Fish&Game rescue, what the heck am I?

[Helen in the Desert]

This guy is pretty big, larger that my other Large Fowl chicks that are plumed the same amount. The peacock people say it ain't a peachick, the pheasant people say it isn't a pheasant. Both groups suggested game fowl or chicken but it does not look like any kind of chicken or guinea that I have seen. Any ideas?

 

[cskotek]

Turkey maybe???

 

[hdowden]

looks like a silver duckwing yokohama but it has the wrong leg color

it's probably more likely a game type chicken though

 

[cskotek]

Maybe its a cross between something? Escaped from somebodys yard? Id wait for it to get older and all its colors come in.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Looks like a pheasant chicken cross to me......

 

[Kev]

It's 100% chicken and a female. Her coloring is silver duckwing.

She appears to be a mix of something 'hard feathered'- shorter feathers that also feel a little harder, at least compared to your standard big fluffy chicken. Oriental breeds like shamo, asil, etc are examples of hard feather. Most hard feather also happen to have pea comb and no or almost no wattles, making them look even more different than the typical backyard chicken.

I wonder if your bird is a mix of a hard feather with a modern game because of the thin bones and long looking face (many orientals are heavy boned). But it also could be a mix of oriental type with a 'regular' chicken or even with something like phoenix as the hard feather is mostly dominant over soft feather. however oriental mixed with american game is a very good guess as that's a pretty common cross or mix.

She is likely to grow up into a 'tall looking' chicken, not so great layer but very broody and very very protective of her babies.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

I wouldn't put all one's money on her being 100% chicken. I've seen specie crosses that looked exactly like her in color and in shape. When the two are crossed, the offspring (should they result) tend to carry the chicken coloration over the pheasant coloration. Three indicators make me suspricious. 1) Her face shape is identical to the specie cross. 2) Her tail. Keep an eye on that tail. If she is a cross of the two species, she'll develop a tail that will look like a pheasant tail, long and pointed. 3) You mention her being larger than the rest of the chicks. Pheasant chicken crosses are larger than both parents. Scientists attribute this to a hybrid vigor of sorts, similar to what one sees in crossing breeds, only magnified when these two species are crossed.

Keep us posted with future pics of her development. That will give us the clues we need to pinpoint her ancestory!

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Here's a couple of guinea chicken crosses from feathersite.........interesting similarities...........especially the first one's face shape, notice how they take on the chicken coloration over the quinea color.........food for thought.

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

Guinea x Eater Egger.... look at the forehead and beak. Very similar to your odd bird. If one took away the muffs, the overall head shape would look nearly identical......

 

[IowaBlueCurt]

And another..........