Pheasant Chicken Hybrids

[RedBaron]

So here's the deal, I had a Melanistic Mutant pheasant hen that didn't get along with her own kind, so I placed her in with my Wheaten Ameraucana chicken trio. This Spring she started laying and I wondered if her eggs might be fertile. So I started putting her eggs in my incubator and a few actually developed embryos. Some developed to the point of hatching, but died a few days before they would have hatched. I think this was due to the Hovabator incubator I was using. I bought a Brinsea and was able to hatch 3 of her eggs.



I can post pictures as they grow if anyone is interested in watching their progress.

 

[aticiabray]

I am interested! I'm super curious to see what they'll look like!
Also, can you post a pic of your hen? I'd like to see what the Melanistic hens look like.

 

[Snakedoc]

Wow -- I had no idea that could even occur!

Just subscribed to your thread; I'm VERY curious to see what they develop into!

Congrats on hatching them out

 

[my sunwolf]

Wow, very interested in this, please keep us updated!!!

 

[RedBaron]

I'll try to get a good picture of her this weekend. I separated her from the rooster because her feathers were looking a little bit ragged.

 

[RedBaron]

They seem to have a little bit of the Ameraucana's cheeks, so I'm thinking they may have beards like the Ameraucanas.

 

[jammyjammy2112]

defintly keep us updated seems very interesting.

 

[mistercooper]

Interesting... I wonder if lack of knowledge about incubation of these hybrids has anything to do with such low fertility rates (besides the obvious potential genetic issues)?

 

[RedBaron]

There were a couple of things I changed that may have helped the incubation process. First, I bought a better incubator ... the Brinsea has a humidity pump that keeps the RH at exactly what you want it to be. Also, in addition to the automatic turner which does a 90 degree rocking motion, I started manually turning the eggs 180 degrees twice a day.

Since they were hybrids I thought they may take longer to hatch, but they started hatching on day 21.

They seem to be very healthy ... hopefully there's no genetic issues.

 

[cukooformarans]

Subscribing-very interested! We had a hen hatch some guinea chicken hybrid eggs a while back but ended up selling her before they grew much... I wish we had held onto her just to see but we just had too many things going