail would really help rule out indigo though.

Pigeon 2 - Not indigo. Tail bar rules that out. Likely toy stencil, with some undergrizzle that may moult out.

Pigeon 3 - Probably undergrizzle with toy stencil. Does this one have any pied? Undergrizzle without pied is fairly rare.

Pigeon 4 - Again not indigo. Probably toy stencil.

[AdamArcher]

Here is a comparison between opal and indigo, but it shows you what to expect in an indigo tail.

[JKTM]

Thank you, this means so much to me. Especially I wasn't expecting them to be carriers (probably) of these types of genes.

Pigeon 1 - I'll upload a pic of her tail feathers once they have fully grown back.

Pigeon 3 - Sorry I had placed the wrong word (***mother: Advertised as OPAL ...). He doesn't have any pied in him.

Any suggestions on how to fully maximize their genes?

[AdamArcher]

I assume these are racing homers? The toy stencil bronze is actually very common in the breed, it's just overlooked most of the time.

There aren't many interesting phenotypes that use these genes alone, is there anything you're aiming to breed?

[JKTM]

Yes, they are racing homers.

Actually, I'm not really sure because I'm not that familiar with toy stencils. Literally, just anything that can produce one of a kind beautiful racing homers.

[AdamArcher]

This is probably the most unique phenotype I currently have using only common racing pigeon modifier genes, homozygous recessive opal, smoky (not sure if heterozygous or homozygous), heterozygous grizzle.

[JKTM]

Can you suggest other good pairings that I can use other than the example above?

PS: The bird looks amazing!

[AdamArcher]

There are so many options, it really just depends what you want to do.

[JKTM]

Oh ok. Thank you so much for your help, Sir.