Peter Finn

Hi Trevor,I wonder,how you went about getting the black flanks on the BC?I have a BC Grey cockbird,and he was very black flanked as a youngster,but is now(2 years old),getting more Fawn colour creeping into his flanks.I's appreciate your advise on this matter,if you have any ideas...Best Wishes,Peter.

Hi Merv,long time no hear!Did you get my phone message I left on your ansaphone last week?I had a bumpy couple of years with getting my pain control under control,which meant that I was in and out of hospital,and as a result,didn't breed any of the birds that I had.I still have some of them,but they are now 3-4 years old,and unlikely to breed now.I'm managing a lot better these days,and even do some voluntary work for a local bereavement support charity!I was lucky enough to be able to buy two young pairs of birds from Nick Hall this week,and I'm completely inspired by their quality and beauty!I'm going to concentrate on CFW,Normal,LightBack,and also hope to introduce Black Cheek at some point.That's the plan anyway!! So what about you?How are you doing,and what are you doing with your birds?I'm assuming that still have the birds...is that right?Still with the CFWs?It would be good to hear from you anyway.I hope that you are keeping well.Take care,Best Wishes,Peter Finn.

Hi there,I hope you enjoy the forum.There are plenty of people who will give you advice and make you feel welcome.

With both parents being Black Cheeks,all the chicks will be Black Cheeks.The next bit is LightBack cock cock X CFW hen...Light Back is dominant over CFW,so if the cock is LightBack split CFW(and many are),you will get Both LightBack cocks and hens,and CFW cocks and hens,in 50:50 ratio.Hope that helps!

Hello Mark,welcome aboard and I hope you enjoy the forum.You will find plenty of friendly advice and support on here!

Congratulations on a couple of nice looking chicks...but what colour is the cock bird?

Hi Jeff....I have crested budgerigars,and the gene is dominant,but with budgies,crest-bred is important,in the breeding program.I'm not at all sure about the situation with other birds,such as canaries,but what I can tell you,is that from what I've learned,the crested gene in finches(zebras and Bengalese),is that a Normal crest-bred bird,but without a crest,is of no more use in breeding cresteds,than a Normal that is crest-free!So don't bother about keeping anything simply because it's crest-bred...it will not help in the crest breeding program whatsoever!But good luck with it!A good crest IS beautiful!

Hi there Scott,glad you've joined us here....you should get plenty of advice,and some help with the identification of the different mutations that you have.There are so many nowadays,some more attractive than others,but it's all about personal taste really.

Hello and welcome to the forum,I hope you'll find it helpful and enjoyable.My mum was from Gorseinon,and I still have family in Pontlliw,Loughor,Swansea area...very proud of my Welsh roots!I spent a lot of my childhood running around the Gower...wonderful memories!

Hi there,Mark1e has just contacted me,and I think I may be confused about whether Peter Cannan is in this site or not,but he is a very good person to talk to regarding Pieds,and he's definitely on the ZFS site!Sorry if I'm getting confused....no excuse really,as I'm not even that old!Maybe it's the cold!!

In my opinion,the best way to improve on size and type,is to outcross to good sized typy Normals ,and/of Fawns (depending on what mutations you're working on).Pair the splits back to mutation birds,keep the best visuals(best splits are also useful,if they are an improvement in quality),and then outcross again,to big,typed birds again.Basically,as far as I'm aware,this is the easiest way to improve stock of any species.Hope that helps!

Try to contact Peter Cannan,on this forum,and also ZFS website,where he does the ring ordering,and is the General Secretary.He specialises in Pieds and Whites(which are basically Pieds anyway),and is very helpful.Good luck!

Hello and welcome!You have some interesting varieties...would love to see some photos of the Black.Cheek Eumos!I am hoping to combine BlackFace Black-Cheek and maybe even Black-Breast...I think that the black and grey combinations are particularly stunning!I'm sure that you'll get as lot from this forum!

Hello Krissy,welcome to the forum.There are quite a few breeders down in your neck of the woods,I suggest that you contact the Zebra Finch Society....I know that several of the administrators of the Society are living in Plymouth,and there will know of others.Good luck and Best Wishes.Peter.

