Naked Neck/Turken Thread

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi! I think all that bare skin is an enticement for youngsters to 'peck'. My Naked Necks are often frizzled NN's and also the boys have the slow feathering gene. Lots of bare skin --- I use a lot of Blu-Kote.
I hatedhated to do it, and she is only the second ever hen I've butchered here, but that's a nasty habit. I don't know how she could've got the habit without me noticing.--- I collect eggs often through the day (no eggs are ever left in the nest boxes). Until I caught her eating her own egg, literally as soon as it was laid (she was looking over her shoulder, just waiting for it to come out). I wouldn't've believed it.

Lisa

 

[Kev]

Not in my experience.. have raised quite a lot NN over many years.. 300 chicks at least.. never had what you describe with NN only brooders. At most, they may pull out the pin feathers from the bowtie and from edges where the naked area meets feather areas on lower neck. Giving more room usually helped.

Now.. mixing with other breeds have occasionally given problems. My very first hatchery order was 3 NN pullets and 25 BBR standard modern games. At a week, the games pecked out the vent(literally.. very gross..) of 2 pullets to death and was working on the third before I saw what was happening. Similar things have sometimes happened with more aggressive chicks from different breeds(will never get RIR again), etc that sometimes bite the necks of the NN chicks. More times than not, there were not any problems though.. especially with NN only brooders.

The issue may be more something else such as bored or overcrowded chicks or mixing different ages or stock that throws "more aggressive hunters".. like some lines in different breeds are very prone to feather picking, while other lines don't feather pick etc than related to it being a naked neck issue.

 

[Kev]

Lisa, you do have the problem? Naked necks getting bitten?

Frizzle definitely get problems with feathers getting picked.. often had to use anti pick on them, but then it made no difference if they were NN or not.. Same for slow feather growers.. too much bare skin exposing all that yummy pin feathers way too much.

 

[Nava]

Quote:
i'm with you there on the RIRs, will never have them

and yes i was asking about the laceing earlyer, that was a cross with my GLW and the roo is gone lost it to a fox

i'm looking for a nice NN roo with right kind of leg color for the project!!
these kind of things sure take time

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

At a week, the games pecked out the vent (literally.. very gross..)

And that's why I don't hatch 'Game-y type' chicks for my brother anymore. His Game chicks come out of the shell ornery / more aggressive than 'my breeds' and I can't mix them in the brooders.
I like it when everyone 'gets along'.
edited to add:
Just Naked Necks getting pecked hasn't been an issue. I didn't mean they were getting picked on/pecked 'just because they have Naked Necks'. It's the slow featherering Frizz NN's that are sometimes problematic and need Blu-Kote.

Lisa​

 

[hipeatall]

This is the same brooder I have used for up to 25 standard chicks this same age - it's big. I just have the 7 bantam NN's in there and they are hatch mates so they have been together since day one. I have a big perch in there for them... 2 waterers and 2 feeders... plenty of room. I'm pretty sure I have 4 boys and 3 girls... but it's not just the boys that are getting pecked... one of the girls got pecked last week, not bad though like this time... I was able to put the Pick-No-More Lotion and she had no more problems. Everything I've read about NN's talks about how gentle and sweet they are... so why are mine being such little bullies... this bites... literally.

 

[josh44]

I have read that Pecking ea other & or feather picking, is caused when chicks get board, too much heat, over crowding.

Try putting some snacks in the brooder to keep them busy.

 

[hipeatall]

Quote:
I'm thinking of putting them in a pen outside tomorrow so they can get a change of scenery... maybe they are bored. Also, I wonder if heat may be effecting them... it's been really warm lately... they are never warmer than 80 degrees out in my studio though. Thanks Josh! I'm sure I'll figure these little guys out... it just kills me to see them hurt each other like that though.

 

[josh44]

Quote:
I'm thinking of putting them in a pen outside tomorrow so they can get a change of scenery... maybe they are bored. Also, I wonder if heat may be effecting them... it's been really warm lately... they are never warmer than 80 degrees out in my studio though. Thanks Josh! I'm sure I'll figure these little guys out... it just kills me to see them hurt each other like that though.

I know what you mean, I just had to move mine over last week. They looked like they were getting board sitting around they started to bully my araucanas and polish . So I moved them to a bigger pen on the ground, our TX heat & humidity might also be getting to them. Good Luck

Almost forgot hows the weather up there ???

 

[hipeatall]

Quote:
I bet they are just bored... I bet being outside in a totally different surrounding will fix that

. It has been soooo hot and humid here... I think this Summer is gonna be a real hot one! With the storms we got a lot of rain... but nothing like flooding they got in San Marcos - WOW! How about you... I heard San Antonio got alot of rain.