Mutation Effects
Inheritance: Recessive

Male: All white feathering. Legs and beak retain the orange/red coloring of the normal. Males can be determined by their bright red beaks and their song.

Female: All white feathering like the males. Females can be determined by their orange rather than red beaks. They also do not sing.

Fledgling: Chicks can be identified by their pink beaks and all white feathering. Some whites will fledge with some gray flecks on their heads. This will often disappear after the first molt, but may not be complete.

Identifying Splits
Male and Female: I have found no way to detect birds that are split for the White mutation.

Combinations
All combinations with the White mutation results in a white bird. When combined with the Fawn mutation, some of the flecks of gray often seen on the heads of some White Zebras is reduced or eliminated. Another advantage to using fawn based whites is the buff feather quality that many fawns have. This may help with the apparent size and conformation of the bird without suffering from marking faults since the White does not have any. If combined with the Continental CFW mutation, the chicks will have bright red eyes and are often confused with albinos. Albinos are often reported, but have not been confirmed in Zebra finches yet.

Notes
In shows, some of the Whites entered are actually Pied Zebras. Referred to as white Pieds, they are not a combination of White and Pied but rather an over expression of the Pied mutation. They are impossible to identify visually, but breeding will show the true genetic make up of the bird. Some exhibitors prefer the white Pieds because they have shown better conformation and size than the true Whites.

When breeding Whites from birds that are split for the mutation, its best to pay close attention to the chicks should they be mixed with normals. The normal chicks will have complete gape markings while the White chicks will lack all markings and may not receive the same attention from the parents. (See the mouth markings page to see examples)