Hatch of the day: Rare chicken-guinea fowl hybrid has FOUR wings
What has four wings, pretty blue eyes and walks with a swagger?
No, its not a joke its a real bird and its called a guin.
The strange-looking fowl is a hybrid of a chicken and a guinea fowl.
The chick, named Tulip, hatched in Lyn Newmans 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.
Tulip (centre) is an extremely rare chicken-guinea fowl hybrid with four wings. Despite her odd appearance she gets on well with the other birds on the smallholding
Odd couple: Tulip (centre) is an extremely rare chicken-guinea fowl hybrid with four wings. The bird, known as a guin is pictured here with her parents - a mother hen and a male guinea fowl
'But she's settling in really well, and doesn't seem to realise that she's different from all the other chicks.
'She's an odd looking bird, and apparently extremely rare. I had no idea that guineas could actually breed with chickens.
'I've seen a guinea flying around, so probably soon we'll be overrun with these weird looking birds.
'She's a real character and is one of the gang. I'm thinking of selling her at auction, as apparently guinea-chicken crosses are very rare and also infertile.
'I'm sure that she will find a very loving home, and that people won't be put off by her four wings.'
Sharon Boundy who runs UK Guinea Fowl said that the hybrid bird sounded like a freak of nature with its four wings.
Tulip hitches a ride in a wheelbarrow belonging to Lyn Newman's granddaughter Nicole Turner
Tulip hitches a ride in a wheelbarrow belonging to Lyn Newman's granddaughter Nicole Turner
She said : 'It is very rare for chickens and guinea fowl to breed. I've only known of one other guinea-chick in my many years in the business.
'It's especially unusual for them to have four wings though - I've never heard of anything like it.
'It's not dangerous for the two species to breed but they don't tend to go near each other.
'But obviously a guinea fowl just fancied a chicken for a change. Crosses between species can be very odd looking, and this seems to be no exception.'
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