Naked Neck/Turken Thread

[HTChick]

Subscribing to this thread because I got two black turkens in my assortment order. I don't know anything about them and open to learning. I was concerned at first that they would get pecked at.....LOL no problem there!

Question - about when can you usually tell hens from roos with this breed? Would I have a chance of a roo co-existing with another roo if the chicken yard is large enough? Going to have 10 to 15 hens and keeping one to two roos. Yard not built yet, I have some leeway on how big it will be.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Subscribing to this thread because I got two black turkens in my assortment order. I don't know anything about them and open to learning. I was concerned at first that they would get pecked at.....LOL no problem there!

Question - about when can you usually tell hens from roos with this breed? Would I have a chance of a roo co-existing with another roo if the chicken yard is large enough? Going to have 10 to 15 hens and keeping one to two roos. Yard not built yet, I have some leeway on how big it will be.

I have a lot of roos year around. They establish who is boss on their own. I really have very few rooster fights, and my geese, turkeys or guinea fowl stop it immediately if one starts. The bonus to multiple roosters is they just don't seem to gain human aggression either. I had a few "bad boys" prior to hatching so many here, thats all stopped since I wean out the problem roosters as we go.
We have a small farm on 5 acres and raise most of our food here. I am retired so thats my" job" now, aside from caring for my parents full time.

 

[Kassaundra]

At any given time we have multiple roos w/o problems. Most end up in freezer camp, but I generally have 2 full adults. There has never been a "blood letting" but one will be subordinant for sure and may look a bit bedraggled. However this is very much and individual roo thing not as much a " breed" thing, there are all kinds of horror stories of people w/ very aggressive roos that did not tolerate a submissive (or maybe one that wouldn't agree to be submissive?)

 

[Kassaundra]

Subscribing to this thread because I got two black turkens in my assortment order. I don't know anything about them and open to learning. I was concerned at first that they would get pecked at.....LOL no problem there!

Question - about when can you usually tell hens from roos with this breed? Would I have a chance of a roo co-existing with another roo if the chicken yard is large enough? Going to have 10 to 15 hens and keeping one to two roos. Yard not built yet, I have some leeway on how big it will be.

Congrats, the nn are harder to tell gender based on face/comb/neck color at young ages. So if you start to see more color then you are used to don't automatically think boy.

 

[chickengr]

Subscribing to this thread because I got two black turkens in my assortment order. I don't know anything about them and open to learning. I was concerned at first that they would get pecked at.....LOL no problem there!

Question - about when can you usually tell hens from roos with this breed? Would I have a chance of a roo co-existing with another roo if the chicken yard is large enough? Going to have 10 to 15 hens and keeping one to two roos. Yard not built yet, I have some leeway on how big it will be.

at about 4 weeks my pullets developed tails, a cockerel didn't. reddish big wattles and pale, small comb means girls, bigger and reddish comb - boys.

 

[mymilliefleur]

Well after buying 4 Naked Necks last summer, I ended up with 3 cockerels and 1 pullet.

The breeder I got them from has Barred, black, red, and I think she had white too, but I can't remember, all in the same pen, so I ended up with a red cockerel, a red cockerel with black speckles and white legs, a mostly white rooster with black and red speckles, and the pullet is a reddish color with blue legs. I decided to keep the all red rooster since he is the biggest. I wish I had more hens now! I'll definitely be adding some more Naked Necks to my flock next spring.

 

[HTChick]

Thank you for all the help! What a nice thread.

 

[artblueggwanter]

if you really love NN/turkens look up COMOROS ISLAND GIANT JUNGLE FOWL

 

[DesertChic]

Subscribing to this thread because I got two black turkens in my assortment order. I don't know anything about them and open to learning. I was concerned at first that they would get pecked at.....LOL no problem there!

Question - about when can you usually tell hens from roos with this breed? Would I have a chance of a roo co-existing with another roo if the chicken yard is large enough? Going to have 10 to 15 hens and keeping one to two roos. Yard not built yet, I have some leeway on how big it will be.

This is only based on my own experience, which admittedly is limited, but there are a few possible "tells" in this wonderful breed. My NN girls tend to develop both wing feathers and especially tail feathers much faster than the cockerels do, a trait that's visible as early as the first week; the combs seem to become more prominent in the males than the females very early on (as early as week 2); and my males seem to be friendlier and calmer almost from the start. The boys also pack on the weight much more quickly in my experience.

Again....this is what I've seen with my birds, but others here may have very different experiences.

 

[Kev]

Finally took pictures.. was moving chicks to a different pen and took pictures of this one to ask over on the Aloha/mottle NN thread if she really has mottling but I'll put a picture in here too.