Are Turkens a specific breed or a mix?

[paddock36]

I bought a Turken at a swap and recently noticed it has green legs so I'm thinking (actually hoping) that it's an EE mix. Is that possible?

 

[poultryhaven]

I got a turken at the last swap from Florida Mama and it has orange-ish legs lol. I dont know if that helps at all

 

[kathyinmo]

Well, I do not know what you got at a swap, but ....
A "Naked Neck," is a breed accepted/ recognized by the APA. They have the nickname of Turken, by some.

 

[josh44]

They are a recongnized breed, but most of todays turkens are mixed breed.

 

[paddock36]

So, how can you tell a true Turken from a mix? Are they a specific color. I don't know what color mine is considered. I'll have to take a picture of it tomorrow.

 

[Illia]

Turkens are a specific breed, they originate from Europe. However, hatcheries, breeders, and general chicken owners crossbreed them all the time. Since the naked neck gene is dominant, the offspring will look like a Turken. I believe APA standards call for grey to black legs, single comb, and only 3 recognized colors - buff, black, and white. There are some other traits too, but I cannot remember them.

 

[Nava]

kind of like this white Naked Neck?

 

[Kev]

Is a breed and a mix.

There is a breed standard and they use the name Naked Neck. They have specifics as to colors, etc. Those are rather uncommon and can be hard to find.

Then there is hatchery stock, often called turkens. A lot of them generally look more or less the same in type- rather big and heavy. But hatcheries also let the colors mix, so color can be very all over the place, like leg color.. hatchery stock have many birds with each leg color- green, yellow, blue, some white and black(on black or dark birds). Overall, those birds are pretty good for meat and egg production.

It is kind of like how show stock vs hatchery stock can look pretty different from each other, with the addition of colors being deliberately "freely mixed" for hatchery stock turkens.

And then there are backyard turkens. Those often are very mixed with whatever else was in the flock, either not on purpose or deliberately. As mentioned, the naked neck gene is dominant so in the crosses/mixes the naked neck shows up easily in a free breeding flock. Those seem to tend towards smallish or medium size and often they will have really obvious mixed things like feathers on legs, crests, etc.. but they still often are sold as "turken" as if they were THE breed.

So it's possible yours is either hatchery stock or mixed with EE.. but green legs is simply a couple genes- yellow skin plus leg pigmentation.. that's very much far from being an "EE trait". Much stronger evidence for EE mix would be if the bird had a pea comb, as pea comb is closely linked to the gene for green or blue colored eggs. But then there are many other pea combed breeds.. and not all pea combs are linked with the colored egg gene..

 

[Kev]

Quote:
Legs should be yellow in all colors except for black, which calls for black legs. Reading the standard, seems blacks are supposed to have yellow skin also(can tell by looking at soles or on skin covered by feathers).

 

[Illia]

Quote:
Legs should be yellow in all colors except for black, which calls for black legs. Reading the standard, seems blacks are supposed to have yellow skin also(can tell by looking at soles or on skin covered by feathers).

Shows my experience.

My Turkens were black with yellow soles, so, yeah. . .