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Acccch. that picture is making me ache to go about setting and hatching babies! RIGHT NOW! must resist!
Turn that chick over and note the bowtie size or rather how much skin you can very easily see below the bowtie. I suspect that one may be a pure NN, and yes normal for pure NN to have even less feathers than ones not pure for NN, on the whole body. No worries, they usually have long soft feathers so the body looks mostly covered up when mature.. only at handling does the amount of naked areas become apparent.
all the "NN" talk can get a little confusing, because it's both the name of a breed AND the gene itself. My reply was strictly in regards to the gene.
Birds not pure for the NN gene are Very Common in Turken flocks, even hatchery stock chicks come roughly half pure for the gene, half not. They are all good birds, could be a personal preference.. some people prefer the look of the not pure NN(pure for NN look "too naked" to some), others want more nekidity as possible. It's only important if you would like to hatch 100% chicks with naked necks... if that's not important, then just regard it as a fun lesson in guessing which chicks may be pure for NN and which might not.. be useful for predicting come breeding and hatching time?
Backyard mixes are also very commonly not pure for NN. Mixes are also very common. Hatchery stock turkens might be mixed for NN gene purity but overall they have a consistent look, a dual purpose heavyish body, single comb, with yellow, willow, blue or occasionally white legs. They are also overall very good layers and pretty decent for meat also- less plucking at butcher time too.
Lastly but most importantly, congrats on your first NN! They are awesome birds.
Thank you for the info! I have been eyeing the Turken for the past decade and finally got brave enough to take the plunge! The degrees of "nekidity"
as you call it is beginning to make sense. So my "naked naked neck" is probably the only one pure for the gene? I looked at her neck and she has hardly any feathers there, her "bow tie" consists of what looks like a couple random hairs, they look odd, like they shouldn't be there. My other "not pure" but still partially naked necked have HUGE bow ties and feathery necks comparatively. She also has very scant feathering on her face. I'll take some photos later. I'm letting the incubator chicks sleep in before I move them in with the others in the brooder.
I have 7 chicks hatched in the past 2 days. I started with 18 shipped eggs. It's my first time incubating so I'm learning a lot. I've had poultry off and on for a decade but have always just bought female chicks from the feed store or been given chicks from my sister.
"The Creepiest Bird Ever"!? Wonderful! Turkens prove creepy can be cute. I think they are so weird looking they are beautiful.
So a chick "pure" for NN will have to copies of the gene and thus end up pretty dang naked? I have 1 of these.
A chick with one NN gene will be various degrees of naked and likely have a large bow tie? I have 4 of these.
A chick with no NN gene will have a feathered neck? I have 2 of these.
Even my feathered neck chicks seem a little scant on feathers but it may be my imagination as I don't have any other chicks right now to compare them with.
I am interested in the meat possibilities of the Turken. I usually don't process my chickens for eating because I find feathers to be a hassle and hardly worth the time. I raise rabbits and my sister raises goats so that forms the bulk of my meat. Rabbits and goats are easy to butcher. Feathers... argh, such a mess! So a lightly feathered chicken with size intrigues me. It could be the perfect chicken? Coupled with their unique goofy looks...
Do you find them to be okay in Winter? Winter where I live averages a daily high in the high 30s- 40s and daily lows of high 20s- low 30s. I live in kind of a desert basin by the Columbia River in Washington State. Not the coldest but not warm either, looking at that naked chick I have visions of chicken turtle neck sweaters!
Thanks again for the help!
-Cielo
