Naked Neck/Turken Thread

[flower]

Georgia Boy how high did those babies fly to roost ? I think that it is so funny to see juvies fly. I always feel like rooting for them !

 

[Ghostbelly]

Should i get a turkhen? are they nice? are they broody? do they lay alot of eggs?

 

[NewToFarming]

Georgiaboy..... Those chicks are so cute and I will be very jealous if you get an all white one!!!!

I have not had an all white NN yet!! I did have some white Fav's pop out of my salmon's though so it could be very possible you could get a white NN from them. The hen & roo are looking great! I love Louise's beard.

 

[NewToFarming]

Should i get a turkhen? are they nice? are they broody? do they lay alot of eggs?

I think everyone should have a turken!

I think it really depends on what the NN's might be crossed with but all of my NN's have been very nice and are great layers. They can go broody, some more than others.

 

[Kev]

gorgeous birds! what's the "problem" with the girls as for color? btw glad your move went well.

Here is a picture of my salmon turken project boy. The boys are getting there but the girls have been a bit harder for me. This is Sargent with his dad Lenny.

 

[Kev]

My NN currently are laying, not laying or on/off... about half of them are pullets, many have not yet laid their first eggs though. It seems the bantams are starting up- these are overall consistent layers/setters. It was very warm (80F range.. Google says that's 26 in C)..but last couple days have been much cooler with on/off rain with nights now much colder- 40s(4C) range. Sunrise 6:37, sunset 4:40. No heating, in fact the coops/runs are rather open- for example some are chainlink dog runs with cover on top and down the sides a couple feet to shelter when they are roosting at night. The only special effort is make sure they have feed with some scratch mixed in at all times when it's colder or wetter...

Only a couple of my 'mongrels' are laying at the moment. Pretty well everybody over a year old has had an impressive moult (apart from my massive Dark Brahma hen who neither moults nor lays), but they are all feathered out again. My NNs are not laying. To be honest, I'm amazed that anybody would lay during the rain-lashed weeks we have recently had, but it's been a bit brighter though much colder here over the last few days.

Our day lengths are quite short 'in the dark days before Xmas'.....not light until gone 8:00 a.m and dark again by 4:00 p.m. What day lengths are you getting in the USA? (I'm sure there's a lot of variability!).Some of my hens who stop have stopped laying often start up very promptly once the days start to lengthen....on or about Xmas day usually. I don't provide artificial light personally as I like my birds to have as natural a life as possible.

Flower...fermented feed sounds as though it would make them drunk! I have to bury my discarded sloes (from making sloe gin) in the compost to stop wild birds eating them. However.....I'm sure that the rats which are inevitably in there have a wild couple of nights.

Does anyone heat their coops in the depths of winter? I don't, but I make sure that the birds have lots of food in the short days.....adding hot porridge with ground up egg shells, dried milk and sunflower seeds. If I don't feed them lots they just steal the sheep pellets (which incidentally have a composition almost identical to layers pellets). I place straw on the floor in the coops and throw an old groundsheet over my smaller coop.

 

[Kev]

Beautiful birds. You're joining the Crested NN club huh?

Almost old enough to take over my main roos spot...I'm going to breed him to all of my girls including a black polish



Him and my white hen( Silver laced Wyandotte/Red Star) are going to make me some gorgeous babies come spring

 

[Kev]

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Pics taken today.

 

[Kev]

I think everyone should have a turken!

I think it really depends on what the NN's might be crossed with but all of my NN's have been very nice and are great layers. They can go broody, some more than others.

X2! Here's a link to youtube vid of hen from blue laced red project pullet with peachicks she hatched and raised.. Good mom, tame enough to trust me with her babies..

 

[NewToFarming]

gorgeous birds! what's the "problem" with the girls as for color? btw glad your move went well.

Thanks! The girls are still getting too much black in them. I was thinking about pairing Sargent with this girl here. It will need to wait a bit though until I get a better set up here.