A fledgling!

StevePax · Post by **StevePax** » Sat May 05, 2007 2:08 pm

Have a look (click for full size):

We had a single fledgling today. There is still one baby in the nest - he/she may have just been hatched a day later, or something.

Anyway, you can see the mother in one of those pictures, and the father is a plain old regular zebra. What is the name of this coloration on the baby, or can you tell yet?

It's so exciting - my wife went down to the basement to put something away, and just started calling to me to come down. I was half asleep, so I asked what it was. She said there was a baby in the cage! I ran down, and sure enough, there it was. No real trouble flying, either - he/she was all over the cage, perch to perch, top to bottom, without really having much trouble.

Crystal · Post by **Crystal** » Sat May 05, 2007 2:53 pm

It looks like a chestnut flanked white. If so, the baby will be a hen and your male is split for CFW.

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Sat May 05, 2007 6:02 pm

Yep, it looks like the hen chicks my CFW cock and regular hen gave me.

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Sun May 06, 2007 5:58 am

yep steve
deffo a c f w

ken

StevePax · Post by **StevePax** » Sun May 06, 2007 1:38 pm

OK, so now both babies have fledged - one female CFW, and one regular gray, who knows what sex it is. My question now - when can I remove the nest? First of all, it's covered in poop in there, as you all know. Next, I don't want the parents thinking that they can go for another round of eggs right now. Of course, the babies just fledged today and yesterday, so they still spend a lot of their time in that nest. When is the right time to take it out, and force them to sleep on the perches?

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Sun May 06, 2007 4:37 pm

I would give them a week or so to get used to living outside the nest. If you notice the parents, especially the hen, chasing the chicks away from the nest then it's definitely time to remove it.

Finchlet · Post by **Finchlet** » Sun May 06, 2007 8:48 pm

oooooh! Cute baby! I want a CFW! Does the dad look any different from a normal zebra? I just wonder is there is a way to tell if they are split for CFW.

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Mon May 07, 2007 5:39 am

hi finchlet
if you press the link there is a picture of a male c f w

ken

http://www.zebrafinch.com/NewZebra/ches ... white.html

StevePax · Post by **StevePax** » Mon May 07, 2007 8:39 am

Kenny's link is to a full CFW male, though. My male is split, and no, you can't tell a difference visually from a regular male, since the CFW will only appear in a male who has the gene on both chromosomes. The baby is really beautiful, though. Now we can't decide if we're going to find new homes for the babies when they are old enough, or for the parents! Or maybe we'll keep mom and daughter (the CFW), and rehome dad and the other baby, or something like that. We've got a few weeks to decide, of course.

StevePax · Post by **StevePax** » Fri May 11, 2007 6:35 pm

Well, I took the nest away today. Mom was spending too much time in there. When I took it down, there were 6 (yes, that six!) eggs in there. Two of them were duds from the first clutch, I'm quite positive. But 4 were almost certainly fresh. I'm glad I took it down - I don't want any more babies down there right now!

Geez, the kids have only fledged 5 days ago, and were still sleeping in that nest, and the parents are already trying to get busy again!

Well, now the kids will learn to sleep on a perch, I guess.

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Fri May 11, 2007 7:10 pm

That's Zebras for ya. Barely finish with one clutch and they are off to start another! LOL