It is possible to crossbreed, because domestic chickens are derived from pheasants, but the main function of domestic chickens is to produce eggs and meat. Thousands of years of breeding have made them have a lot of physical differences from ordinary pheasants. The details are as follows:

1. Among the pheasant species, there is one called jungle fowl, which is closest in appearance to domestic chicken. If someone was interviewed by the forest police for hunting the following two chickens, it might make the news because they look so much like domestic chickens. Especially in many rural areas, the coat color and body shape of these roosters and hens are completely the same as those of domestic chickens. However, it is our country’s second-level protected animal jungle fowl, and it can still fly.

(wild jungle fowl)

As for the primitive chicken breeds that are relatively unfattened and cross-bred in most rural areas, the most beautiful big rooster is said to have this appearance; and according to research and some speculations, it should be hundreds of years ago, because of poor transportation. Conveniently, the aborigines trained the largest pheasant species in the mountains into domestic chickens (generally 300g-600g for pheasants, 500g-1200g for jungle fowls); Hens, with their delicious meat and strong disease resistance, are often used for crossbreeding with other chicken breeds, including their ancient ancestors, the jungle fowl.

(rural chicken)

2. Among farmers, in order to make domestic chickens more resistant, some people have tried crossbreeding between domestic and wild chickens and achieved success. Among the farmers in the mountains all over the country, many farmers have tried to cross pheasants with domestic chickens to prevent diseases, improve meat quality, and obtain higher prices:

In the Rare Bird Breeding Center in Jiaozuo City, there have been reports of hybridization between pheasants and domestic chickens. However, the ones that survived at that time were all males, and their appearance was really unacceptable, so there was no vigorous follow-up. Promotion, but this has shown that hybridization between domestic chickens and generalized pheasants can be carried out, but the road to hybridization needs to go a long way.

(The hybrid product of male pheasant and female domestic chicken in Jiaozuo City)

3. In the field of ornamental chickens, there has long been a systematic operation of domestic and wild hybridization. Of course, in the field of ornamental chickens, there are also precedents for domestic and wild hybrids, but most of them are used in ornamental chicken breeds, not what we think of as ordinary domestic chickens.

For example, long-tailed chickens are the hybrid offspring of laying hens and wild jungle fowls.

In 1974, Japan used jungle fowls and laying hens to crossbreed and developed a long-tailed chicken with a tail length of 12.5 meters. It is a well-deserved elder brother in the ornamental chicken world. Some people have not seen it before. Maybe you can’t figure out what kind of aesthetic the long tail is, but after reading it, you will sigh at its beauty.

(Sports level long tail chicken)

In many later long-tailed chicken breedings, in order to make their tail feathers longer, most of them use wild jungle fowls and various varieties of laying hens. The laying hens take the color and the jungle fowls take the tail. It takes a long time to breed one. It is not easy to operate in units of years.

In addition, deliberate crossbreeding is only used for scientific research. Some rural farmers will use the mixed breeding model of domestic and wild chickens. Then the products obtained by their free expression are of course ironclad evidence that pheasants can be hybridized with domestic chickens.