Howdy.
I’m currently in veterinary school and hope to specialize in chickens when I get out. I’m hoping this thread will sharpen my skills by getting me to research the things I don’t know. Sometimes, you don’t know what you don’t know, you know??
Ha, I made the funny!
Let’s make this anything domestic poultry, so chickens, turkeys, pheasant, quail, etc.
What came first…
StG
Why did it really cross the road?
Who invented the chicken? Seriously. I keep thinking it was John Nance Garner, but that is wrong, isn’t it?
Have you studied guinea fowl? We’ve got some at the barn where I board my horse and I find them fascinating to watch. We have the hugely hideous helmeted kind. I’ve observed that they clump in one flock when not breeding, but break out into pairs and sometimes threesomes during the breeding season.
So, it’s a question you wanted? Okay – what’s the typical number of eggs in a guinea fowl clutch? In a chicken’s if she’s allowed to keep and brood them? In a duck’s? A goose’s?
Oh, here’s one I’ve always wondered about: Why do poultry lay unfertilized eggs, and do it day after day after day? Isn’t that a waste of reproductive resources? Isn’t there an energy cost to the bird from repeated egg laying? So why does the production line keep on producing if there’s no reproductive payback?
Oh, and have you sampled the different poultry eggs? So far I’ve eaten free-range guinea fowl and duck eggs. The guinea eggs were good but awful small and when hardboiled didn’t peel easily – lost a lot of the white. Duck eggs are fabulous. I’d love to try a goose egg – have you?
Ah – got another one: Are you taught to recognize different breeds of poultry by their eggs? My friend who keeps me supplied with duck eggs has a mixed flock of Pekin, French Mallard, and Indian Runners, and the eggs differ in size, shape and color.
There – have I hatched enough questions for you? 
The egg. Prehistoric proto-birds hatched out of eggs. 
Can you give me a good reason not to have a beautiful pair of India blue peacocks galavanting about my small farm? 'Cause I really want a pair.
Darwin, but Colonel Saunders brought it to life.
Serious answer: the Red Jungle Fowl is likely the bird that domestic chickens were developed from, somewhere in southeast Asia.
They scream. Really loudly. Ka-AAAA! And at all times. Though it’s fairly exotic sounding if you like it. They can be mean, though the last one I encountered was just curious in my pet iguana.
Oh, one more thing. I really love M.I.A.'s new song and video Bird Flu, here on YouTube. Do all roosters have a terrific sense of rhythm, or has the rooster in the intro had professional training?
Ah. So they’re sorta oversized glamorized guinea fowl, then. 
Where can I buy some pure-bred Araucanas, the kind that lay sky-blue eggs? I’ve had mixed-breeds, but I want really blue eggs…
Woo! Questions!
Chicken: Hard to find data because most measurements are from birds that aren’t allowed to go broody, but rather simply counting the number of eggs she lays before her hormones and the light cycle don’t cync up for the month. First guess would be anywhere up to 18, with silkies being notorious for small clutches, but have to do more research.
Turkey: appears to be 12, for wild turkeys anyhow.
Duck: Varies wildly by type, from 4 in some to 14 in others.
Goose: Appears to be 4-5, but most of the data I’m finding now deals with wild birds, or wild-type birds raised in captivity.
It’s God’s way of being funny. You could make the same argument about human females, or green iguanas. Some species have figured out how to stop the production when there is no chance of offspring, but other’s haven’t.
To be blunt, the natural state of the female is to make offspring. In the wild, it would be very unlikely that those eggs would be unfertile. Especially considering how long bird sperm can live in the reproductive tract of the females.
I haven’t had the chance to try many. The only exotic sorts of eggs I can find around here are either pickled (passable) or balut (no way). I have had Japanese quail eggs, which are about an inch high. Hard to cook, but taste exactly the same as chicken eggs. Turkey eggs also taste the same, but are about half again as big as a chicken egg and are speckled.
We aren’t taught to, but there are differenced you can pick up on, as you discovered. The main kinds of domestic poultry are pretty easy to tell apart
Chicken: smooth white or brown
Turkey: tan with little dark brown speckles. More oblong than the others.
Goose: BIG. and white.
Quail: tiny and tan with brown splotches to varying degrees
Pigeon: small and white.
Guinea fowl: apparently on the large side, and either smooth brown or lightly speckled.
Duck Fancy
More! Bring me more!
The most interesting thing I could think of to do with a DVM in poultry management would be to get really good at caponizing roosters. You’d be in endless demand by all your free-range-chicken-raising gourmet friends.
Pretty much. But, they are neat. There are hundreds of them loose in the mountains of Hawaii. Adds an exotic kind of flavor. You know, the one that is missing ever since the non-native species pushed out the native ones. 
This site is probably a good place to start. Lots of people claim to be raising araucanas because they are popular with backyard hobbyists. But, you’re less likely to meet a faker in a club that demands dues. Beware: Not all chickens with beards are arauconas!
We have tons of wild turkeys around here, and they seem like pretty bold birds. Are they as smart and cagey as Ben Franklin said? They’re sort of cute in their family groups with the little birds all around the big ones.
StG
Alright, alright- enough of the guilt trip. Naturalized turkey, grouse, or quail, then. No peacocks.
I have a question about my wild ducks. I have buttonbush, oaks, and plenty of burrs and sedge, and a lovely, slow creek, and a couple of standing dead trees. Wood ducks stop by to graze and bathe, but won’t nest here. All nest box plans and pics show boxes just a few feet above water, but all video and literature shows wood ducks nesting in very high hollow trees. I’ll build some this winter, but where should I mount them?
I’m confused. Why would the males need to be sterilized when raised outside? Most commercial meat breeds don’t make it breeding age anyhow. They’re too tough to eat by then.
