Naked Neck/Turken Thread

[DesertChic]

Because you are so close, that could work out really well - as I could siphon off the NN chicks out of a "regular" hatch. A certain percentage of all the chicks hatched from the barn egg are NN's. I sell chicks locally (in Phoenix) for only about $1.25 each. It's the shipping and such that is the hard part. But, nobody is breeding them, specifically - so even though these spotty NN's sell great, they are scattered all over the valley in backyard flocks.

If it helps, tell Hubby that these did have a lot of buyer interest in a specific mottled NN strain. The first dozen "pure" spotty NN eggs that I put on Ebay last year went for $75. They dipped after that but I think they could hold their value at $20 to $40 per dozen for hatching eggs, depending on how much you wanted to improve them.

The spotted Turkens cross particularly well with black tailed buff Turkens. Alohas are on the smaller side, been working on sizing them up, so note they tend to drag the size down on your Turkens. They aren't Bantam by any means - hens are currently about 4+ pounds but they could be bigger. If you kept working on improving size and type by crossing with buff pure Turkens, the color will pickup on the next generation if you use that as an outcross.

Brown with black tail Turkens are more common, and that color also picks up spotting easily, but the colors are not as gorgeous. Spots go away when you cross to a solid color, but then appear again in the next generation. (In other words, spots "hide" unless both parents carry the gene.) Buff with black tail really "plays nice" with the spots, if you can find Buff NN's with a black tail. (Buff Columbian color, to be technical about it.)

This line was started with hatchery NN's likely from Privett's Hatchery from NM, crossed with my small spotty Alohas.

I actually have a couple buffs with black tails from my own breeding program:

Rizzo, one of my bigger girls (5.5 lbs) and an amazing layer. She's currently coming through a really heavy molt and still lays 4 X-Lg eggs per week.




Lucky Charms, who's lighter in weight, but one of my most prolific layers after even 2 years. She's also got a few black speckles in her buff feathers now that she's out of molt:


And now Willa, my big meat breeding girl. She last weighed in at 8 lbs.



I mentioned it to my husband tonight and although he winced, he didn't shoot down the idea. I had actually spoken to him about you and your chickens after reading about them in "Backyard Poultry" magazine. He agrees that it would be a tragedy to let them die out, but I'd have to severely cull down my existing flock first. I confess to being quite the softy when it comes to culling. I butcher the ones with the worst personalities first and hang on to a lot of birds I shouldn't simply because they're so friendly and sweet. That's why I have so many.

It's something I really need to start working on, no matter how many tears I shed in the process. We'll definitely have to stay in touch.

 

[DesertChic]

I'm not going to post photos of all of the remaining hatchlings (that would be a lot of photos), but here are a few that I find particularly intriguing:

This little one has A LOT of silver in the down. My WR/Ameraucana mix (white dominant) is the mom and Zazzle is the day, so I'm really hoping this one will turn out at least mostly white.


And this one I'm pretty sure is a cockerel because of that white spot on its head. (Mom is black barred Bielefelder/Australorp mix and Dad is Zazzle - buff barred). @Kev Is my assumption about gender right?





And finally this little one, who was just plain funny trying to photograph...the chick of a dozen expressions. My big breeding girl, Willa is the mom and Zazzle is the dad.

 

[alohachickens]

Culling is BRUTAL. Because I'm working so hard on a goal, with limited space and resources, I have to be super brutal.

The advice that I heard from a breeder, that really works, is "Hatch copiously, and cull ruthlessly"

I will hatch 40 chicks - and keep the two best. But it makes great progress!

The hens that started this line - the Buff NN's - were used only because they were the brightest, most vivid, buttery yellow buffs!


This can happen very quickly using Buff Turkens.

 

[alohachickens]

To clarify, though, when I "cull" that means I sell the ones that won't work in my breeding program!

They are happily welcomed as egg layers for genetically "dead end" flocks - where people can't keep roosters so I let those go to pet homes.

or sometimes people buy them to be eaten if roos - but I can't do the deed myself! LOL.

 

[lpyrbby]

I am not exactly sure - but I do not think Jubilee is the coloring on Brabranters?

Brabranter breeders would be the ones to ask.

I know very much what it would take to get Jubilee color on a NN however! If anyone is going for that, it's easy if you know what colors "play nice" with spots. (The "mottled" gene)

I'm thinking - however - that the Brabranter coloration is a whole other ball of wax from the Mottled color seen in Jubilee Orps? (or Speckled Sussex, same color different breed.)

