Chicken Hybrids
Charles Darwin mentioned crosses between domestic fowl and pheasants in Origin of Species
from observations communicated to me by Mr. Hewitt, who has had great experience in hybridising pheasants and fowls
and later in The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication (top of this page), where he mentioned effeminate behaviour in the male hybrids.
In her book Bird Hybrids, A. P. Gray lists numerous crosses between chickens (Gallus gallus) and other types of fowl. Domestic fowl can be crossed, and produce fertile offspring, with Silver Pheasants, Red Junglefowl and Green Junglefowl. They have also produced hybrids with peafowl, chachalacas, Capercaillie, Grouse, Quail, curassows, pheasants and guans.
Domestic fowl have been crossed with guineafowl and also with Common Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus). Domestic Fowl/Pheasant hybrids have also occurred naturally. Domestic chickens and quail (Coturnix coturnix subsp. japonica) have been hybridised using artificial insemination.
The Peafowl (Pavo cristatus) from Asia and the Common Guinea fowl (Numida meleagris) from Africa have been crossed.
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Famous quotes containing the word chicken:
“Sometimes I lifted a chicken that warn’t roosting comfortable, and took him along. Pap always said, take a chicken when you get a chance, because if you don’t want him yourself you can easy find somebody that does, and a good deed ain’t ever forgot. I never see papa when he didn’t want the chicken himself, but that is what he used to say, anyway.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)