Normal and Fawn Zebra Finch drawings © by Garrie Landry, used with permission.

One of my old Orange Breasted CFW's

I have been breeding and raising Zebra finches for the past 8 years. I started out with a pair of American Zebras of Normal color, which I bought, from Ramsey’s dad’s bird shop many years ago. Since then I have been turned on to English Zebra’s which I like a lot. I have had the opportunity to raise Normals, Chestnut Flanked Whites and Orange Breasted Chenstnut Flanked Whites. I was out of Zebra’s for a while due to “The College Experience”, but now that I have the hang of things I am back into the Zebra’s.

On April 2nd I received two pair of English Zebra’s which I ordered from Garrie Landry of Louisiana. I ordered a pair of Normal (gray) colored birds and a pair of Fawn (light brown) colored birds. Upon arrival I noticed the size of the birds was definitely larger then that of the American birds I had raised for a couple years. These birds were actually still on the young side and still had a lot of growing to do. According to Garrie, these birds will get A LOT bigger. The coloring on the birds was rather nice, but what stood out the most was the posture of the birds. All four of them had the same look of standing in a proud manner with their chests sticking out and their heads held high. I especially like the Normal colored cock bird, which is really dark in color and has good markings and the best posture of the four.

I keep my birds indoors in an aviary in my living room. I plan on building an outdoor aviary in the near future and expanding the number of birds I have to about 50 birds in Normals, Fawns, CFW’s, Grey Cheeks, and Pieds. Possibly some Penguin colored birds as well. I really enjoy my Zebra’s, almost as much as the Rollers….but not quite.