finally got my reds back

[elferoz777]

got my red zebs back. after a horrid 4 yrs of having great birds then losing them to a bug in the aviaries im hoping these will take off. they look shyte but have the good genes in em.

[finchbreeder]

Maybe while avoiding the world this weekend I can get hubby to take some pics of mine. Progress is slow but steady. Enjoy developing these Elf.
LML

[Shane Gowland]

They look great, good luck with them

[finchbreeder]

Well that didn't go to plan. Got told the birds move too much to take a decent shot. My Red line had been entirely fawn, until I spied a really nice gray in a local pet shop. Talked the owner into swapping her for a pair of normal fawns. That was a while back, and the other day she fledged her first nest of 3 chicks. All gray. I'm fairly sure her mate is the only other gray in the avairy. The pied cock who keeps eluding me when I try to move him. Bother, bother, bother.
LML

[E Orix]

Excuse my ignorance but I wasn't aware of a grey/red I thought all hens were a light fawn(fawn/red?) with faint red cheek patches.
I presume the picture of the hen with the light green ring is a grey/red is this so.
I guess mine are all mixed up as I have just had 3 fly, a red cockbird, pied charcoal cockbird and a charcoal hen.
While they don't really appeal to me but what are the red ones where the red replaces the white belly area.

[finchbreeder]

https://www.ponytailjoes.com/finches.html
If you look at the hen with the very red cock in this add, thats what my girl looks like, but her cheeks are a bit darker (my girls) Wish I had boys that good. So far most breeders are getting the red of the bar to go up and through the barring. But a few are getting it to go down the front of the bird, like in the pics at the link. Mine are a lot more mixed up that I like too. As the first "normal" fawn hen I used as an outcross was carrying pied. (Maybe 1 white feather or a white toe) I didn't see it, but they were isolated and pieds turned up. Then since I introduced the pair I bought in Mandurah at the show I have had all sorts turn up. But yes they have also done some improving of the line. I have put fawn charcols into the line, but the red has not gone down the body yet. Some say black fronted is a better outcross.
LML

[E Orix]

If you look at the pictures the birds differ quite a lot
Some have white throats, a cockbird has basically a charcoal rump.
the hens differ as well.
My cockbirds have red through the tail barring and are quite intense red from
the beak over the head to the tail.From the chest line to the vent they are a clean white.
I was offered the so called full reds but declined as I think the white bellied one is nicer.
The hens look like a plain fawn birds with pale red cheek patches.
Sadly I can't get a photo of them as they are flying around in a massive flight.
It's quite strange that I have started to take more notice of Zebra Finches after so many years
breeding far more expensive species. I must admit I have always kept a couple of normal cockbirds
in my big flight as I think they are a special little bird, if I had of included a hen bird or two I am sure
I would have been over run rapidly.

[finchbreeder]

In the 40ish yrs I have had finches (mostly) with a small break when first married. I have never been without Zebs. When nothing else works they do. They always sound happy and cheerful. Yes they are a pest in that they will out breed everything else. But I just make sure that one avairy is Zeb free for the finches that don't cope with their enthusiasm.
Back to the reds. The charcol rump is not a requirement, it is just an offshoot of the use of charcols to develop this mutation. I have very few birds with this. Your birds sound very attractive EO, but they sound like a different version of red completely to what I have seen. They also sound like something I would like even better. Which is part of the problem, a "standard" for reds is still being developed, so people are developing this bird in the dark - so to speak. The red on mine is to varying degrees above the bar and over the head. But not down the back. The full red is in effect a red charcol, and I agree with you, once the white contrast is gone the birds are not as nice. Though I have no objection to producing one - just because. The hens - both fawn and gray - are just normal with fawn cheek patches instead of the red cheek patches the cocks have. Regardless of if the red bird is fawn or charcol the male has the red extended beyond the normal. How far beyond is what is differing in different peoples birds. And in the decision regarding the "standard". Logically there will be several "standards" to allow for the birds most people are working on, which are red heads, and the full reds, and hopefully the red backs which it appears you have. Perhaps you and Elf can get together and develop this new mutation as you are in the same state?
LML

[elferoz777]

some of mine have red tail barring. ive noted that to be key in getting good ones. ove lots some good ones along the way when i put isabels through them