are ocellated x domestic turkeys sterile or fertile?

[onthespot]

just wondering if they make "mules" like muscovy and domestic ducks.

 

[ivan3]

Interesting question. Lorenz apparently had some luck:

You can purchase the entire article here:

http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/pdf_extract/47/3/143

(UM doesn't have this on the shelves otherwise I'd have grabbed it and `burnt' it off).

 

[longranger]

Fascinating. I was surprised to hear that this cross even was possible. Since they appear to be fertile theoretically it may be possible to produce a stable hybrid line with many of the characteristics of the Ocellated. They are such beautiful birds, particularly the plumage that this might be a worthy project. With hunting pressure, limited geographic distribution and habitat destruction and the known difficulty in captive breeding of full Ocellated turkeys this may be a good way to provide a source of feathers and perhaps take a little pressure off the full blooded population. Again very interesting.

 

[onthespot]

Wow, thanks for that answer! I wonder what viability you get with the little hen poults... If mostly the males survive, you would keep breeding toward wild US turkeys and lose the colors over a few generations. I guess you better get a girl occ x too if a person was going to go for it. I'm not going to go for it. Too much of a challenge for me right now.