Very unusual chick, Guinea / chicken hybrid!!

[bemba]

Thanks for the update! Cool birds of course. Does it look like one is male and the other female?

I wonder if the infertility could be a result of the immune system being too good at clearing the 'exotic' sperm..?

No probs I have no idea on sex but one is about a month younger than the other so that's why there is such a size difference, I'm going to get them DNA sexed as I breed quite a few parrot species and get discounts for larger amounts being done at once, I'm very interested to know their sex.

 

[ColesCreek]

Good information for chicken turkey hybrids at this link-  afaik ALL turkey-chicken hybrids have been result of AI.   Also really important to read the part about turkey sperm....

Yes interesting about the sperm :/

 

[ColesCreek]

My girl is old though!! I am not sure how long they live but she is at least 5 years old   It would be awesome to get a hybrid!! but right its -16c and we are only getting about 3 eggs a day from our ladies. We have no extra light or things that would keep them laying in the winter as we want them to just follow the natural way of the world

Wow 16c is a bit cool I assume thats the day temp whats the night temp?

 

[Naturegirl44]

She;s still a spring chicken

definitely got some years left ahead of her

lol well, we'll see how it goes next season when she starts laying again lol if I see El Diablo going after her I will watch and keep her eggs!! see what happens. Our neighbour said we could use her incubator if we wanted to go that route.

 

[Tacampbell1973]

Wow and Double Wow...They just get better looking every time I see them! Hope you survived the holidays Bemba and followers from this post...I haven't been online here for a week and it feels like I've missed a whole lifetime already. Anywho happy new year everyone and good luck, andall.....p.s. Is it just my computer or did they do away with the smileys and stuff? I don't see them up top now?

 

[chooks4life]

Looking fancy! Like the striping on their feathers, very hawk-like.

Quote: From what I've read before I would believe this to probably be the likeliest cause of the infertility. Also I suspect there are some incompatibilities in other areas as a fairly large percentage of successfully hatched hybrids seem to die young. I say 'large percentage' but you know what I mean, just a large proportion of the small amount of successful hybrids.

 

[ColesCreek]

They all die as its a lethal hybrid hence none have ever reached over 12 months and these will die also soon. But good new she can always breed more next year to keep replacing them. Hybrids rule!

 

[chooks4life]

They all die as its a lethal hybrid hence none have ever reached over 12 months and these will die also soon. But good new she can always breed more next year to keep replacing them. Hybrids rule!

I can't tell if you're being slightly sarcastic or not with that last sentence. (Not intending to be offensive, and no offense taken if you are being sarcastic, just wondering).

I wonder why they die young, though, do you know anything more about the 'why' of it? I've always found hybrids fascinating but have done precious little research on it because of that very issue, the lethality of the hybridization. Hardly worth going to great effort for something you can't reproduce or preserve, I think, but I really do get the allure of hybridization despite that.

Side note, I just noticed it's just one duck in your avatar, lol, just duplicated. Do you breed them?

 

[ColesCreek]

hybrid incompatibility (HI)
When two different species mate, the hybrid progeny are sterile and lethal. A gene called Lethal hybrid rescue (Lhr)

 

[mattperth]

Looking pretty interesting now Bemba! You can see the genes for both species fighting for dominance.