FINCHforum

I am currently in the process of buying 2 Black cheek babies....they have already fledged & so far have no Black cheeks according to the owner...pics were sent but are too big for this format. I'm told the father is a Black cheek & the mom a normal Zebra...they do have a white line between the beak & the black teardrop next to the eyes, but is it worth the $50/both & a 2 hr drive to get them ? If I was to breed them , how could I end up with a Black Cheek ?

These sound to be splits. Black cheek young fledge with the black cheek patches and they darken as they get older. In my opinion that is high (at least in my area) for splits. I have BC and right now they go for 10 to 15 each....25 a pair.


You would need full or other splits to get black cheek

if both parents are splits this is what you may get
50% Normal/Black cheeked
25% Normal
25% Black cheeked

if say the father to BC and mom split this is what you can get
50% BC
50 % normal split to BC

same with if the mom is full BC and dad is split.

Singing Wings charges 40 each and 70 a pair for BC....splits should be less.

OK I am no expert on BC,but sounds to me like the seller is selling you chicks that are split for BC,which means they carry the BC gene but dont actally have the black cheeks, as far as I know the chicks have black from the begining

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

this is one of my BC (both parents are BC) fledglings

Black cheek birds show the black cheek color as soon as they feather out, as show in the above picture. So if they don't have fully black cheeks they are not BC's.

There is white between the beak and the cheek, it's in Black Face where that white goes missing.

Here is a link to another fledgeling from Roy's site:
http://efinch.com/birdpix/lbbcfledge.jpg

You can also go to efinch.com and read all about the mutation.

So yeah, it sounds like he is not going to sell you true BC only splits. And if the father is BC and the mother is normal and not split he can't get BC chicks, only splits.

Ameza: I read about a bird that got it black cheeks after its first juvenile molt!

she looked normal fawn colours like the other females until her moult...then when her feathers on the face dropped out, they returned black

check out the black patches on her face!!! There was ZERO Sign of that until the moult

its on this forum, here is the link

and I think zebras can be BC without having a full cheeks..
(atleast some females)
compared to this picture from Efinch.com
http://www.efinch.com/birdpix/bccfw.jpg
CFW female BC.
large tearmark and the color faints into the cheek.
So its looks like it only have half cheek.
But still, you can see the black color through the feathers in the cheek... If you know what I mean

But normaly, of course the cheek is 100% full Black

@ flygirl:sound like splits to Black cheeks.
both of the parents have to carrie the mutation
so it will show in the offspring, because the BC is recessive.

@ Vargur

True, true the cheeks are not always perfect cheek-like. But interesting with that fawn bird, I'll just hope my fawn ends up changing into a BC haha

LOL yes that would be great!!! *crossing fingers*
fawn Black cheek birds have more like dark brown markings rather than black.
I think thats very pretty

I hav seen the fawn BC in person and they are a very striking bird...one of the mutations I am trying to fo for here!!! Just taking a while!!

I have never seen a picture of a bc fawn, I'm sure it looks very nice

This is picture I found on the internet..it claims it is a fawn split female but I see a hint of a breast bar there!

this is ID as a fawn BC in images on the internet...the girl fawn BC was a deeper coco color, ver pretty. This shows the softness of the black cheek against the fawn color. Not sure if the tail is suppose to be the fawn or it remains black?????

Here are a couple pictures of my BC fawn hen:

IMG_0124 by Nelloyello11, on Flickr

And with her mate, a Lightback BC:

IMG_0118 by Nelloyello11, on Flickr

Not the greatest pictures, but I wanted to get them up before I had to leave for work!

cindy wrote:this is ID as a fawn BC in images on the internet...the girl fawn BC was a deeper coco color, ver pretty. This shows the softness of the black cheek against the fawn color. Not sure if the tail is suppose to be the fawn or it remains black?????

My girl has fawn tail bars. I think this varies.

Cute

Cindy, females that are bc or split can show a hint of breastbars. One of my girls is like that

Thank you....the things we learn here!!! The fawn softens the look, very pretty!