Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Guin
What has four wings, pretty blue eyes and walks with a swagger?
No, it’s not a joke – it’s a real bird and it’s called a guin.
The strange-looking fowl is a hybrid of a chicken and a guinea fowl.
The chick, named Tulip, hatched in Lyn Newman’s coop.
Mrs Newman had brought in two guinea fowl to act as a warning system for foxes, but did not know they could breed with her hens.
Mrs Newman, 59, raises a number of fowl in Defford, Worcestershire, but she was astonished when one of her eggs hatched into an odd looking bird even she couldn't identify.
The tiny bird was covered in clumps of feathers and - most strangely of all - had four wings.
Mrs Newman, a retired social care worker had to trawl the internet before she realised that the bizarre bird was a hybrid.
A rogue guinea had mated with one of her hens - and the result was this ugly chick - who has since been named Tulip.
The four wings are a result of a genetic mutation because of the cross-species breeding.
Mrs Newman said: 'I was just shocked when I saw that this thing that hatched had four wings.
'I couldn't believe my eyes. I had no idea what it was until I did some digging around on the internet.
'As well as having extra wings, the bird is also much smaller and is a totally different shape.'I was shocked when I found out it was a cross between a guinea and a chicken - you just don't expect it. Apparently the cross is very rare.
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