Hypothetical Project - Creating a Dinosaur-like Chicken

[RhymeOrReason]

This is technically hypothetical, but I’d love to see it happen in reality! (Albeit as long as precautions were taken to prevent insane inbreeding and health issues)

Alright, so the goal would be to emulate the look of theropods as closely as possible through breeding alone, meaning that they would never have teeth or a proper snout. However, the illusion of these features could be done through selecting traits that sorta look like it (notches in the beak that resemble tomial teeth, a broader beak, etc.). As far as overall head shape goes, with almost forward-facing eyes and a narrow, angular head, the Yokohama chicken has the best overall (i might be a little biased lol, I love the way they look!).

For the beak shape itself, the broad and rounded beaks of chantecler and cornish seem to be good candidates to give it more height. I’ve never seen chicken breeds that have a notch in the beak, but assuming the trait is possible through mutations and encouraging that mutation’s development (mild abnormality of the beak that appears like a tomial tooth being bred to where it becomes more prominent, as long as it is specifically monitored to refrain from it becoming a hindrance to the animal itself), it could be introduced over time. If this is not possible, than a rounded and high (height in comparison to the head) beak works well to emulate a snout regardless.

As far as the body itself goes, assuming we are trying to recreate the body plan of a generic dromaeosaur, it needs to be held horizontally to the ground. Most chickens have a body like this, and as far as feathering goes, hard feathering would show more of the form itself, leading to a more dinosaur-like silhouette (found in breeds like Aseel, Malay, Saipan, etc; preferably Saipan because of [from what I remember, correct me if I’m wrong] their genetic diversity due to being highly mixed.) However, the vertical stature of game chickens is also extremely interesting, and would likely mix well with the other features bred for in this project.

As far as wings go, the question comes down to whether or not the breed is intended to be a good flyer; I think having the capability of flight is preferable, with longer legs making terrestrial travel more favorable. Keeping the game chicken legs while introducing breeds like Sumatra for both the coloring and the flight capabilities would likely suit this purpose.

For tails, the Yokohama blood would likely already result in a long tail, especially with the added Sumatra.

Throughout, care would need to be taken in ensuring that, despite the game breeds being present in the heritage, the temperaments of the other parents win out, as these animals would exclusively be pets and show animals (could potentially have higher egg production bred in as well, but that is not a priority). Game chickens can be very sweet with people, but I worry about the potential interactions they might have with other chickens.

What do you all think? Are there better ways to go about the hypothetical project? What breeds would you incorporate into your dream dino-chicken?

 

[nicalandia]

Many Aseel breeds are already Dinosaur like in appearance(Long necks, Long legs, short beaks, mean raptor like face)

 

[nicalandia]

Aseel look very terror-bird like when they’re young.

Parrot Beak Asils look even more like Terror Bird

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

This rooster is an aseel x Liege cross. He’s about 1.5 years old with a lot of maturing left to do. I believe when he has his 18 month molt his tail feathers will come out long and flowing and give the illusion of having a dinosaur-like tail. He has wing claws and likes to catch and eat mice. He stands slightly under 2 feet tall, so small for a bird with Liege genes. I expect him to grow in height only slightly more.

I have bred him back to Liege to produce chicks that are 3/4 Liege. Those bird will end up being the size full Liege I think. But whether they’ll keep his fierce look I cannot say.

 

[nicalandia]

Aseel look very terror-bird like when they’re young.

My Young Rajah Chicks looked had a very Terror Bird look..

 

[ChicksnMore]

Are you talking about Jack Horner? I heard he was asking for 1.5 million. I don't know, but for that much money I'll settle for an Asil.

Definitely right!
Not just him...theres a few groups. They've succeeded somewhat in the head and legs. They destroy the embryos before hatch though because most of the scientists are doing it for research rather then trying to create a dinosaur.
A lab created bird and a bred bird would be two very different beasts. Just thought anyone interested in this might enjoy reading about the other.

 

[eira_barbara]

Actually, not so much: we don't have any genomic data from terror birds, and we also don't have a convenient source of eggs in which to gestate them. (Even the extant ratites we do have, like ostrich and emus, are quite distant relatives and can't necessarily be expected to provide a suitable developmental environment for a terror bird in the egg--maternal egg yolk provisioning can vary quite substantially among species! The closest living relative is probably seriemas, which are much smaller than any terror bird species.)

If you were going to try and de-extinct a large terrestrial bird, your best bet is probably moa, but even that is going to be considerably harder than playing with various developmental gene expression factors to try and re-engineer teeth out of a beak or encourage distal claw growth on wings. We are not anywhere near successful "de-extinction" of any species, even those we have complete (or complete-ish) ancient genomes from.

On the scientific end of things, the draw is mostly using the "cool factor" of the project to justify funds to learn more about gene expression during development and how transcription factor expression and gene regulation can contribute to complex phenotypes. It's all developmental genetics. You're not going to learn much about dinosaurs qua dinosaurs from the project: as far as evolutionary biologists are concerned, any chicken is a perfectly representative dinosaur already just as it is.

 

[WoDia]

Would naked-bred (controversial, to me) and naked-neck breeds possibly be a good candidate to cross breed with Aseel or some similar breed? Could be pretty interesting. There is scientific evidence showing what appears to be feathers (or proto-feathering) on many fossils of chickens ancestors. So, could a chicken become more dinosaur-like again? Who knows really what chicken evolution could produce in the future.

Good luck!

 

[RhymeOrReason]

There are genetic mutations that cause naked chickens. The Israeli naked chicken is one and I saw a thread a while ago about someone who had an Orpington(?) Flock that threw a few naked chicks.

Look into bantam Cornish. They might fit what you're looking for more than the standards. They have tight feathering, can be rather horizontal and some have skulls that have the eyes a bit more forwards with a shorter beak

I love the coloring! The head feels a bit too rounded and short for what I’m looking for, but the small size and hard feathering, along with the horizontal stature, would be good to add

 

[AGeese]

There's actually some scientists that have been working on reverse engineering dinosaurs from chickens. It's fun to read about and would be even more fun to work on!

Are you talking about Jack Horner? I heard he was asking for 1.5 million. I don't know, but for that much money I'll settle for an Asil.