FINCHforum

He is soooo, so cute!!

So after a couple days he seems to be getting around the cage well on his own! All seems to be going well!

But, he looks nothing like his parent, Societies. Right now he's just a little gray fluff ball, I'm wondering, how long before he starts looking like his parents?

Which has got me thinking, he looks an awful lot like a little gray Zebra. They wouldn't have laid an egg in the Societies nest, would they?

A grey zebra would more than likely have a tear mark I suppose.

sgolds...hmmm...it is possible your societies were incubating a zebra egg. Or its also possible that it is a hybrid. What color are your societies? Many societies are split to other mutations, so their offspring come out very different colors. My 5 babies are all different than their parents, as both parents are split to dilute .

sgolds...this is a Normal Grey Zebra Fledgling @ 16 days old...

So I'm thinking definitely not a society...

I really can't believe this, I tried really hard to get a pic, but they all come out to blurry for you all to see, but I'm thinking he's got to be Zebra. I have white zebras, and gray, the societies are all very much brown and white. I think I'm starting to see a very faint tear mark, and very faint stripes on tail, but what we decided is the most obvious thing is his feet! They are a light orange. The societies all have brown feet.

sgolds...no worries! Give baby time to grow and color up. We will try to help you identify it once you post a pic.

Does this little guy still beg?

Peek at his gape and compare to this:
http://efinch.com/gape.htm

There's a huge difference. Societies have just a curved horizontal line while zebras have dots.

Sounds like a zebra to me with the grey and orangey legs.
But you never know, I guess. I suppose he could be some odd mutation....but the orange legs are hard to explain away if he was a society!

Are these open nests? I've noticed that societies and zebras tend to be more apt to approach another's open nests, whereas hooded or nest boxes seem to be very much off limits (and I can count on one hand and number of times I've seen a bird enter another's hooded nest or nest box. )
Though each flock's culture is a bit unique in this regard. Society-only flocks seem to be much more prone to communal nesting.

MiaCarter and Ginene What do you think?

I was able to get a couple of half way decent pics this morning. Not sure if you can tell anything from them. He just pretty much a little fluffy gray guy with orangish legs.

The nest is very closed and I never saw any of the Zebras go in it......

Isn't he sweet?

Very curious!

Doesn't quite look like a typical zebra, but definitely more zebra than society. You can see how his legs have an orange tinge compared to the pink legs of the guy next to him in the second pic.

I think I see traces of a tear streak on the top photo. Am I right?

Is there any way he could be a hybrid? Do you have a male society in that cage?

sgolds...looks like a zebra to me . Definitely not a society. Its possible it is a hybrid, but it really looks like a zeb to me .

I don't really know much about breeding, but it does look more like a zebra to me. Good luck !

MiaCarter wrote: I think I see traces of a tear streak on the top photo. Am I right?

Is there any way he could be a hybrid? Do you have a male society in that cage?

I'm not at all sure on which societies are which. lol I'm guessing though, that I have one male, and two females.

The really strange thing is that the lady I got them from had these birds for a few years, and claimed that the societies never did breed. So I was pretty shocked when they had a chick.... but now it's looking like maybe they didn't. lol

It really is weird though, b/c even though there are Zebras and Societies in together, they pretty much just stay with their own. Neither seems to pay any attention to the other. Well, except now. They ALL seem to want to sit next to the little one.