My hybrids are fertile

[MariusStegmann]

I have OC X red-ear waxbill hybrids that in the past just sat on infertile eggs. I nearly fell on my back when I saw the chicks in their nest last week. And yes, the chicks definately belong to them.

[Fraza]

MariusStegmann no way !! You have basically created a new species of finch, imagine if there chicks are also fertile

[Icearstorm]

MariusStegmann

This is an interesting development... I wonder if the hybrids will breed true or if their offspring will each have a different mixture of traits from each species.

[isobea]

MariusStegmann - Hi Marius, very interesting! I can't wait to see what they will look like all grown up.
In the 1980s, in Germany, I had canaries and Alario finches produce hybrids (unintentionally). If I remember correctly the females were fertile (a friend of mine convinced me to test them by setting one up with a male canary).
Good luck,
Iso

[Dave]

What is 'OC' ?

[MariusStegmann]

Dave Here are a couple of abreviations commonly used in the finch community Dave.
oc = Orange Cheek Waxbill.
cb = Cordon Bleu waxbill
gb = golden breated waxbil

[Dave]

Thanks.

I have a personal campaign against abbreviations, because they are the enemy of clarity. But, I know that the world won't change because of my desire to correctly understand a sentence.

[Sheather]

Most birds within a genus will produce fertile hybrids - in wild settings, this occasionally produces a third species if the hybrid population continues to breed within itself. Update on their appearance when grown!

[MariusStegmann]

Unfortunately, we had a narsty storm with high winds. The wind caused the roofsheets to bang on the aviaries and lots of my birds abandoned their nests during that night. The hybrids also did it and the chicks unfortunately died.

[Fraza]

MariusStegmann omg no way that’s such sad news I hope your remaining chicks/birds are ok

[Sheather]

They died, at that stage of development, in just a few hours???

[MariusStegmann]

Another senario is that the parents abandoned them. I heard that there was going to be a storm with high winds and put a fibreglass sheet on the outside of the aviary to protect the nest from getting flooded. Maybe the parents didn't like it and never sat on them during the night.