Naked Neck Bowtie

[luvzmybabz]

I have some turkens but they all have the bowtie going on is this a genetics thing or possibly mixed?

 

[LilPeeps]

The bowtie means that they have one copy of the nn gene. If they had two copies of the gene, there would be no bowtie.

 

[luvzmybabz]

So help me out here if I am wrong bowtie to bow tie still bowtie I would need a bare neck for these to throw bare babies?

 

[LilPeeps]

bowtie x bowtie = 25% no nn, 50% bowtie, 25% nn, no bowtie

bowtie x nn, no bowtie = 50% bowtie, 50% nn, no bowtie

nn, no bowtie x reg feathered, no nn = 100% bowtie

reg feathered, no nn x bowtie= 50% bowtie, 50% reg feathered, no nn

 

[luvzmybabz]

Thank you very much I am working on my breeding program for next spring, and trying to decide how many more breeder pens to put up you just helped solve one of the issues. So Far:

Breeder pen #1 Cochins
Blue Roo (already in breeder pen)
2 blue hens (already in breeder pen)
2 black pullets (1 ready but want to wait until other pullets catches up in size to move probably 1 month)
adding the black to help on lacing

Breeder Pen #2 cochins
Splash Roo
1 splash pullet
2 blue pullets

Breeder Pen #3 Turkens
1 bowtie roo
4 bowtie pullets will be looking for a nn roo to switch out with BT roo

 

[Kev]

It is a very common claim that presence of bowtie on a naked neck is proof the bird is not "pure"(meaning homozygous) for naked neck. This is not true though.

There ARE many naked necks pure/homozygous for naked neck with bow ties. A homozyous naked necked bird with a bow tie usually has only a very few feathers on each side and a clearly visible naked area below the bowtie on the neck and also the "chest" and a full crop are plainly visible. I have bred many of those who produced exactly as expected out of pure NN(ALL offspring with naked necks no matter if birds they bred with were NN or not)

A heterozygous(not pure) with bow tie usually has a very large bowtie that covers most or even all of the neck below the bowtie and the "chest" and crop are either not very visible or not at all.

The difference is visible even on day old chicks, homozygous ones can have what appears to be a single "down feather" sticking out on each side of the neck, and the heterozygous ones have a larger, fuzzier patch. It's obvious once these chicks are identified and placed side to side facing you at eye level.

However it's not that simple, there are other "unrelated" genes that happen to have the side effect of altering the appearence of naked necks. Pea comb is one. Most people know of pea comb as being the gene that alters the comb appearance but it also has the effect of reducing the overall feathering on a bird and also tends to have a extra bit of skin along the breatbone. But anyways, back to naked necks- NNs with pea combs can be far more naked than a "comparable" bird with a single comb. A heterozygous NN with a pea comb can look like it is pure for the naked neck gene due to being "very naked" with the lower neck, crop and breast being very visible. Another one can be feather length, some birds have shorter feathers and these can make a heterozygous NN look rather "pure"

As far as I can see from personal experience, completely bare necks seems to be due to some other gene involved possibly. Short story, my first batch of turkens, I tried to breed for bare necks with no success from hatchery stock birds.. then got a batch of a very mixed backyard surprise eggs, which threw completely bare necked birds left and right.

 

[Blisschick]

I've had a couple of naked necks that have only had a few sparse feathers on each side, then some with none at all. You can see the difference plainly when put up against one with a full bowtie.