FINCHforum

I have Orange Breasted Florida Fancy hen from a breeder (This person does not have fawn cheeks in her stock) This hen has paired up with an OB fawn male from a different breeder who was a surprise orange breast chick from fawn cheek parents. They have a clutch of four chicks that are just starting to feather, and they're all very light fawn/off white, and some of them have orange cheeks. Does this mean they're fawn cheek chicks? It's confusing because my FF hen has really light orange cheeks so...

Generally I'm pretty good at zebra mutations and combos but this has me stumped. I know you can't tell much before they finish moulting but I'm curious.

I'm not overly familiar with Fawn / Gray cheeks. If you haven"t already you can read up on them at efinch.

http://www.efinch.com/species/fczeb.htm

They certainly are beautiful birds but the main thing that left an impression with me with Fawn / Gray cheeks is the dangers in breeding them. I do remember something from this forum and the Yahoo one about the hens sometimes being difficult to ID because of their similarities to OB / FF. I'd recommend posting pics on the Yahoo forum once they feather in a bit. There are a number of experts over there who are very capable of picking out the subtle markings that would help you get a proper identification.

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/zebrafinch/

The only other thing that I can think of to throw out there is that with the FF influence, single factors can sometimes bear a strong resemblance to Fawns. Like in this pic also from efinch ...

http://www.efinch.com/birdpix4/sfff.jpg

Thank you. I'll get pictures to that yahoo group as soon as they're more feathered.

I know that the OB mutation will show with the FC mutation, but would the father's coloring be light if he had the fawn cheek mutation? If that were the case, I would know the chicks aren't FC.

Here is a pic of one of the chicks almost completely feathered (his/her crop is still bare)

What a little cutie