Help figuring out what I have

[ac12]

I just picked up a "rescue" from the local bird shop.
The little guy was plucked, back of neck and upper back.
I liked his coloration, and since these non standard zebra very infrequently show up I decided to get him.

He has a very faint tear, and light brown flank. Other than that he is white. And there isn't a cheek patch. I forgot what his tail looks like.

Based on his flank color, I am guessing it is a male.
Unfortunately I have not heard him singing...yet.

I tried looking at the various varieties on eFinch, but could not find a match.
- The CFW female pix looked like a close match, except for the brown flank on my guy.
http://www.efinch.com/species/cfwzeb.htm

- The Florida Fancy looked like another close match, but mine does not have a cheek patch.
http://www.efinch.com/species/ffzeb.htm

I am giving him egg mix + Feather Fast, to try to get his plucked feathers to fill in...I hope.

[Nagdabit]

I would guess male as well, based on the flank markings. It's kind of hard to tell in the picture because of the cage bars, but how bright / red is his beak? The more red, the more likely that you have a male.

Actually we have a male that looks very similar to your new finch. Dilute teardrop markings and all. But he has even less of a distinguished flank marking than yours, with just a touch of color symmetrically placed on his sides.

We ended up posting a pic of him on the Yahoo forum and they decided he was a dilute FF / CFW mix. Their findings were based more on the offspring he produced than his appearance. Our male (Frost) has produced both CFW hens and single and double factor Florida Fancies (both male and female). When paired with a solid white hen he produced a clutch of stunning pure white birds (2 males with bright red beaks and 1 white hen)

Try pairing him up with a white hen of some sort (CFW, FF, or Solid White) and see what you get. Probably the only way you' ll fully determine what mutations are in his background.

And kudos to you for rescuing him from that environment. Unfortunately our experiences with white finches is that they get plucked a lot, so you might want to keep him with a minimum of cage mates after he comes out of quarantine. We've had a white hen go through four different mates cause everyone plucks her, even Frost was guilty on that account. Right now she's enjoying the day spa in an all girl cage until we get brave enough to try her with another male.

[ac12]

Nagdabit

I heard him singing this am, so he is a male. His song sounded kind of like my societies, I think. If so then he was foster raised, or there were societies around when he was imprintable.

I do have a white hen who is a bit over 4 months old right now. But she is not SOLID white. I do not know her background either. I posted a similar question on this site asking for ideas of what she was. But dang if I can't find pix of her nor the prior thread.

It would be easy enough to get a solid white.
The FF or CFW would be harder to find. The stores don't want to tell me how to get in touch w the breeders, as that would bypass them $$. But before breeding him, I want chicks out of my penguin.

He is eating egg + feather fast, so I am hopeful that his plucked feathers will fill in. And he also eats pellets, so he must have been on a pellet diet in the past.

[Finch Fry]

He looks fantastic. His plucked feathers will be back within 6 weeks.

[CandoAviary]

Only males will have the dotted chestnut feathers under it's wings. The female will never have these feathers

[Finch Fry]

Candace, if you look closely, it also has incredibly faint but still noticeable cheek patches that are a diluted almost bleached out orange.

I have a normal cock and a white hen that have produced 4 of 8 chicks of this nature in 2009.

[ac12]

FF
You are right, I looked carefully and there is a VERY light cheek patch on the right side. I was not able to look at his left side.

His tail has light brown (I think) horizontal stripes.

So could he be a dilute/silver Florida Fancy?

[Nagdabit]

What markings does your white hen have? Tail bar, gray cap, tear drop? Putting her with your new guy might be a way of figuring out both of their backgrounds.

I don't think he is a silver, we have a pile of those. They can be anywhere from a grayish silver to a fawnish color with cream / tan streaking. This is a Florida Silver ...

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

Your guy is pretty white in comparison. Actually our avatar (Keoke) is a silver or a single factor Florida Fancy and he came from our dilute male's line (Grandson) I would guess your new addition is either a dilute FF, CFW, or a combination of the two. Although the tailbar markings sound more like a CFW trait and true FF's don't have any black markings at all. Still if he is a mix like our male, some faint black might show through.

Oh yeah, forgot about your penguin. Still no progress huh? Are any of his eggs fertile? Do you know how old he is? Have you tried a different hen with him?

Not to disillusion you but we have a couple that have been together over two years now and they still haven't successfully raised a chick for us. At this point I don't think it'll ever happen. They are in a cage with other Zebras and neither seems interested in a different mate, so we'll just let them be.

Keep us up to date on your new guy and if your penguin ever comes through.

[ac12]

The white hen has a very light gray cap.
Black tear drop.
VERY light gray or fawn tail stripes.
I can't say for sure, cuz it's hard for me to see, but I think the bottom edge of the wing when the wing is against the body looks like it is very light gray or fawn. But it could also be white, and my eyes are being fooled.

The penguin is with his 2nd mate, and they are sitting on their 1st clutch. This hen gave me my first zebra chicks, so she can lay good eggs. Although some of her later eggs were duds.
His first mate gave us 4 dud clutches, although a few of the eggs had a red cast to it when I candled them. So I would guess that they were fertile, and he isn't sterile.

[Nagdabit]

She sounds like a CFW. Could be some pied in there as well if you're seeing variations in the wings. I see no reason why she wouldn't be a good match for your male. The more I look at our CFW boys, the more I'm inclined to think that's what you have. Only thing to do is put 'em together and find out.

As for your penguin and his mate, do they sit tight on the eggs? Are there too many "distractions" around that lure them away from egg duty? How old is he? Could he just be too young yet? Although I'd imagine age shouldn't be an issue if he's been around long enough to participate in four attempts. Really not sure what to tell you to try with him short of playing a little Barry White and dimming the lights.