(Zebra) Interesting hen, tan cheeks, light gray?

[WrenNAustinTX]

So I bought her, knowing the finch specialist/breeder at my fav pet store won't be back from vacation for another week, but I had to have her, even though I couldn't wait to ask what she was.

And I'm just terrible at figuring out hens. So please help me out my guess is, oh, heck, an Isabel/orange breast black breast lol why not

Now for pictures! Oh, and please excuse the dirty water cups in one photo, they were getting changed out

[DanteD716]

I'm going to say she's an OB Isabel. But gosh she has beautiful colors. She is really something.

[finchmix22]

I see why you had to have her, as she is absolutely beautiful! Congrats. I'd guess OB BB hen, although I see some fawn too. Enjoy her1

[WrenNAustinTX]

Thanks so much for the compliments

After having read up, I'm guessing not BB, because her tail feathers have the normal striping, and her cheeks arent super big.

However, I'm thinking Orange breast is totally spot on. Maybe Fawn, maybe FF? I doubt Isabel because I'm in the US, but I won't know where the pet store got her and my FF male until the lady gets back in a week.

I guess if I bred her to my FF male from the same place, I could expect the babies to carry all kinds of fun things

[dutch]

WrenNAustinTX.....good looking bird

[afinch]

Hmmm possibly a single factor florida fancy? Tear mark and tail stripes suggest to me that she's not a double factor florida fancy. And they're not dark enough to just be fawn. Maybe single factor florida fancy, possibly on a fawn background. I don't know about the OB, because that's supposed to change the tear mark to orange, and here I see that it's a different color. Also the tail bars aren't orangy. I'm stumped on her cheek color. Wondering if there might be some fawn cheek in there.

Whatever she is, she's exquisite.

[WrenNAustinTX]

afinch Good point on not being orange breast. Reduced tear marks, but no orange in her tail that I can see. Just that really rich buff color like her cheeks. The cheeks throw me, too.

If she is a sfFF, we'll find out, as the male I am going to pair her with is a dfFF, so I should get some more dfFF out of her if that is the case. Could be months, though lol

[DanteD716]

She kind of ha a mixture of fawn and grey. That's why i change my guess is OB fawn isabel. There are Isabel in the US, they are along the same lines as FF. If you pair her with a FF male you'll get both FF and Isabel chicks. Maybe Cindy can comment on this.

[Sam007]

She is very beautiful. Congrats!

[DanteD716]

If you check this out she looks like the dark form fawn Isabel hen. The orange cheeks are a sign of OB. It is boy impossible for her to keep her tear marks


http://efinch.com/species/ffxisabelzeb.htm

[Harley2013]

I thought that hen are generally missing the cheeks. Obviously this is not true.

[WrenNAustinTX]

DanteD716 I agree. In the sunlight, her back color has a blue-base, like the grey in regular zebras, just lighter, while her cheeks and tummy are that intense peach color. The blue-based back and the orange-based color to her cheeks and tum really offset eachother well.

I'd rule out fawn, but efinch says sfFF+fawn is strange in that the fawn does nothing and doesnt show up on the bird with either sf or df FF. So, she could have fawn, but there is no visual way to tell. So, not super important if she is FF.

However, if she is isabel and fawn, the fawn would show up if she had it. So, probably not fawn, either way.

OB isabel or Florida Silver, with some cheek action, seem most likely.

FF is co-dominant, while isabel is a recessive, yes? But they are related, also, right? So if she is isabel and he is dfFF, we'll get all dfFF looking birds, with one gene FF and one gene isabel for each offspring.

But If she is sfFF, and he is dfFF, I should get 50% dfFF offspring and 50% sfFF looking offspring.

Should be a fun test mating!

Now, what are those cheeks? From the OB? I didn't know hens could have cheeks except from black cheek or fawn cheek mutations lol

[WrenNAustinTX]

DanteD716 That dark factor isabel hen has orangey pearling on her wings, though. :/ Well, kind of orangey peaing all over her, with no silvery-blue back at all, like my female.

[MiaCarter]

Oh how lovely!
You don't see girls like her very often. I would have scooped her too!

Absolutely no clue on her mutation, though! I'm pretty bad at figuring out splits.

@Harley2013 -- Indeed, most females don't have cheeks, but there are a few mutations where they do.
Fawn cheek is one, grey cheek is another.

But you can tell they're females because they're missing the chest bars and spotted flank feathers. The males also have a reddish beak (Though her beak looks super red in that first pic!)

Good pics and reading here:
http://efinch.com/species/fczeb.htm

[WrenNAustinTX]

MiaCarter "(Though her beak looks super red in that first pic!)" AH! Got me all scared and I ran off to double check she was a girl. lol Yup, she has a lighter orange beak than my white female, and my FF male has a super red beak, so, we are in the clear lol

However, 2-3 of her primary flight feathers have orange at the edges, if that means anything.