Climate Smart Naked Neck Egg Layer Chicken Breeding Project in Palawan, Philippines

[Pinoy Angelfish]

This project was brought about because of my bad experience of regularly having broken / crushed eggs in the nest laid by my 3 Barred Plymouth Rock (BPR) Hens. After doing some research i learned that the eggs get easily broken/crushed because the shells are thin due to heat stress- when the hens pant there is less calcium available for eggshell development. And I thought, based on articles on the internet, including here, BPRs are supposed to be heat tolerant but they are not . Doing more research on heat tolerant egg layer chicken breeds I came across articles about the naked neck chicken having less feathers, they are more tolerant of heat and have better resistance to diseases. And also found articles on Climate Smart Agriculture and climate change chicken- here in this forum.

Before i started this project, i already got a rooster that is a cross from a male RIR and female Dekalb White Leghorn which i have posted earlier here at BackyardChickens forum at https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...n-cross-question.1440954/page-3#post-25041251 Well, this roo has already been mated to a naked neck hen...

The 3 BPR hens have been paired with 2 male naked neck F1 50% egg layer offsping of the pair above. Will post pics. Other crosses will be made as well.

 

[Gigachad poultry]

This project was brought about because of my bad experience of regularly having broken / crushed eggs in the nest laid by my 3 Barred Plymouth Rock (BPR) Hens. After doing some research i learned that the eggs get easily broken/crushed because the shells are thin due to heat stress- when the hens pant there is less calcium available for eggshell development. And I thought, based on articles on the internet, including here, BPRs are supposed to be heat tolerant but they are not . Doing more research on heat tolerant egg layer chicken breeds I came across articles about the naked neck chicken having less feathers, they are more tolerant of heat and have better resistance to diseases. And also found articles on Climate Smart Agriculture and climate change chicken- here in this forum.

Before i started this project, i already got a rooster that is a cross from a male RIR and female Dekalb White Leghorn which i have posted earlier here at BackyardChickens forum at https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...n-cross-question.1440954/page-3#post-25041251 Well, this roo has already been mated to a naked neck hen...
View attachment 3557302

The 3 BPR hens have been paired with 2 male naked neck F1 50% egg layer offsping of the pair above. Will post pics. Other crosses will be made as well.

Wow that's super cool. I'm in the middle of making a new breed as well. It's called the Darcy Giant named after the first bird of this breed in the making called Mr. Darcy. It's a new dual purpose breed that will lay large dark speckled eggs. As it's a mix of 50% Columbian Sussex and 50% French Cuckoo Maran.
This is a picture of the breed standard I've made for the roo.

 

[Gigachad poultry]

I'm going to do a hatch of the mixes and use any hens I get to breed with Darcy and yes it's inbreeding, but it work way different with chicken than other animals. That's how breeding true starts at least I think. Can you pls give me tips on perfecting the breeding and to safely inbreed. I'm only selecting the best quality chickens with the genes I want to breed

 

[Dinoroar]

This project was brought about because of my bad experience of regularly having broken / crushed eggs in the nest laid by my 3 Barred Plymouth Rock (BPR) Hens. After doing some research i learned that the eggs get easily broken/crushed because the shells are thin due to heat stress- when the hens pant there is less calcium available for eggshell development. And I thought, based on articles on the internet, including here, BPRs are supposed to be heat tolerant but they are not . Doing more research on heat tolerant egg layer chicken breeds I came across articles about the naked neck chicken having less feathers, they are more tolerant of heat and have better resistance to diseases. And also found articles on Climate Smart Agriculture and climate change chicken- here in this forum.

Before i started this project, i already got a rooster that is a cross from a male RIR and female Dekalb White Leghorn which i have posted earlier here at BackyardChickens forum at https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...n-cross-question.1440954/page-3#post-25041251 Well, this roo has already been mated to a naked neck hen...
View attachment 3557302

The 3 BPR hens have been paired with 2 male naked neck F1 50% egg layer offsping of the pair above. Will post pics. Other crosses will be made as well.

I love naked necks. I wonder how yours compare to what we have in the untied states.

I’m not sure what you’re feeding now or what you may have available but you may want to get a supplemental calcium source for your layers if their shells are thin. You can give crushed oyster shells (easily available here but not sure about for you,) feed back the egg shells, raise soldier fly larva etc. or change to a feed with higher calcium level.

 

[Gigachad poultry]

I love naked necks. I wonder how yours compare to what we have in the untied states.

I’m not sure what you’re feeding now or what you may have available but you may want to get a supplemental calcium source for your layers if their shells are thin. You can give crushed oyster shells (easily available here but not sure about for you,) feed back the egg shells, raise soldier fly larva etc. or change to a feed with higher calcium level.

I give all my chickens laying or not calcium, crushed oyster shells, and grit except for chicks. This helps then with keeping good bones structure and keeping feathers healthy. So is dust baths as it gives then a source of enrichment and keeps their feathers looking shiny and nice.

