Reprinted with Permission. The same scenario happens to people all over the world just as it happened to me. Walking into a pet store or bird fair and seeing those active, colorful, beeping, Finches flittering about in a display cage can mean love at first sight. I knew right away that I wanted to own one of these colorful little birds, but like any good bird enthusiast, I bought a book on basic care before buying my first Zebra Finch. Owning only one was great, but I soon decided that I would like to breed them.
Ok lets face it, breeding Zebra Finches is easy.
They just do it on their own. Males can be visually distinguished from females. Male Zebra Finches have a black breast bar, chestnut flanks speckled with white, orange cheek patches, a scale-like pattern under the chin, and of course the red beak. Females on the other hand are totally lacking in any of these male markings and their beaks are a lighter and more orange color. There are Zebra Finch color mutations that have less-defined sex markings, so if you really can not see any distinguishing markings on your bird, look at the beak color.