Uhhh Turkey Chicken Crosses...

[kfacres]

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pure is in the eye of the beholder. How many generations did this 'breeder' have these birds for? What other breeds do they raise..

You know, thinking like a very novice person... how many toes do these chicks have?

Breeder has had them for 15+ Years. I belive 5 but have not looked.

Heres a picture of a wild turkey poult http://www.outdoorlife.com/files/im...scale/photo/30010/Turkey_Poult_NWTF_Photo.jpg (althoeugh it's not one i have taken). I Do not have a rooster any wheres that colour at all!

ya I know what a bronze or eastern wild turkey poult looks like.. sorry, had them for many, many years.

Just b/c they've had them for many years, doesn't really mean that things are always kept straight bred, and that they haven't tried out genetics to 'improve' the breed either.

just b/c you don't have a rooster that color, also doesn't mean one can't be carrying that color in his background. White masks all.

I'm just going to put it to you this way... There's a 99.99% chance, that those chicks are not turkey crossed onto chicken, especially not 5 of them, or however many you have. I'll bet my life on that... Those chicks don't look anything like a turkey either, not head, not body shape, not anything.

Human error, is 99.99% certain to be the cause of your discolored chicks, either you, your 'breeder', or whoever, either one of you has also purchased birds from- simple plain truth...

 

[hinkjc]

It is not possible for two species to interbreed. A turkey and a chicken cannot have a successful brood.

 

[Frosty]

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Not really impossible, but not likely. In cases where there was success, it was a chicken rooster with a turkey hen.

TURKEY-CHICKEN HYBRIDS

There have been attempted crosses between domestic turkeys (Meleagris gallapavo) and chickens (Warren and Scott, 1935). According to Gray (1958) in 12 studies no hybrids hatched. Other reports found only a few fertile eggs were produced and very few resulted in advance embryos (Ogorodii, 1935; Quinn et al. 1937; Asmundson & Lorenz, 1957). According to Olsen (1960), 23 hybrids were obtained from 302 embryos which resulted from 2132 eggs. Dark Cornish cockerels and Rhode Island Red cockerels successfully fertilised turkey eggs. Harada & Buss (1981) reported hybridisation experiments between Beltsville Small White Turkeys and two strains of chickens. When male chickens inseminated female turkeys, both male and female embryos form, but the males are much less viable and usually die in the early stages of development. When male turkeys inseminated female chickens, no hybrids resulted although the unfertilised chicken eggs began to divide. According to Olson (1960) turkey-chicken crosses produced all males.

MW Olsen, US Dept of Agriculture, successfully bred turkey x chicken hybrids from Beltsville Small White turkey hens artificially inseminated with semen from Dark Cornish male chickens. Morphological evidence of the hybrid status of the birds (Olsen, M. W., J. Heredity, 51, 69 (1960)) included the fact that the adult hybrids' dark plumage resembled that of the chicken, being dominant over the recessive white colour of the turkeys. Serological studies on their red cells also provided evidence of the birds being hybrids.

It appears that turkey sperm cannot fertilise chicken eggs, but can trigger cell division in unfertilised eggs. Reports of natural hybrids between female chickens (including bantams) and male domestic or wild turkeys are anecdotal and not supported by DNA studies. Where unusual chicks have occurred, it is most likely to be due to recessive genes in the parents (or possibly to hybridising with guinea fowl or wild pheasants).

All that being said, a domestic heritage turkey trying to breed with a full sized hen usually results in a dead hen. I seriously think a bantam hen would have the same fate if a wild tom tried to mount her.​

 

[Randy]

I've seen a chicken/pheasant cross and have heard of guinea/peafowl done by AI. I don't know if it's possible for a turkey and chickens to cross but I think it would be highly unlikely that a Ttom turkey could naturally breed with a bantam hen. Not to pile on but I don't really believe those chicks have any turkey in them.