Aussie Finch Forum

Hi All,

We are new to keeping Red Checked Cordon's but we originally bought two hens from the same breeder as he didn't have a male at the time and we thought we could get one from another breeder which we did. The Question I have is it normal for the hens to have such a variance in the blue on the face? See photo of our hens below. Not a great pic but you can see the difference.

Hi Luke,if they are young birds,the brighter one is most likely a cock.Cocks can look like hens for along time until the red patch starts to show through which is the final area to moult through on cock cordons.
But if they are older birds there can be a vast difference in colour as they get older,eg Blue caps become a darker shade of blue as they get older. Craig

Thanks Craig, the one with more blue is a year older than the other. So i would say its an age thing then. Thanks

There is considerable variation between hens as well. One of those may be older than the other and/or just show brighter and more extensive blue areas. I always select hens with the most extensive blue areas when retaining young birds as future breeders & this trait is passed on with reasonable consistency to these hens' progeny.