Naked Neck/Turken Thread

[chickengr]

did you accuse me of having non-NN??

Kidding aside, almost all of my flock is NN.. the only non NN breeds I have are barbezieux and oshamo. All pics were from google search.

Maybe someone will introduce lavender into the Aloha chickens.. that will result in some porcelains.

I didn't know barbezieux exist. I googled it and got depressed - these birds are gorgeous but of course I cannot find them here. they remind me of minorca which I had 3 pullets and all of them died. I am going to buy another minorca but no barbezieux

 

[Kev]

I've never been a fan of lavender chickens, but those 3 middle ones and especially the hen look like opals!!!! They are aweome, just imagine that hen w/ a lovely black naked neck

oh and shaved legs of course.

I personally think lavender looks better on patterned rather than solid birds.

I've made fibro solid lavenders.. look cool as chicks but for some reason ALL of their skins lightened up way too much even at just few months old of age. Their black feather siblings stayed dark skinned. So I gave up on that idea.. but that is how there's lavender floating around in some of the birds here.

you have me imaging just that kind of bird- patterned lavender with nice deep black necks, oh that would be a sight!

 

[Kev]

I have what I assume is a black naked neck rooster- stock from Murray McMurray. I am wondering if he can be used to produce sex- linked chicks with my RIR hens. I also have White Leghorn and Rhode-bar hens and I would like to know what to expect with egg laying, meat production and coloring as well as what to expect from the NN gene as far as how that will pass to the offspring. As far as I can tell he has the dominant gene because while he does have some pin feathers randomly located on his neck he has no patches at all and what feathers are there are evidently picked off - I wonder if feathers irritate them in the neck area and maybe that is why they pick them or allow the other chickens to pick them.

The only sexlinking will be from the rhodebars. Barring is sex linked so that cross will produce barred boys and non barred girls.

If the leghorns aren't some kind of cross like California White, all of the chicks from them will be white.. no way to sex link.

With the RIR, the chicks could either come out all black(if roo is pure for black) or half black, half red. No sex linkage either.

Sex linkage is done by having certain sex linked genes in the hen and none in the rooster. This cross will give cockerels with the sex link trait and pullets lacking it. The most common traits used are barring, silver, sex linked slow feathering gene....

The hatcheries use specially bred lines pure for one or more sex linked traits as the mothers for the sex linked chicks, so if you hear something like RIR x white RIR/Rock, the white line really is this kind of line, not the typical white hen from a backyard or even from the hatchery sold as purebred white rock.

edited to add: neck feather picking is very common. Pin feathers are extremely delicious to all chickens.. they are far too exposed on their necks.. too much temptation for the other chickens...

As the hatchery stock NN seem to be leaning towards layer type, I would say the crosses probably would be good layers- don't know about excellent(maybe a few but not all).

as for meat there is a struggle between good laying and good meat. kind of have to choose one over the other or settle for something like good meat but needing to keep a few more hens/pullets for egg supply. A big meaty chicken that lays 300 eggs is the holy grail but realistically it's very hard,

 

[Kev]

I have a trouble roo as well but somehow I managed to put him back in the big run with a red sex roo and orpington cockerel. the 2 roos fight from time to time but it is not as bad.

my NNs started to lay at 21-23 weeks but they probably are some hybrid mix. I don't know if true transylvanian neck lays so early. I might get one so if I do I will let you know (I have been promised to get a black NN that I want so much but as greek people are not good at keeping promises I will believe it when I get it).

The hatchery chicks I picked up from feed store also started laying very early. I don't know the exact age but can look into it and figure it out.

The NN from my other projects(most with other breeds or backyard mixes in them) are variable, some early, some normal, some late.

edit: figured out the ages of the hatchery birds- first egg started at 20 weeks, but some pullets waited until 23-24 weeks. and the one EE in the group STILL hasn't laid an egg.. past 30 weeks by now.

