Aussie Finch Forum

Anyone else seen this chest colour?

Thought maybe melanism due to some dark plumage near the head area?

He looks very nice, but could be melanistic. Love that blue chest.
Have one with excess black round the head myself, that I expected to moult out. But after the moult, while the excess black had reduced, he still has more than normal.

finchbreeder wrote: ↑01 Aug 2022, 21:52 He looks very nice, but could be melanistic. Love that blue chest.
Have one with excess black round the head myself, that I expected to moult out. But after the moult, while the excess black had reduced, he still has more than normal.

Shes actually a hen never seen this colour on a hen

Wow - colour is so deep I - obviously - mistook her for a cock. Comment still relavent thought. Have seen some pretty deep hens that need a second look to be sure they are hens before. But this one is the darkest in colour.

It does have melanistic condition and the chest colour becomes slightly darker or being replaced by a metalic blue. The condition will lesson each year with the moult if given access to direct sun shine and copious amounts of calcium choices. All animals need direct sunshine and calcium to absorb Vit D3 from the sun.
Calcium and synthetic D3 is available for birds added to their drinking water if they can't get it naturally.