paulm

mark if it is a isabel both its parents must be split or isabel,i dont know it tough sometime to tell from photos it looks more dilute than the other one so could even be carrying someting like isabel but it looks to have its chest bars and tears marks but very light like i say could be signs of it being a split.Paul.

Hi Mark You can breed your own Silver from your creams.What i mean is Cream x Normal or Normal x Cream as well as Fawn,Normal and Cream these pairing can produce Silver also.The Cream mutation is a dilution mutation it will dilute Normal also "if your lucky" making SilverPaul.

Hi MarkHave you tried any Cream to normal pairings it is possible to breed silver from this pairing.Paul.

Hi MarkI agree with Gary the hen in the middle and the cock on the right but its tough to tell from a photo as they can look so different from one minute to the next,but all the same nice looking birds congratz .Paul.

Hi Richard and welcome to the forum.Paul.

Hi Peter Welcome to the forum.Paul.

Hi Trev It does appear to be a dilute its very hard to tell colour from photos as i have noticed with my own birds,but it does look very light in colour what are the parents of this bird trev.When it comes to silvers and the amount of dilution there can be a big difference bird to bird even in siblings and as long as any pairs you show are matched for type and colour there should not be an issue.All the best Paul.

Hello and welcome to the forum.Paul.

Hi TyWhen i use to breed Silver's out of one nest i remember i bred a beautiful light coloured silver cock with nice white cheeks and one of his nest mates was another Silver cock bird,who's body colour was much deeper with deep yellow cheeks a lovely coloured bird also,this just goes to show what can be produced in one nest of the same colour but be so different.Paul.

Hi Trev I cant tell what you have there from the photo could do with a side shot it doesn't strike me as a silver but i cant be sure.Paul.

Hi Colin Welcome to the forum.Paul.

Hi Ty Happy to help i just wish i had kept a few more than i did and i would of still had mine,i had silver lightbacks and silvers beautiful colour was a real shame,unfortunately i have enough colours already and taking silver back on would be a mutation to far for me.Paul.

Hi TyThe silvers i had were dominant silvers so i bred them silver x normal which produces a random number of silvers per nest if any and i always seemed to produce more cocks than hens,you do apparently also get recessive silvers but i dont know of anyone who has them,silvers are a really nice colour but make sure you keep a few of your best ones back because as with most dominate mutations you can quickly lose the mutation with the death of a few birds. Paul.

Hi TrevIn the past i bred Silvers and they do come in a who range of colour depths ranging for very light with white cheeks to alot darker with more orangey cheek patches and pretty much everything in between.Paul.

Hi Di Welcome to the forum and the wonderful world of zebra finches.Paul.

Hi Ryan and welcome to the forum Paul.

Hi BrianWelcome to the forum and good luck with the zebras.

Hi TYIf you want to have good Bc's its very tough to breed them out of poor birds but it sounds like the birds you have are of good stock,i would breed the best of the bc's to your best normals this may drag the normals back a bit in quality but it depends on the quality of your bc's as too how much,the splits if all go's well can be paired back to other split birds or visual bc's but it depends on which are the best for type and size to pair too,just becareful not to use all your best birds or you may drag the overall standard of your normals down but it depends how good your bc are.It has so far taken me 3 years to improve on my Bf i still have the original cock bird and he is nothing like the current generation apart from being of the same mutation.Paul.

Hi TyI would if it was me split them and pair to normals,the splits birds will be just as useful as visual bc birds if paired back and with luck you will have more of them,the other thing is if you pair too normals that are better quality birds you will have a greater chance of breeding improved birds.Mind you you could do with more than a pair if you come across any more nice bc birds.Paul.

Normal hens are usually short supply because like Gary said the normal cock birds are split for just about everything,one thing i have always tried my best to breed is a good strain of normals and they are improving well im very please with them it has taken me a few years to get to were a am but aleast i can call them my own and i also know whats in them,i like many mutations in the zebra finch but i theres nothing i love more than a nice pair of normals.Paul.

Hi TyI know what you mean i have had a normal/cfw x Normal pair which bred 5 chicks they were a nice enough pair the cock having good size and body with a buff feather and the hen smaller with a harder feather and nice head and type,the chicks from this pair were 3 normals which to be honest were small but with a desent shape but not enought size or head,but the other 2 chicks were CFW hen who are slightly bigger with nice broad round heads and nice short round bodys again not as big as i would of liked but bigger than the normal chicks and nice in shape.Paul.

Hi TyIt depends on the quality of your black cheeks if you have birds which are superior to your black cheeks it would more than likey be in your best interest to split them to better birds,rather than pairing to each other,plus you would have larger odds of breeding birds of an improved type and size due to the numbers of birds from the greater pairing numbers,but their are no hard and fast rules as nature always has the last say and best to best dose not guarantee success,there is a lot to take in to consideration when you pairing bird as im sure we all know like size,type,colour,feather,head feature and the list goes on and on.im sure we have all paired birds up we fancy for breeding some good chicks only later to take a look at the said chicks to say where the **** did that horrible thing come from.Paul.

Hi Kim Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your return to the wonderful world of Zebra finches.Paul.

Hi JeffSounds to me like a OBBB Isabel if the orange goes right under the chest and to the tail also BF and the other could be a fawn or normal BCBBBF,if i were you i would put them to some nice Fawn hens and breed some splits to start off your breeding stud with this type of combo and you usally fined split can produce better birds.Best of luck with them Paul.

Has anyone ever bred any Creams from a Silver x fawn or Fawn x Silver pairing ?.Paul.