 

[Pensmaster]

I have a trouble roo as well but somehow I managed to put him back in the big run with a red sex roo and orpington cockerel. the 2 roos fight from time to time but it is not as bad.

my NNs started to lay at 21-23 weeks but they probably are some hybrid mix. I don't know if true transylvanian neck lays so early. I might get one so if I do I will let you know (I have been promised to get a black NN that I want so much but as greek people are not good at keeping promises I will believe it when I get it).

I haven't had any hens lay at 21 weeks. Even the Leghorns from the local shopping market Trader Joes waited til 24 weeks

The Greek people comment about keeping promises struck me funny. I have a friend from Greece named Johnny real name George he and I are in the construction trades. When I first met him he was going to haul some junk that the former owner here so kindly left at my house for me. After looking at what I had to haul he told me it would take two trips and that he needed two signed blank checks. needless to say I did not have him haul the garbage

Now that I've know Johnny for 15 years I'd trust him with my own families safety. A very proud man of his country and it tears him up to see what's going on back home.

 

[Kev]

I didn't know barbezieux exist. I googled it and got depressed - these birds are gorgeous but of course I cannot find them here. they remind me of minorca which I had 3 pullets and all of them died. I am going to buy another minorca but no barbezieux

They look exactly like big minorcas. Over here, the minorcas from the hatcheries are small chickens.. but the good show stock ones are HUGE.. the barbezieux look practically identical to the good show minorcas... so if you get your hands on a good big minorca, they can be your "barbezieux"...

However.. the barbezieux are proving to be nervous birds. as young birds they would panic and run around every time I walked into their pen.. I don't like this. Now as older mature birds, the one cockerel and three pullets they are a good bit calmer, except one pullet stays very nervous.

To be honest, I sometimes think of selling them, I cannot stand nervous birds but their color and type is rather beautiful and the rooster does look "very very tall" especially now he's a little older.

 

[DesertChic]

The hatchery chicks I picked up from feed store also started laying very early. I don't know the exact age but can look into it and figure it out.

The NN from my other projects(most with other breeds or backyard mixes in them) are variable, some early, some normal, some late.

Nearly all of my NNs have started laying between 20 and 22 weeks. One of my Barred Rocks started laying at 18 weeks, and so did her daughter. My Biels....44 weeks!!!!! Pretty little free-loaders.

 

[Kev]

Nearly all of my NNs have started laying between 20 and 22 weeks. One of my Barred Rocks started laying at 18 weeks, and so did her daughter. My Biels....44 weeks!!!!! Pretty little free-loaders.

Just edited my post:

figured out the ages of the hatchery birds- first egg started at 20 weeks, but some pullets waited until 23-24 weeks. and the one EE in the group STILL hasn't laid an egg.. past 30 weeks by now.

There were 6 NN pullets, I can't tell exactly who started laying and when. Possible all laid their first eggs early but also possible some are relatively very late.

I pretty much don't put any importance on age of first eggs and give more attention to size of first eggs- the bigger the better and much more attention to 'meatiness' of the bird..

Next step.. weighing those hatchery NN... they still look small compared to my other NN..

 

[Pensmaster]

Nearly all of my NNs have started laying between 20 and 22 weeks. One of my Barred Rocks started laying at 18 weeks, and so did her daughter. My Biels....44 weeks!!!!! Pretty little free-loaders. 

I have heard them called that before.

The Orpington's I have were hatched 4-7-15 and they have just started laying consistently two weeks ago hit and miss for four weeks. So 40-42 weeks. Not good. Pretty but pretty doesn't get it here. Only advantage I see is that they take longer to mature maybe better for meat. Less hormones maybe.
Just trying to give them a chance some how

 

[DesertChic]

I have heard them called that before.

The Orpington's I have were hatched 4-7-15 and they have just started laying consistently two weeks ago hit and miss for four weeks. So 40-42 weeks. Not good. Pretty but pretty doesn't get it here. Only advantage I see is that they take longer to mature maybe better for meat. Less hormones maybe.

Just trying to give them a chance some how

Yeah....the longer they take to lay, the better they start looking for a dinner invitation.