FINCHforum

This info is taken from Israel Finch’s site on the web (http://www.ifinch.org)
The White Cheek mutation- WC
It’s a recessive autosomal mutation, it was found first in Europe in 2005!!! It was discover in Israel as well by a breeder name- Ariel, and he managed to reproduce it and spread it in Israel.
About the colors-
The male- the tear mark disappear and instead of it the white area expand from the beak And until the middle of the cheek, the white dotes on the flank become like strips (reminding the flank of the black Breast mutation).
The female- the only sign is a whole white cheek.
In the meanwhile it’s hard to not possible to recognize the splits.
The only combinations that I saw were the WC with BC, I tried to make a BC BF with WC but I only got an offspring that was BC BF split to WC.
These are some pictures of this mutation (from the site- http://www.ifinch.org)-

I had 2 females that were WC BC, I tried to work with them for a while and than I stopped and tried to focus on the other projects that I had...

That's a gorgeous bird!

I agree...beautiful bird

The WC is an absolutely beautiful mutation.

Gorgeous birds! I love that mutation.

Great pictures, beautiful birds, and great info! I have been wondering about this mutation for a little while.

Thanks for the info!!! I too have been wondering about this mutation. I have a hen that looks like a WC BUT she has the black tear marks......I have no idea what she is. Ill post pics later.

Very interesting mutation, have not heard of it before. There are normal gray hens that have a light fawnish colored cheek patches on occasion that generally are referred to as "ghost" cheek patches. Not too common but I have seen them on occasion. Most breeders consider this marking to be a show fault and do not actively try to breed to promote the mutation, so it's appearance is rather random.

Nagdabit wrote:Very interesting mutation, have not heard of it before. There are normal gray hens that have a light fawnish colored cheek patches on occasion that generally are referred to as "ghost" cheek patches. Not too common but I have seen them on occasion. Most breeders consider this marking to be a show fault and do not actively try to breed to promote the mutation, so it's appearance is rather random.

Good to know, thanks for the info. I'll still post pics later so you guys can all have a go.

I sure want to see your pics too Chris to compare to my WC Zeb.

Here she/it is lol! It wouldn't be a WC due to the Tear Marks so I have no idea what she is. Is this just a hen with strong "ghost" cheeks......let me know what you guys think. I call "it" a she because she behaves just like a female. Also, there are NO signs of breast bars or colored flanks.

She is a bit rough in feather....I just got her and there must have been one very dominant bird in that cage because all but one were beat up! She is in quarantine at the moment but I plan on breeding her (if fertile) to see what comes out of it. Again, I'd love to hear some comments!

I am of no help with the mutation Chris, but I just wanted to mention that she is one beautiful little zeb.

Hi Chris, it seems from the picture that your female has some kind of faded orange cheek, this can be related to the Orange Breast mutation (OB), in females what you can see (in splits and in full OB) is the faded orange cheek and faded dotes on the flank, try to see if you can distinguish these kind of dotes if so than your female is probably a split OB.
It worth mention that I had several females with the same mark of the cheek in the past and although I tried to mate them with a fully OB males none of the offspring was born as a fully OB so there might be something else that cause the appearance of the cheek in females.

Chris

While OB certainly is a possibility, check this link...

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

If the orange is carried into the tail bar area, then OB is most likely the culprit. Chances are if there is no other odd coloring indicators outside of the cheek patches, then they are probably ghost cheek patches. Breeding her could help to determine for sure. But to me the coloring is more along the lines of tan than orange, which also would be an indicator of ghost cheek.

Nevertheless I would have to agree with Janine. She is quite stunning. You'll have to keep us up to date on her progress