Poultry Hybrids
Some very unusual attempts have been made over the years to cross different species of poultry and create hybrid offspring. For hybridization to happen, the parents must be within the same scientific family and are usually within the same genus. In the few settings where natural mating has produced offspring, the parents had to have the desire and ability to mate. In most cases, however, artificial insemination was used to make interspecies or intergeneric crosses.
The viability and fertility of these hybrid offspring can be greatly varied, depending on how closely the genetic material of the parents matches. Crosses between distantly-related species, belonging to different genera, are usually sterile if they develop and survive. The offspring from such crosses have often been found to have reduced fitness, decreased survival rates, and impaired growth due to gene incompatibility.
However, in hybridization, the phenomenon of hybrid vigor (also known as heterosis) sometimes comes into play, and the offspring have markedly increased growth rates and disease resistance. This search for hybrid vigor was one reason for experimenting with some interesting breeding crosses in the middle of the 20th century.
Domestic chickens, junglefowl, turkeys, pheasants, quail, peafowl, guinea fowl, grouse, and partridges are all members of the scientific group, or order, known as Galliformes. These are further broken down into families, genera, and species. Many attempts have been made to hybridize, or cross species within this group, and this article will showcase a few of these.
Chicken x Japanese Quail Hybrids
It’s hard to say when this brainstorm was first conceived, but yes, there have been offspring that resulted from laboratory crosses of these two species. In 1958, two Japanese researchers, Mitsumoto and Nishida, published a paper on the results of their research in this area. In 1961, two other researchers, Wilcox and Clark, also reported their findings on the same subject. In 1970, the United States Department of Agriculture published a report on chicken-quail hybrids produced by researchers Sarvella and Marks. In 1973, another paper, written by Sarvella and three other researchers, titled “Palatability and Meat Quality of Chicken-Pheasant and Chicken-Quail Hybrids,” was published by the USDA. In this report, the meat quality and palatability of these crosses were reported as very good.
Japanese quail are well-known for rapid growth and good feed-to-meat conversion. It was hypothesized that it might be worthwhile if the genetic factors that made rapid growth possible in the quail could somehow be bred into the larger chicken. Both birds are members of the Pheasant family (Phasianidae). However, they’re very different physically, are from markedly differing genera, and have noticeable differences in genetic structure. Because the mating habits of the two species are so different, and the proclivity of the two species to mate naturally is unlikely, artificial insemination was used to produce these crosses. Semen collected from two different strains of roosters was used to inseminate female quail, resulting in the limited number of viable offspring that were produced. None of these efforts proved to be economically successful. Hatch rates were reported to be only 4%, and mortality losses, by the 5-month mark, were 33%.
In 2016, four researchers, Ishishita et al. published a detailed research paper, “Embryonic development and inviability phenotype of chicken-Japanese quail F1 Hybrids.” In this particular study, the researchers delineated numerous problems they observed while studying these crosses. These problems included genetic incompatibility, low hatch rates, arrested fetal development, high embryonic mortality, malformed embryos, and production of male-only offspring in those that did hatch.
Hybridization of Turkeys With Other Species
Successful crosses between turkeys and other Galliformes, including chickens, have been limited at best. There seems to be a fair amount of genetic incompatibility between turkeys and other species of gallinaceous birds. In crosses of chickens and turkeys, it has been determined that at least 15 chromosomes are not able to pair-up correctly.
In March of 1960, a report written by researcher Olson was published in The Journal of Heredity. Beltsville Small White turkey hens were artificially inseminated with the semen from Rhode Island Red and Dark Cornish cockerels. Five groups of hens were inseminated at regular intervals. A total of 2,132 eggs were collected and incubated following the artificial inseminations. Out of these, 302 were fertile and produced at least some embryonic development. However, only 23 eggs developed and hatched. These were reportedly all males. Called “Churks,” the offspring had long necks like a turkey, dark feathering like the male roosters that sired them, and were silent except for letting out a slight chirp when startled.
Dr. Olson also attempted crossing turkeys with pheasants, but to no avail. His research papers reported that no fertilized eggs developed from his crosses. However, there are various and sundry reports of turkey-pheasant hybrids occurring. In 1957, a scientific report written by two researchers, Asmundson and Lorenz, was published by the Poultry Department, University of California, Davis. In this article, limited numbers of viable offspring from both turkey-pheasant hybrids and chicken-pheasant hybrids were reported.
In July of 1981, a report on further experimentation in this area, by two researchers, Harada and Buss, was published in The Oxford Journals. Harada and Buss performed reciprocal crosses of male chickens with female turkeys and male turkeys with female chickens. Beltsville Small White turkeys were again chosen for this experiment. When chicken semen was used to inseminate female turkeys, the fertile eggs produced both male and female zygotes, but most females died in the very early stages of zygotic development. When turkey semen was used to inseminate female chickens, 100% of the eggs showed early stages of cell division, but none developed past the early divisionary stages.
Other Hybrids
In November 2021, fellow poultry writer Tamsin Cooper wrote an in-depth article on hybrid crosses of guinea fowl and chickens, “Guinea fowl x Chicken Hybrids,” published in Backyard Poultry magazine. In this well-researched and detailed article, Ms. Cooper talked about the realities and problems offspring from these matings produced.
Members of these two species who are raised together, in captivity, will sometimes mate naturally and produce offspring, although it’s not very common. These offspring rarely live past 2 years, although one reportedly lived 10. According to the author, “gene differences generally result in short lives, during which they suffer from health issues, such as arthritis, heart problems, and weakness.” Like many other interspecies crosses, guinea-chicken offspring are plagued with so many problems that any hybridization for commercial use isn’t practical.
Guinea fowl-chicken hybrids generally show characteristics of both species, although comb, wattles, and the characteristic helmet of the guinea parent are absent. Most reportedly preferred the company of other guinea fowl and became aggressive toward chickens, but some preferred to remain and socialize with the mixed members of their own brood.
While numerous reports and stories of hybrid poultry crosses abound across the internet, the reality exists that genetic incompatibility makes most interspecies crosses of the gallinaceous (chicken-like) birds difficult at best. While some people may have had such crosses in their own flocks, and their blog information may be totally true and accurate, the low fertility and hatch rates show just how difficult it can be to produce viable offspring from such crosses. While hybridization does occur, readers are cautioned to be wary of claims they see, including anyone purporting to have such hybrids for sale.
Resources
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5961004/
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https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312510797_Palatability_and_Meat_Quality_of_Chicken-Pheasant_and_Chicken-Quail_Hybrids
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep26369
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https://blog.nature.org/2014/11/24/great-turkey-shuffle-restoration-gobbler-genetics-conservation/
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https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272979650_Attempts_to_Obtain_Quail_Chicken_Hybrids
Doug Ottinger lives, works, and writes from his small hobby farm in northwest Minnesota. His educational background is in agriculture with an emphasis in poultry and avian science.
Originally published in the June/July 2024 issue of Backyard Poultry and regularly vetted for accuracy.
