ricardomp

Olá Luis, Bem-vindo. ----- Hi Luis, Welcome! Ricardo M.

Hi,That's a great system for keepin track of splits. I didn't use to have that problem with zebras since I kept mostly pure lines and the few splits could easily be checked with records. Only used spli rings for eumo splits. Bur fot my silverbills that has quite a few splits and double splits I always used plastic coloured split rings. Confirmed hens were marked green, males red. For splits I used a colour code, white being ino, grey=opal, brown=fawn, black=darkbellied, yellow=pastel etc... Cutthroats as well, white=opal, brown=fawn, yellow=yellow banded... Some had 2 more rarely 3 rings. Closed ring was on right leg, colours on left. Still kept records for those cases were some rings would fall off. Good system, quite useful when looking at birds in flights once you get used to the "colour codes" for each species.Regards,

Hi,From my experience pairing to splits is the way to breed with BC. It's a tricky mutation. I agree that you'll need to start off with the best you cna get your hands on. Size is not the hardest to breed with BCs, colour and type are. BC x BC pairings tend to loose shape and become quite "long" birds, loosing type farily quickly. They also don't deal that well with buff pairing which will likely not help with keeping a solid colour.My choice with BCs was always full males vs. split hens for two reasons. One can judge the colour better on full males (flanks mostly an issue) and working with good hens will, in my opinion, help improve type more easily. Split BC hens will also tolerate buff more than males whithout colour problems getting in the way.BC x BC pairings overtime will surely not be the best option.Altough both mutations are recessive, BB behaves a bit different. It can keep size and type more easily than BC wihtout the use of splits from what I've experienced.Regards,

Thank you both for your welcome.Gary, I have a pretty good idea of what I want to get into regarding varieties.Normals, Fawns, CFWs, Grey LBs and Fawn cheek (which I love). Aiming to start with about 30 pairs in total 5-6 pairs each given some will be needed for outcrossing.But this "comeback" will probably not happen before later in 2012. On my previous house I had a separate bird house with 2 rooms and 3 outdoor flights (for other species). That was cages in total, which I don't have time for at the moment. I built that from an old stable we had, adapting it the best I could. Now I want to build it from zero, just for birds so I'll work the other way around.I have an idea of what I want to do and getting back into discussing zebra breeding with all of you will surely help my planning.Regards,

Hi all,My name is Ricardo, 30yo from Portugal.I bred zebras for about 12 years but stopped 2 years ago. Family, work, free time, changing house, all considered I just couldn't keep with everything and has to let go of my birds for a while. That also kept me away from internet groups and lists (used to be on the zebrafinch list on yahoogroups)I kept mostly show zebras and a few species os african finches.Now that things have settled a but I've decided to get back but it will still take some time to get up and going. My breeding cages are still packed away adn waiting. First it will take a while until our new house is ready and can finally include a proper birdroom.In the meantime, it's good to get back to talking about zebras and catch up on things and new trends.Regards,Ricardo M.