Naked Neck/Turken Thread

[ReikiStar]

Naked Neck experts....The very first NN I ever saw in person was HUGE! Not exactly the size of a turkey hen but the largest chicken I'd ever seen. It had a naked neck, no comb, no wattles, no "hat" feathers and no throat patch. It looked like a condor. It was glorious!! What was it? I really like the clean headed look, but I never see it anywhere. I've heard combless NN's are rare...is it recessive trait? Do people breed for it? I wish I had taken a picture of it but I thought that's what all NN's looked like. Now that I know better, I realize just how special that bird was.

Would love to know about combless NN's.

Thanks!

 

[Kev]

Combless is very rare in whole of chickendom. AFAIK the only one that comes close to true combless is found in Breda breed. They have normal size wattles though. I've heard of a single bird that was born with absolutely nothing on top, just fuzz and feathers where the comb is supposed to be. Unfortunately that bird was lost before it was bred.

There are gene combinations that can make a bird look combless, such as walnut comb(combination of rose and pea) plus modifiers to make the comb smaller/flatter but technically they are not truly combless, as the hens will have a naked area and a very slight raised area in the comb area and it gets red and thickened in roosters. I suspect that hen you saw had this combination, as you mention lack of wattles- pea comb can reduce the wattles to almost nothing. I wonder if that hen was a Malgache or some oriental type with naked neck.. they can look very big with their heavy bones and upright stance plus you mentioned she lacked wattles. (unfortunately the hatchery stock Malgaches don't get that big)

The other possibility- hen was dubbed or lost comb to frostbite.

I know what you mean- my very first NN was an extremely large hen(normal in every other aspect though- single comb etc), she was 11 pounds.. that's heavier than most dual purpose *roosters* and her eggs were so large you could not close the lid for Xlarge egg cartons over them. I thought that was how most NN were so never thought to breed her to keep her extra large size line going. Imagine my disappointment how the next order of NN turned out... they were so small compared to her. Unfortunately she had already passed on from old age by then.

Naked Neck experts....The very first NN I ever saw in person was HUGE! Not exactly the size of a turkey hen but the largest chicken I'd ever seen. It had a naked neck, no comb, no wattles, no "hat" feathers and no throat patch. It looked like a condor. It was glorious!! What was it? I really like the clean headed look, but I never see it anywhere. I've heard combless NN's are rare...is it recessive trait? Do people breed for it? I wish I had taken a picture of it but I thought that's what all NN's looked like. Now that I know better, I realize just how special that bird was.

Would love to know about combless NN's.

Thanks!

 

[Kev]

Million moons ago, there was a small amount of talk about having rose combs accepted. Some fanciers vehemently disagreed with the idea though. One of the reasons was it'd 'pollute' the NN stock, same goes for adding new colors.. a common opposition was that the accepted colors were in dire need of improving so adding new colors would not help the breed much. There was talk about getting Blue accepted amongst the members of the NN club when it was still active, but that didn't really get off the ground, obviously. Not my opinions just some of the comments I'd heard. I've had a few NN roosters with perfect rose combs and thought they looked quite good.

As for rose combs, the good news is it's a complete dominant over single.. meaning you cannot visually tell the difference between pure rose and rose carrying single, so in theory you could breed for good rose combs yet maintain single comb gene floating around. Also, having the roosters not pure for rose comb helps with their fertility- roosters pure for rose comb can have lowered fertility due to sperm having much shorter life time(about 3 days vs. 2 weeks).

I love the rose comb, but I think that if I ever wanted to try and have the APA recognice the color of my BLRNN I will need them to have single combs,and that's why I'm gladd I also have others with single combs.

I think we need more colors recogniced than the Buff,Red,White and Black ( how about some Splash,BLRNN and others too.)

 

[Nava]

sounds about right, Kev,

we need more recognized NN at the shows and improve on them too.

I'm working on red,white and black, and hopefully this year that's all that I will be showing NN and my whites are looking pretty darn good, I'm happy with them the most..

 

[ReikiStar]

Thanks, Kev. I know of one other person who had a nearly "combless" NN pop out of their own breeding program -- but they weren't breeding for anything special, just to have more NNs. It was a hen and she doesn't have it any more. You may be right that it did have a very very flatten comb. I was so in awe and it was over a year ago, that I didn't take enough mental pictures. We could have bought that bird, but DH didn't like the NN look and was uncomfortable with how large this bird was. I should have snagged her anyway.

The eggs you describe sound about how I pictured this hen's eggs to be...just BIG. Sorry you didn't get any chicks from your hen. Funny how our first experience with NN's were these lovely, rare, mammoth birds.

 

[chickgrowerdan]

That N-Neck, Looks Cool

What Is He A Blue Pied Naked Neck

Have anymore Pics ?

He does look pied. I have a full feathered one in black that has a lot of black speckles on her chest. I'm hoping he keeps that two-toned look. I will try to get more pictures soon.

Josh................ I AM confused ! To me the pied is the grey and white bird. But what is the brown mahogany and white bird in chickgrowerdan pictures please ?

The hen in the background with the little pied dude is his grandma, Clyde, a hatchery Speckled Sussex.

 

[Kev]

Please post pics when they're grown up. While there's a lot of fun playing with colors or different traits, would be nice to see "standard bred NN" too...

sounds about right, Kev,

we need more recognized NN at the shows and improve on them too.

I'm working on red,white and black, and hopefully this year that's all that I will be showing NN and my whites are looking pretty darn good, I'm happy with them the most..

 

[Kev]

Yes funny how our firsts were so big and taken for granted... A year ago? any chance of swinging by that place again to see if she or her offspring/relatives are still there? Or at least get some information on what she was and where she came from...

Thanks, Kev. I know of one other person who had a nearly "combless" NN pop out of their own breeding program -- but they weren't breeding for anything special, just to have more NNs. It was a hen and she doesn't have it any more. You may be right that it did have a very very flatten comb. I was so in awe and it was over a year ago, that I didn't take enough mental pictures. We could have bought that bird, but DH didn't like the NN look and was uncomfortable with how large this bird was. I should have snagged her anyway.

The eggs you describe sound about how I pictured this hen's eggs to be...just BIG. Sorry you didn't get any chicks from your hen. Funny how our first experience with NN's were these lovely, rare, mammoth birds.

 

[Kev]

my guess is mottle, some mottled first feather out like that or 'penguin' until adult molt then they get mottling all over and lose the two tone look. if it keeps the two tone look at year of age, it's something special...

Afaik there's no pied in chickens like pied in peafowl, dogs, cats etc.

He does look pied. I have a full feathered one in black that has a lot of black speckles on her chest. I'm hoping he keeps that two-toned look. I will try to get more pictures soon.

 

[ReikiStar]

Yes funny how our firsts were so big and taken for granted... A year ago? any chance of swinging by that place again to see if she or her offspring/relatives are still there? Or at least get some information on what she was and where she came from...

Believe it or not, it was one of those birds that ended up dumped at the feed store, usually because they are past their prime. It was in a pen with 2 silkie roos. They don't take much interest in the birds that end up there for re-sale so I doubt if the former manager knows where that bird came from. But I can still contact him on Facebook...what's the worst that could happen. I'd be right where I am...without any information about that bird. Will let you know what I find out. Of all the "poultry" I've seen... that bird made the biggest impression. Will never forget it.