With our Bengalese and Cherry juvaniles being 5 to 6 weeks old today, their colours have developed more since they first fledged. This is most noticable in the chocolate self Bengalese finches.

When the Bengalese laid a load of eggs across two nests, we were originally unsure whose eggs were whose as there was one male with three females. However, once the eggs hatched and the chicks had developed their feathers, we were confident which chicks belonged to which females.

When we first bought the Bengalese finches, we wanted birds with obvious differences in genetic makeup, and we luckily ended up with the following:
Female - Fawn Pied
Female - Chocolate Self
Female - Chocolate Pied
Male - Pure White

At first we thought the pure white might have just been a heavily pied fawn, as the bird store (which usually seperates out rarer genetics to charge more) was just selling him at the standard price for a Bengalese finch. However, once he mated with the females, the resulting chicks have made us fairly confident he was a pure white.

So far, the resulting genetics for the chicks appear to be:

Fawn Pied + Pure White = Fawn Pied, Fawn Washed Pied, Fawn Washed Pied, Pure White

This resulting set up does not suggest the male was a pure white, until this happened:

Chocolate Self + Pure White = Chocolate Self, Chocolate Self, Chocolate Washed Self, Chocolate Washed Self, Chocolate Washed Self, Chocolate Washed Self

What is bizare however is that 3 of these chocolate chicks have a white bib under their beak and white eye brows (in pretty much is the exact same locations), and one has a single white tail feather. Plus, we have never heard of or seen if chocolate washed is even possible, but four of the chicks are clearly too dark to be fawn, but too light to be chocolate, and the colour does not look right for chestnut.



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