Cheek patch colour on Zebra hen - what does this tell me?

[Stephanie]

What does the colour cast on this pied Grey Zebra hen's cheeks tell me about her genetics? Does it mean she's carrying something else? (What?)





Just to show the contrast, my other Grey hens don't have visible cheek patches:

[cindy]

Zebra hens can show cheek patches when certain mutations are combined.

Do you know the background of the hen? What are the parents?

This is a FFOB/bb hen

this is a FFOBBB

3 siblings 6.jpg (37.42 KiB) Viewed 959 times

[Stephanie]

I don't know her precise background as she fledged with many others while I was away for several weeks. She is likely to be a good mix though, as her body size and teardrop shape come from a different line than her pied markings. So she's well blended.

I have these known colour forms in the flock:

• Grey
  Pied
  Marked White
  Charcoal
  Black-fronted
  Silver/Dilute Blue
  Fawn
  ...and one Isabel gene!

I'm not aware of any red-type genes, although I did once have a male with large cheek patches that extended slightly into his body with chestnut flecking, if that means anything.

[cindy]

let me send this off to my friend in Austalia and perhaps he can tell you what she is carrying. Sent your list of birds also.

[cindy]

He is guessing a grey pied hen, just a different shade too dark for dilute blue, the lighting looks a little brighter in the bottom photo. She is a light ghost cheek, not strong enough for red chest.

[Malti]

is it me, or does the beak look red?

[Stephanie]

Yes, she's definitely a Normal/Grey pied phenotype as stated in the original post, with a normal beak colour for a hen (very deep orange/almost red). I'm just wondering is the cheek colour indicates carriage of some other mutation(s) as well. I figured it must, but...

What's a "Ghost Cheek"? Is that a thing? I've not heard of that. What's it all about please?

[cindy]

Ghost cheek is a faint hint of a cheek patch in a hen. Hens can have ghost flanking also (here in the states it is seen on hens usually carrying orange breast) Both birds are split to orange breast hens. Here in the states a ghost cheek is usually seen when we combine orange breast and black breast and Florida fancy... you can see a partial faint cheek to a full faint cheek on hens. you usually associate cheeks and flanking to males but hens with certain mutation combinations can show "ghost flanks" and "ghost cheeks".

[Stephanie]

Verrrry interesting, thank you!