Black Cheek Zebra Owl Finch

[JohnBoy]

I went to New Orleans today and stopped by Birds Unlimited to pick up my 25# bag of canary seed. I went over to the bird room and saw these strange looking owl finches. I knew right off the bat that they had to be hybrids. The lady said they were owl x Bl cheek zebra hybrids.
They were selling for $50 ea. The one I bought was so cute I just could not pass on it. It sounds like a zebra when it chirps.

[Domenic]

That is pretty cute. Wonder why they were selling a hybrid for $50 though?

[JohnBoy]

That is pretty cute. Wonder why they were selling a hybrid for $50 though?

I thought $50.00 was a fair price for such a novel bird. I do not plan on breeding it. I am going to set up a cage in my bedroom for it and after I determine what sex it is I will put a same sex zebra in with it.

[jamezyboo21]

Thats way to expensive for them. I almost bought some but dont really like how they look. The lady where i live sells all her hybrids for $12 she had owl x zebras, shaft tail x zebras, shaft tail x massed grass, spice x societies, shaft tail x owls, and a few other ones. Some were pretty!

[Ameza]

He is quite cute actually though I find something about him a bit off, maybe because I never imagined a hybrid like this.

Can all finch species breed together? Just wondering.

[JohnBoy]

Thats way to expensive for them. I almost bought some but dont really like how they look. The lady where i live sells all her hybrids for $12 she had owl x zebras, shaft tail x zebras, shaft tail x massed grass, spice x societies, shaft tail x owls, and a few other ones. Some were pretty!

Personally I think the lady who is breeding hybrids deliberately should be a shamed of herself. The bird I bought came from a community aviary with owls and zebras and many other species. It just so happens that an owl and a zebra fell in love. She separated the two so they could not breed again & kept one of the offspring for herself.. She decided to sell the other 3. Personally $50.00 was not expensive to me.
I've bred birds in community aviaries since the late 1960's and have never had a hybrid offspring of any kind.

[Ursula]

Reminds me of people who are crossbreeding dogs and producing "maltipoos" and what not, and then selling them for a high fee as "designer dogs" on craigslist...

P.S: I have a cordon bleu hybrid myself because a blue capped and red cheeked were breeding in my aviary, but I don't intend to sell or breed it. And I'm not saying that it couldn't and shouldn't happen. But I agree, doing it on purpose and then selling them for lots of money, that's not right.

[Sally]

Thats way to expensive for them. I almost bought some but dont really like how they look. The lady where i live sells all her hybrids for $12 she had owl x zebras, shaft tail x zebras, shaft tail x massed grass, spice x societies, shaft tail x owls, and a few other ones. Some were pretty!

I've been biting my tongue, but have to jump in on this. This lady could breed owl x owl and get $50-60 each, shaft-tail x shaft-tail and get $40 each, masked grassfinch x masked grassfinch and get who knows how much. Why in the world would someone deliberately breed hybrids to sell them for $12, when with a little effort, she could sell purebreds for much more money. In my opinion, it seems like the height of laziness or the height of ignorance.

Accidental breedings can and do happen, but the offspring should be dealt with responsibly. JohnBoy, you are to be commended for handling this the right way--this hybrid will be kept as a pet, and not as a breeder.

I also have RCCB/BCCB hybrids--two hens and two males. The males will live out their lives as decorative pets, the hens may be put to work as foster moms. At any rate, they will be prevented from producing any more hybrids--pure RCCBs and BCCBs are too wonderful to ruin their bloodlines.

[dfcauley]

I also have a mixed aviary and have never had any hybrids. I think as long as you have mates for them this will not happen. Although..... at one time my shaftail fell in love with Chocolate my society finch. But that ended shortly.

To purposely crossbreed is just as Sally said....totally irresponsible.

BTW, that is a cute little bird and I am glad he got you (0r you got him)

[Domenic]

I agree, as long as you bond a pair before introducing them to an aviary there will be no problems. I think most problems arise from having lonesome or just confused birds.

[CandoAviary]

I think breeding cross breds in the long run will ruin species. Not for the breeder that keeps them as an 'oddity' pet but for the people that don't know that they are crossed. Like Sally stated having her 2 different CB breed and Liz with her 2 different subspecies of fire finches... it is hard enough for extremely knowledgable breeders to be 100% sure of the pure genetics. The average bird keeper hasn't even a clue so therefore breed them, maybe not intentionally, but simply because they can not tell. I see so many crosses at fairs, like goldbreast/st helenas,the mixed cordon blues, etc. the people are selling them as pure...they really don't know
But I have to accept that as long as there is a market for something unique and different and people spend the bucks for them...you can bet there will be people that cash in on them. This equal the odd cross bred.
There is a big difference from species hobby breeders to bird mill producers to breeders that breed for the new designer creature. And then you have those that just mix species and figure the birds are going to produce pure offsping. They may and then again, they may not.
I personally haven't seen a hybrid that looks anywhere near as pleasing as the parent species of that hybrid but I guess beauty is all in the eye of the beholder. I think we can all co exist peacefully no matter what our breeding goals happen to be

[JohnBoy]

I just read on efinch.com that owl, zebra hybrids are not fertile. So now I don't have to worry about people buying the others and letting them breed.

[CandoAviary]

Yes, fortunately most hybrids are "mules" /infertile. They usually have to be subspecies of a species to be fertile... like the different cordon blues subspecies crossed.

Enjoy your unique little bird, he is cute

[jamezyboo21]

I never said she bred them. She got them all from a breeder out of state like Kansas or something and he called her and asked if she wanted them. She sells them in her store and they have their own cage seperated from all the other finches. She tells everyone that they are hybrids and are more for show then breeding. She tells ppl it's not recommended to breed them and that some may even be infertile and shouldnt be kept with any other non-hybrid birds. The man she bought them from has many birds in a huge aviary and he caught up all the odd looking birds that he thought may be hybrids.

[Meagan83]

JohnBoy, I think he's quite adorable personally.