FINCHforum

I paired a CFW male with a white female. I have no idea of the parentage of either bird so I'm not sure about any splits. It is my understanding that all males will be Normal split to White Chestnut flanked white and all females will be Chestnut flanked white split to White. Will i be able to tell the males (normal grey) from the females (CFW) while they are still in the nest or are all babies the same colour before getting feathers? Thanks!

Is your white female a CFW, very pied, or actually white? CFW females have the grey/black tear drop and very very light tail bars. It may also be possible that she is just very pied, and not actually white.

The babies should look different in the nest. In my experience, normal greys will have dark black/grey skin and lighter mutations have lighter pinkish skin. They will probably have feather tufts when they hatch too, and these will probably be different colors for the normal grey and cfw chickies.

Gosh, I don't know if she is a white or a pied. i just checked the nest and 2 chicks out of 4 eggs have hatched so far. Both chicks have dark skin with long white fluff. I am just anxious to know what colour they will be.

here is a picture of CFW females

http://www.zebrafinch.com/newzebra/New_ ... FWhens.jpg

this has a description of fledglings

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

Thanks Cindy! I have 2 CFW hens, but the hen in question is pure white with no tear mark. I was thinking she is a white but now wonder if she is a pied. I was wondering if I would be able to tell the CFW's from the normal greys in the nest box before the chicks get their feathers.

I am not sure about that but according to the article I posted the link to you may be able to tell as the pins come in. Look at section titled Fledglings.

Yes you can tell very easily between a CFW and a NG as soon as they hatch.
You are right about offspring too

NG/ CFW, White males
CFW/ white females