Naked Neck/Turken Thread

[Knock Kneed Hen]

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I've sold some hens and will end up with 3 broody Australorps (since I don't have an incubator I'll keep them), my little NN hen, her white NN/EE daughter, 1 light Brahma, and I'm thinking of keeping just a few EE's. Wish I would have set those eggs that I had set aside for you...I keep kicking myself for that one!!

Who knew that my hen would go broody the moment I scrambled the eggs??!!

NN/Brabanters would be adorable!! Have you tried it yet? I'll let you know when I get some extras. I would love come check out your set up. Maybe one of these days I can make a day trip, maybe when I have some birds and/or eggs for you.

 

[flower]

Hey KKH I would love to breed a variety. But my only standard size male is the white am cockerel at 17 weeks. That means 5 or 6 more weeks before he might be ready to mate the hens. My only standard NN hen has not started to make eggs yet but it should be soon. My runs are made from the 10 and 6 foots kennel panels and I have four different little houses that sit at waist height so that I do not bend down to attend to them. I keep my bantam in their own run just now.

Yes I was hoping that you did grow out those eggs so I could buy chicks at a meet-up. Eventually I will get some more NN bantams and LF. I just need to be satisfied with what I have for the moment. It is hard waiting for the birds to mature.

You asked "If you kept breeding for the most naked neck would you eventually have birds that are too naked or should I say, have sparsely feathered bodies?"
From what I have read the results of breeding for the most Naked Neck only means that your flock will have more birds without bow ties than with bow ties ie more "nnked on the neck" than birds with some feathers on their necks. We are talking about less feathers but not completely naked except for the necks.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Flower: "Yes I was hoping that you did grow out those eggs so I could buy chicks at a meet-up. Eventually I will get some more NN bantams and LF. I just need to be satisfied with what I have for the moment. It is hard waiting for the birds to mature." So now you want to kick me too?

Believe me, I'm mad at myself. . . but in my defense I had no idea that the hen would go broody. I was just going to wait a couple more weeks. Live and learn.

Thanks for answering my question about nakedness. It seems that my little cockerel is very naked, even his undersides. I'm no expert so I'm guessing he'll end up feathering out under there.

I also like the pea comb so I'm going to try to get some lavenders with pea combs. I threw the EE egg under my broody just for the heck of it and am really happy with the result.

Okay, who else will admit that they like to kiss the hot neck of their Naked Necks?

 

[flower]

Silly you, It is not a habit of mine to make some one feel worse about themselves as we are all usually our own worst enemy

There will be plenty more eggs and broody hens. Lots of time to grow our flocks. They do have HOT little bodies don't they ? Even their feet are warm. Upon my return from Sandy Eggo, I beleive that one of my little bantams was affectionate when I picked her up as she ran to me. It was my little black Am pullet and she has very sparse feathering under the wings as do my other young birds. True NN with no bowtie are suppose to have 1/3 less feathers than a regular feathered chicken.

And a drive from Julian to RC is very long so pack up the entire family and stay over. In fact you might need to find some one to care for your critters. I usually have another chicken person care for mine when I leave for a visit elsewhere. Find DEATH VALLEY on the map and plan a visit for very early spring when the flowers burst out.

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[Kev]

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I agree, both birds are very beautiful! The cross one looks pullet-ish but do see what you mean by those darker feathers coming out by tail... pretty often, a different color coming up on saddles, wing bow and hackles of white chicks means it's a boy. Separate the feathers on back to look for pin feathers, by this age boys will be starting to show very pointy and super shiny feathers coming out of the pin feathers. If you're seeing rounded, non shiny feathers coming out.. could be a tricky pullet!

OK a couple thoughts, if both are boys: Both are definite lavender carriers. Both will throw a variety of colors, but both will only throw 1/4 lavender chicks with the black NN hen. (with lil Kev you get 50% lav chicks).

Pro for the pure NN: he completely lacks a bow tie, which is uncommon.. from the related birds to your NN, get only one or 2 complete bare necks out of say, 10-15 chicks. Seems rather hard to get but anyways, you will get more of it, eventually from the black hen/Kev and this one. We do not know if the cross bird got "whatever it is" that causes total lack of bowties. Him being very sweet is a plus. All his chicks will be naked necked- but all crosses will have the larger bowties like on the cross bird. On the other hand, he will be spreading the no-bowtie gene(s)....

Pro for the cross: will throw more variety of colors with your various hens. Probably get a wider range of sizes from bantam thru 'large medium'. If he did not get the barring gene, won't get barred anything unless you have barred hens(in that case, all barreds would be boys. Pure NN will produce barreds in both sexes). Barring combined with different colors can produce wonderful looking birds- example barring on a partridge/wheaten/black breast red will look like crele- pretty flashy. Guessing it has dominant white, which represses black very well yet not so well on the browns/reds so if you have brown EE hens, should get some brown/gold/red with white patterning(similar to red pyle). Con: only half of the chicks will be NN (75% with the black NN hen).

