Deli- I do not have any type of fruit tree unfortunately, but I was referring to TO's comment/offer on her full pear trees. What type of crab apple do you have? There is a kind that is used for fruit preserves and a kind that is too small (my mom has that kind). I think that bird pic looks like a peahen in the face/head plus it has an extremely extended tail.
Del- here is a question for ya....if the cross beak is suspected to have been created by high hatch heat, wouldn't it stand to reason that the effected birds would not pass that trait on to their offspring? I'm REALLY curious!
I have a crab tree that is supposed to be excellent for jelly. I can't remember what its called though. Liset maybe? I need to look into that and maybe actually make some jelly.
Someone posted a really cool link on deformities in chicks. It said that crossbeak is caused by genetics.
TO- I wish I would have bought turkeys from you at the bash. I love the two I have and yours seemed like they were going to turn out so pretty. I know my royal palm is a tom. I'm really hoping the bourbon red is a hen. If its not, I'll have to track down a hen before spring. Thanks for the info on your sheep. I really wish I could just get more goats, but they would just eat the bark off of my trees. And even if I put fences around the trunks, they'll be up on their hind legs trying to reach whatever they can, and push my little apple, cherry and plum trees over. Right now I deal with the horses just plain plowing them down. They took down a honeycrisp the other day. That leaves me with 1. I used to have 7. Between pests (underground), kids on ATVs and horses, I have lost 6! All my other types of apple trees are doing great though. Especially the fireside. Maybe next year I'll get half a dozen Cortlands. They are my favorite but somehow I don't have any planted. I have: Macintosh, fireside, Zestar, snowsweet, honeygold, honeycrisp . . . I think that's it. Definitely need cortland and haralson. My chickens are probably mad, I'm an hour and a half late letting them out! Better get my butt out of bed.