If you pursue the Brabranter NN idea, it's going to be critical that you know what color NN to start with - would talk to Brabranter folks about the project and see what they say?

I struggled for years with my project - not knowing the easiest way to add spots. Could have saved myself at least 2 or 3 years of work if I'd known earlier! Arrrrgh!!!

I'm trying to get in on the FB Brabanter group, but I guess it's not as active. I haven't dived in to the BYC Brabanter thread yet, at this point. I suppose I may have to, but it is paired with the Spitzhauben and I'd like to keep separate. The jubilee was the closest I could figure to keeping with the colors of the Brabanter. Buff is my next choice. I have a Speckled Sussex roo, so really, I could mess around with that as well to see what happens. Better understanding the breadth of chicken genetics would be an even better start, but boy is that another language! I'm trying though

 

[alohachickens]

I'm trying to get in on the FB Brabanter group, but I guess it's not as active. I haven't dived in to the BYC Brabanter thread yet, at this point. I suppose I may have to, but it is paired with the Spitzhauben and I'd like to keep separate. The jubilee was the closest I could figure to keeping with the colors of the Brabanter. Buff is my next choice. I have a Speckled Sussex roo, so really, I could mess around with that as well to see what happens. Better understanding the breadth of chicken genetics would be an even better start, but boy is that another language! I'm trying though

Different language? Holy cow, you're telling me!!! Chicken genetics is WAY harder than mammal genetics.

However, even though you may *think* Brabranters are closest to Jubilees, you could be TOTALLY off.

Imagine my shock when I found a way to get the gorgeous golden milles that I wanted so badly, may be to start with a white chicken with a black tail? And cross it with a dark brown chicken with spots? WHAT THE WHAAAT??? How would you possibly get gold, black and white spotted chickens out of THAT cross?

Thankfully a kind BYC'er told me how - and a couple years later - I had the results! I never would have known if he'd not shared that info with me.

So you really need to reach out - don't make the same mistake I did! Ask for help!

Too bad I didn't see his post when I first got started - it would have saved me YEARS of effort.

 

[alohachickens]

Just post on the Brabranter group - even if it includes Spitzhauben - and tell them you want to work on a NN variety.

Ask if they were going to outcross to something, what color or breed would be the best out cross, to keep the neat color, and why?

 

[lpyrbby]

Just post on the Brabranter group - even if it includes Spitzhauben - and tell them you want to work on a NN variety.

Ask if they were going to outcross to something, what color or breed would be the best out cross, to keep the neat color, and why?

Will do. Not tonight though. It's almost 10:30p and I'm losing functionality

Thanks for sharing your insight! (and maybe one or three of the three eggs I'm hatching that might be NN will be those colors you mention

)

 

[DesertChic]

To clarify, though, when I "cull" that means I sell the ones that won't work in my breeding program!

They are happily welcomed as egg layers for genetically "dead end" flocks - where people can't keep roosters so I let those go to pet homes.

or sometimes people buy them to be eaten if roos - but I can't do the deed myself! LOL.

Yeah, I've only been keeping chickens for a little over 2 years now. When I started the idea was just to have fresh eggs....and then grew. As soon as I told my husband I wanted to start breeding them I also decided that I needed to be able to see it through, including killing and butchering the birds myself. To date I've only butchered one hen, but I've eliminated a lot of cockerels/roosters. The mean ones are a lot easier to deal with than the nice ones.

 

[draye]

@alohachickens

I actually still have the Doangked Sliha rooster and a Red Hen from the Aloha eggs that I got from you.

Right now I have a son from the rooster that us Naked Necked ( although he does have a big bib), out of some of the Black Tailed Red hens I have. He's not going to be as big as I would like though. I have him with some reddish hens ( not the BTR's) they do carry mottling though and a couple of the BTR's are I. There also. I have have a Speckled Sussex looking hen that was from the red Aloha hen the only one I've been a to produce with that coloration. So come spring or so I should have some more Speckled Aloha chicks or at least some carriers.

I've about cone to a point though that I'm going to have to change out my Aloha ( yours) rooster for some outside blood. Trying to figure out what way to go with obe though. Maybe a Red (by) NN rooster and lose the spitting for a generation.

Anyway I'll be posting and updating the Mottled NN thread pretty soon. Also check out my Facebook Naked Neck aka Turken Fanicers Page.