Hello Jamie,welcome to the forum,I'm sure that you'll find it both friendly and informative.Whereabouts in the UK are you?Best Wishes,Peter.

Hello Ken,welcome on-board!I have your book too,and thoroughly enjoyed it...thanks for joining this forum,I'm sure you'll find it interesting,and your knowledge will definitely be helpful to many of us!Best Wishes, Peter

Hi,I joined the ZFS first,as I HAVE ALWAYS KEPT ANIMALS AND,(OOPS)and have always joined the relevant clubs and societies,in order to support the hobby.I can't remember how I found about about the forum,most probably word of mouth!I'd like to add,I'm thoroughly enjoy the forum,and visit it most days,at least once!

Hi Dean,sorry to butt in,but you can get Fawn Penguins just as easily,by using a Fawn outcross...you may even get a Fawn hen that's split for Penguin,from the Penguin hen X Normal cock,as so many of the Normal cocks nowadays,are split for Fawn anyway.In fact,it's probably easier to get hold of quality Fawns than quality Normals,and certainly Normal Cocks split for Fawn.....I'm thinking of doing something similar this year,I'll let you know how it goes!Best Wishes,Peter.

I'm inclined to agree with you Trevor,theoretically anyway(as I have never bred a finch!!),and I will always endeavour to keep Fawn out of the Normal gene pool,wherever possible;I suspect it might not make that much difference to the Normal BlackBreasts,as they generally have fawn edging to flight feathers anyway,but certainly,my aim is not to deliberately pair any Normal/Fawn combinations!I do hope I can improve the size and type of the Black-Cheeks that I have...they are such an unusual combination,and when added to BF,they will look so striking!Thanks for your input!

No,I don't have this boy's father,he was an old chap(5)and not bred by me anyway.He is a better bird than the other BC cock,and when he arrived,he didn't show this fault.I'm going to use him and his sister anyway,because they're fresh blood and nice birds,and this is what I've got and I make the most of it.I have enough good quality Normals(cocks mainly)to improve the qualities of the various mutations that I have.But the mother of this BC,was a Fawn/BC,that the breeder bought from Stafford.So what her pedigree is I've no idea! I think it would be a good thing to do,to use threads like this....that's the sort of thing where we can learn all from each others experiences.What mutations do you have,or are interested in?Best Wishes.Peter.

Unfortunately,an unknown commodity.No idea what the parentage of the well coloured BCs were,but I do know,that the sire of the cock BC with the blak/red flanks was a correctly marked BC,with black flanks,and his dam was a Fawn,split BC of unknown parentage.This could be a contributing factor,use of the Fawn gene;but there are other unknowns involved with this mutation,such as why some BC hens maintain a full Black-Cheek when adult,and others (sisters in some cases),lose this,ending upwith more of a half-moon coloured BC when mature!This is why it's so interesting for me to discuss ideas with other breeders.Between us,it's possibly we know some of the answers!!

Hi Trevor,I personally think that the reason for difficulties,colour-wise with the BCCFW,is because CFW is a dilution in general(in a similar way that LightBack is...they sit in the same gene position on the chromosome,which is why a hen cannot be split for this variety,and it just so happens that the LightBack mutation is dominant to CFW.But,it is possible to improve the black tear markings on a CFW,and certainly some CFW cocks can be bred to have darker chest bars and cheek-patches,so,with perseverance,it should be possible to improve the black colour in the BCCFW cock.BFBB gives red flanks primarily,but because both BF is variable and BB is variable,in other variety traits-for example,black breast extension in BF,and Orange eye-patch extension in BB,neither mutation are "cut and dried".In Australia,ther in general seem to have concentrated on improving the BF gene,so it now has resulted in the Black Bodied...apparently,it s the same gene!But they have concentrated on colour not type.In UK,w do have typey birds to add into the gene pool,which is not generally the case in Australia,due to the long-standing import ban.

Thank you Dave,for taking the time to explain it to me...have you bred Black-Cheeks with this issue before?Fingers crossed,eh!Best Wishes,Peter.