The 1st day: The breeding season began. The nest box was hung up. For this breeding I selected a pair of normal Shafttail Finches in good breeding conditions. Two weeks ago I put them up in a separate cage, changed lighting regime, and their diet was switched to follow the changes in nutrients needed for the breeding season. My previous records showed that the normal male of this pair is split to fawn and I had information that some of his siblings carry isabelle mutation. The normal female was purchased recently, and according to the seller, this female comes from a brood, in which a few chicks had diluted fawn color. As there is a lot of unclearness in color classification, my expectation was that this color description probably refers to isabelle, and I hope this female is split to this color mutation. If I am right, the offspring of these parents will be of normal, visual Fawn and visual Isabelle color. We will see what happens. My regular updates will illustrate the various stages of the breeding season of this pair.  

The 7th day: During the first seven days the male did a great job of lining the nest. Today, the female has laid her first egg.      

The 9th day: The pair has now their third egg. From this time and throughout the 16-day incubation period, the female will have to sit tight on the eggs. She does her duty throughout the night and also for much of the day. The male takes over for several short shifts during the day, so that the female can get away and feed herself.

The 12th day: Today, the sixth egg was laid. It can be the last egg as a female lays down about 5 eggs in average. I have to keep close eye on the nest following days.

The 18th day: There are still six eggs in the nest. It is good time to check if they are fertile. Having been candled, red veins are seen in the fertile eggs only. Five from the six eggs appeared to be definitely fertile, which is great! I hope that at least one chick from these five will be a visual Isabelle.

The 24th day: Today the first chick hatched. However, I have no answer on my question if he will have normal or mutant coloring, as I am not familiar with the color determination in such young chicks if it is possible at all. Let’s wait until the entire brood hatched and then compare the chicks’ colors.

The 26th day: All five chicks hatched. You can clearly see the difference between the chicks’ colors at this photo. Three chicks are dark, I think they are normal. One chick is a little bit lighter in color. And the chick in the top left hand corner has a light appearance. I'm not quite sure if this is a Creamino or a visual Isabelle. Maybe I will have a better idea in few days.

The 33rd day: Now all chicks are about 8-day old. It is time for banding, a delicate procedure of putting a plastic band on the leg. This band will be used then for individual identification of the birds. Now I can relax, this tricky procedure is done.

The 38th day: I do not take a risk carrying out regular inspections of the nest box: Shafttail Finches are not very tolerant to inspections and can abandon their eggs or chicks if they have been touched or moved by another animal or person. Instead, I try to catch lucky chance, when the male is on duty. He does not take his responsibility as strong as the female does, and thanks him, finally I got possibility to take a snapshot of the nest. Looking at this photo with five chicks ranging in age from 10 to 12 days, I am quite sure that three of them are normal, one is a fawn (the first one on the left), and one is an isabelle (the third one on the left).

The 44th day: The five chicks (three normals, one fawn, and one isabelle) are now 16-18 days old. They are almost ready to leave the nest.

The 46th day: Today I saw the first chick left the nest box for the first time. If everything goes well with these fledglings, I will have genetically characterized birds for next breeding. It is interesting to learn their sex, but it is too early yet.

The 48th day: The fledglings mostly spend their time out of the nest. They already do not need it; therefore I removed the nest box. At the age of 3-4 weeks, they start to eat on their own. In addition to their basic seed mixture, I offer a variety of seeds to my finches from time to time.

The 54th day: First bathing. All shafttails are bath-loving birds. This isabelle fledgling have finished his bath just minutes ago.

The 58th day: When the chicks are 4-5 weeks old, the adult colors are starting to develop. Along with this, the beak gradually changes its color from black to orange.

The 60th day: It is the time for young shafftails to become independent and for parents to have well-deserved rest. When chicks are five weeks old, I move them to the bigger cage to allow them fly freely. All five fledglings will stay in this cage until they are matured into their adult colors completely. Then I will be able to identify their sex.