[Chookiechook]

A chick could be half normal and half silkie feathered...... as in exactly half???

I have a little serama which is exactly that.... even its tail is half and half...



I reckon it must be pretty rare!!!

[bantam novice]

What an amazing picture!

[terri]

wow thats amazing

[Goldfinger]

Would any news people be interested??

AND, keep us posted on how he/she's growing/developing! 

[Chookiechook]

Goldfinger..... I might just see if the papers want to run a freak of the week story!!  They had a transylvanian naked neck in the mail the other week, and that is normal..... for a naked neck!!!

Knowing my luck though....someone else will have had one  last week!!!! 

It is strange though

[GrannieAnnie]

WOW!  I've heard of half and half but that takes the biscuit!!   

[Lindeggs]

I was JUST reading an article a couple of days ago about half-and-half chickens.  Half of each bird had male feathering and the other half female.  But it went further than feathers - even the muscle development, facial features, leg length - everything about it was half-and-half!

It's a very rare phenomenon and usually goes un-noticed, unless the male and female feathering is dramatically different.  One of the photos showed a bird that was half brown and half white.  :blink:

Definitely worth a story in the news paper.  A genuinely rare and fascinating event.

Now I just have to retrace my steps and see if I can find the article again... 

[Lindeggs]

Here it is!

They are called bilateral gynandromorphs!  

Have a look here:
http://scientopia.org/blogs/thisscientificlife/2010/03/12/gender-bending-chickens-mixed-not-scrambled/

Someone in NZ has recently found one in her flock and talks about it here:
http://www.lifestyleblock.co.nz/vforum/showthread.php?t=27892

I can't resist showing the picture from the first article:

[joyfull]

wow how strange 

[Chookiechook]

Husband said papers wont be interested.... But I may see.....   Nothing to lose really

That chicken is really weird....

I wonder if mine is half male and half female too!!

[joyfull]

try one of the poultry magazines 

[Lindeggs]

It's supposed to be a 1 in 10,000 happening.  Local papers usually like stories that involve "Rare half-and-half chick bred by local woman." 

Give it a catchy name like Arthur-Martha, show them some of the weird photos from those articles, and you'll have them hooked! 

[evie2]

Do we know if they lay or crow?

[cammi]

wow thats just amazing!

[Lindeggs]

Do we know if they lay or crow?

Nothing is certain because they're so rare and so few have been properly studied..  There's one theory that it depends on which side is male and which side female.  A 'normal' hen only has one active ovary anyway, so if that side (I can't remember which side) is the female, she will lay an egg.  She will also crow.

Nobody knows if they are fertile.