Pretty much all I can think of at the moment.. Perhaps hatch another round of eggs from the black NN to get more lavender chicks and then replace lil Kev with either of the stunning specimens above if he doesn't improve his manners? This pairing is your best chance for lavenders- 50% as opposed to 25% with either one of the young boys. (and no lavs with other hens)

Good luck with deciding!

Okay, here's what I'm thinking. Please steer me in the right direction if you see me going down the wrong path!!

The white is looking like a pullet. Her mom is a very large EE, lays a taupe egg. Say I breed her with Lil' Kev next year. She should give me 50% NN and at least 25% lavender chicks? I love the bantams, but would like to be able to free range my flock. I would eventually like to have a few LF lavender hens, then later add some blues and splashes to my flock. I wouldn't mind some bantams as well, but I don't want to completely eliminate my LF. I have to have a mixed flock and I'm limited to about 20 birds. I don't have any trouble finding home for colored egg laying hens so non NN's are easy for me to sell. I have a harder time finding people that want the NN's.

My little NN/EE pullet is healing amazingly well. Next week should be able to put her and Lil' Steve (the barred cockerel) into a temp. pen until I sort things out (Until next spring at least). Thanks!

L'K x WP= All naked necks, because Lil Kev is pure for naked neck. Half of the chicks will have very naked necks like L'K's(those would be the ones pure for NN), half will have bigger bowties like the white pullet's(and the black NN). If you do this, would like to know if you get any total bare necks like Lil Steve.

50% will be lavender, the rest will be lavender carriers. The white pullet probably has Dominant White. DW is not a color, it basically is a gene that stops whatever colors/genes the bird has from showing up visibly. It works way better at blocking black pigments than red/gold pigments though(red pyles are red duckwings with dominant white, for example). Long way of saying that you are supposed to get 50% lavender chicks, but some of that percentage will be "hidden" in solid lavender** chicks that got the dominant white gene(these will look solid white) so the % of lav chicks will seem lower. Also in theory you might get some interesting colored chicks- for example if the chick is going to be a brown patterned EE, but it also happened to be pure lavender(which dilutes all colors to a soft shade) plus one dose dominant white- that potentially would make a multi-colored in pastels(lavender, straw/blond, white) bird.

For LF lavenders, would recommend breeding L'K with LF hens again and keep a cockerel at least(maybe some pullets too).. this cockerel will throw both bantam and almost full LF sizes in both sexes. Bantam bred with bantam cross tend to throw mostly bantam to medium size birds, a few can get reasonably sized but not quite full LF size. Bantam cross bred with LF throw the full range from smallish to LF sizes. Tricky part is getting lavender again... perhaps adding a LF lavender EE or Ameraucana hen will help with your goal? Or have the white EE cross "visit" a LF lavender roo? Her eggs would be fertile for 2-3 weeks afterwards.. would get some LF chicks, hopefully some of them would be lavender pullets also.. 50% NN 50% not.. If you like crazy color variety, a roo that is lavender but not solid- such as porcelain(which is just the mille fleur color with lavender added) or the like would be excellent choice for that pullet.

** solid lavenders are actually solid black chickens, with lavender added. That is why a solid lavender that happens to get dominant white will turn out solid white- it's the "solid black" DW is covering up.

 

[Kev]

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You saw me.

I tried to get everybody to touch and pet NN before they went home with you. LOL! I cannot handle them too much due to allergies though. One of my dreams is to have one of those completely naked chickens, perhaps my allergies won't be so bad with them..

As for naked-ness, apparently there's a limit to it. I've hatched chicks completely naked on the breast all way down to the vent, legs more than half naked- just a ring of fuzz by the hock joint, almost naked patches on the wings and a pencil thin line of fuzz on back.. that was the most 'extreme'. When it grew up, it didn't look much different from the usual NN. You would have to pick her up to feel and see her naked-ness.

Some unrelated genes can have an effect, such as pea comb. Pea comb has the side effect of reducing the over all number of feathers on a bird, so a pea combed NN can have more naked areas. There are also other genes for feather density.. I've had NN that looked regular.. but their feathered areas were SO densely packed with feathers, others that looked normal but if you parted the feathered areas, there's a shocking realization of how few feathers they have in those areas.

I don't know yet if the total lack of bowtie also affects feather numbers or naked areas, there are so few of them around and all of mine can be traced back to a single source(an egg trade with someone years ago). For this I mean birds with single combs.. not those with rose, pea or walnut- total bare necks on show girls probably are side effect of rose/pea/walnut.

 

[catsew]

I am glad the majority of this doesn't relate to me because I am beyond confused just trying to read all this

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

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I know, me too! But it's fun *trying* to understand it.

Lisa

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

I copy and paste these and email them to myself so that I can read and re-read them when needed!! I don't get it all the first time, believe me!!

Thanks Kev for taking the time to explain it all.

 

[Kassaundra]

As deep as I get in chicken genetics is make sure I have a boy and a girl, then wait for the suprise! But then I'm not showing, or breeding w/ any purpose other then replacements for garden work, bug patrol, and yard eye candy.

My hat's off to those of you who get (understand) chicken genetics and are breeding w/ a purpose.