 

[Pinoy Angelfish]

I'm going to do a hatch of the mixes and use any hens I get to breed with Darcy and yes it's inbreeding, but it work way different with chicken than other animals. That's how breeding true starts at least I think. Can you pls give me tips on perfecting the breeding and to safely inbreed. I'm only selecting the best quality chickens with the genes I want to breed

Sorry but i don't know about creating a breed and my project is not directed towards creating my own breed. Instead, the plan is to introduce the naked neck trait/gene into existing breeds by first cross breeding then line breeding to the particular breed several times. One that I plan to have is a naked neck white leghorn using the Dekalb White layer hens available here; employing the basic F1, F2, F3, F4, F5 breeding formula to get purebred white leghorns that have naked necks . Also available here are the Dekalb Brown and Brown Nick brown egg layer chicks and ready to lay pullets which are hybrids of RIR roos x Rhode Island White hens. As with the White Leghorn, the same will be done to produce naked neck versions of these brown egg layer hybrids. I forgot to mention in my first post that large combs and wattles will also be introduced and selected for the cross breeding and line breeding process in addition to the naked neck trait as part of the genetic strategy for heat stress mitigation.

By the way, if your inbreeding will be done using only one male, Mr Darcy, it is best to have as many hens as possible to produce your F1s

 

[Gigachad poultry]

Sorry but i don't know about creating a breed and my project is not directed towards creating my own breed. Instead, the plan is to introduce the naked neck trait/gene into existing breeds by first cross breeding then line breeding to the particular breed several times. One that I plan to have is a naked neck white leghorn using the Dekalb White layer hens available here; employing the basic F1, F2, F3, F4, F5 breeding formula to get purebred white leghorns that have naked necks . Also available here are the Dekalb Brown and Brown Nick brown egg layer chicks and ready to lay pullets which are hybrids of RIR roos x Rhode Island White hens. As with the White Leghorn, the same will be done to produce naked neck versions of these brown egg layer hybrids. I forgot to mention in my first post that large combs and wattles will also be introduced and selected for in the breeding process in addition to the naked neck trait.

By the way, if your inbreeding will be done using only one male, Mr Darcy, it is best to have as many hens as possible to produce your F1s

Wow you have a really thought out plan and I find it really cool. Also thank so much for telling me about how to in reeding to create F1 I wasn't to sure how to.

 

[Pinoy Angelfish]

I love naked necks. I wonder how yours compare to what we have in the untied states.

I’m not sure what you’re feeding now or what you may have available but you may want to get a supplemental calcium source for your layers if their shells are thin. You can give crushed oyster shells (easily available here but not sure about for you,) feed back the egg shells, raise soldier fly larva etc. or change to a feed with higher calcium level.

I give all my chickens laying or not calcium, crushed oyster shells, and grit except for chicks. This helps then with keeping good bones structure and keeping feathers healthy. So is dust baths as it gives then a source of enrichment and keeps their feathers looking shiny and nice.

At first I thought the same thing, increasing calcium in the diet would solve the problem but upon further reading, the solution is actually the addition of sodium bicarbonate or baking soda in the diet or giving carbonated water to balance the hens' blood pH ...the information is here > https://www.bentoli.com/managing-eggshell-quality-during-hot-summer-days/

 

[Pinoy Angelfish]

Here are my 3 BPRs with an F1 naked neck roo from my original pair shown in the first post. Planning to do cross breeding then f1, f2, f3, f4 line breeding to get "purebred" BPRs with large combs and wattles and with naked necks Having big combs and wattles and with naked necks which are not part of the standards for the BPR chicken breed, the f4s having BPR blood of 93.75% can they still be considered BPRs? Or can they be considered a new breed similar to the Australorp which was derived from the Orpington?

To reduce heat stress, some of their feathers have been clipped. Hopefully the eggshells will improve...

 

[Dinoroar]

Here are my 3 BPRs with an F1 naked neck roo from my original pair shown in the first post. Planning to do cross breeding then f1, f2, f3, f4 line breeding to get "purebred" BPRs with large combs and wattles and with naked necks Having big combs and wattles and with naked necks which are not part of the standards for the BPR chicken breed, the f4s having BPR blood of 93.75% can they still be considered BPRs? Or can they be considered a new breed similar to the Australorp which was derived from the Orpington?
View attachment 3559872

To reduce heat stress, some of their feathers have been clipped. Hopefully the eggshells will improve...
View attachment 3559876

Since being pure bred in chickens is all about weather they match the breed standard, they wouldn’t technically be barred rocks if they have non standard traits but they’re not a new breed until they breed true. I hope that reducing the feathers and getting bigger combs helps you end up with more heat resistant birds! I have not had thin shells from heat but we did have heat and flash flood levels of rain for a few weeks and I got a few days where some of my birds were laying eggs that were misshapen. I wish I had noted if that was from the more fully feathered vs the naked necks,

I found this site that describes a bit about the reaction that causes the birds to put less calcium towards their shells when they’re heat stressed, it seems the supporting trace minerals are the key.

https://www.bentoli.com/managing-eggshell-quality-during-hot-summer-days/

They are selling a supplement that has an
‘inorganic mineral premix of zinc, manganese, copper, cobalt, selenium, iron, and iodine’