Naked Neck/Turken Thread

[Kev]

I agree it seems hatchery NN in the past were bigger and laid larger eggs than the current crop.

My very first NN was a hen from McMurray, she was extremely heavy and could not close egg cartons over her eggs. Thought that was normal for hatchery NN so I did not get any more until over a decade later and was surprised.. Sure wish that hen was bred to keep her type and production ongoing.

The summers in my location goes into the 110-120F range. It gets so hot the ground becomes painful to the touch- the free range birds would run/jump/flap from shade to shade. The NN do very well through the summers. The lighter weight breeds such as leghorns can do well, but for dual purpose, it just seems sensible to go with NN.

You could even breed NN into a breed you might favor otherwise but heat tolerance was of concern. NN Marans would be pretty straightfoward to breed for- cross once, then breed a NN bird from each generation back to pure Marans. I've done that kind of breeding and did notice an improvement in heat tolerance.

I believe the NN French birds are mainly free range broilers.. one feature was having excellent skin for crisping...? Also many broiler studies measured larger meat weight in NN compared to non NN in broiler crosses/mixes. That's so interesting...

 

[ochochicas]

You could even breed NN into a breed you might favor otherwise but heat tolerance was of concern. NN Marans would be pretty straightfoward to breed for- cross once, then breed a NN bird from each generation back to pure Marans. I've done that kind of breeding and did notice an improvement in heat tolerance.

This is what I plan to do. My NN is half marans. I'm going to cross him back to more marans and then keep the line going. I'd like bigger birds that lay larger eggs that are colorful - either olive or chocolate. We don't have a heat problem most of the time in Washington. It rarely gets over 100 degrees in the summer. We do get a lot of humidity with the heat and that doesn't make anyone happy.

 

[Kev]

This is what I plan to do. My NN is half marans. I'm going to cross him back to more marans and then keep the line going. I'd like bigger birds that lay larger eggs that are colorful - either olive or chocolate. We don't have a heat problem most of the time in Washington. It rarely gets over 100 degrees in the summer. We do get a lot of humidity with the heat and that doesn't make anyone happy.

Love that plan. I had some NN-Marans mixes, they were nice sized birds and they laid better than the pure Marans. Excellent egg size also.

Is it that big handsome boy you posted picture of not too long ago? Did the NN half have a pea comb?

 

[ochochicas]

Quote: Yes, my big rooster/cockerel hatched from a green egg. His mom was a black and white NN ee. His dad was supposed to be a full Wheaten Marans. He got a modified peacomb, so I'm hoping he's an olive. I'm going to cross him with a marans soon. Hopefully half his offspring lay olive eggs and the other half dark brown.

These are the siblings of my NN that were also supposed to be from Wheaten Marans parents. The pullet almost looks right, but the cockerels were off-color
The pullet

The "Wheaten Marans" cockerel at 8 weeks

11 weeks

And their brother the Turken



As you can tell by the color, the none of the chicks scream purebred Wheaten Marans. The turken hatched from a green egg but all the others hatched from dark brown eggs. The seller promised me her rooster was a Wheaten, but I didn't see an of her birds. I can't wait to see what color egg the pullet lays. That might help solve part of the mystery. The red pullet is also their sister, but her dad is a RIR.

 

[Kev]

Hate when chicks don't hatch as promised but then sometimes they end up being happy accidents.

The two cockerels appear to be golden- genetically half gold half silver- do they seem that way to you? The only way for golden boys to happen if it's guaranteed (red)wheaten rooster is if there are silver hen(s).... red over silver hens would give golden cockerels, red/gold pullets(so the parentage for the NN boy is plausible for this reason).

Are the two boys duck or crow winged and does the breeder have Marans in other colors, especially birchen?

Hopefully the pea-O gene linkage is fully present in the NN boy and it's going to be exciting when that pullet's face colors up.

 

[DesertChic]

We performed the final candling on my NN eggs last night and put the eggs in lockdown. I'm down to 16 eggs from the original 20...and now I'm just hoping for a really good hatch rate. This is so exciting! I was watching the eggs twitch today as the chicks inside move around. I could become addicted to hatching eggs.

 

[ochochicas]

Hate when chicks don't hatch as promised but then sometimes they end up being happy accidents.

The two cockerels appear to be golden- genetically half gold half silver- do they seem that way to you? The only way for golden boys to happen if it's guaranteed (red)wheaten rooster is if there are silver hen(s).... red over silver hens would give golden cockerels, red/gold pullets(so the parentage for the NN boy is plausible for this reason).

Are the two boys duck or crow winged and does the breeder have Marans in other colors, especially birchen?

Hopefully the pea-O gene linkage is fully present in the NN boy and it's going to be exciting when that pullet's face colors up.

Kev - I really enjoy reading and absorbing all our knowledge on genetics.

I did consider that the rooster could be a birchen, but then the hens would be black, too, and the are not. The NN hen was black and white and almost looked like a silver laced Wyandotte in color. That is the only NN egg I got and the only NN that hatched. The "brothers" hatched from marans eggs and should have been Wheaten. I'm not really sure how to explain the color. I wanted pure Wheatens, so I sold the cockerels and got more that look like Wheatens. I don't know what the brothers look like now, but I would assume the are the same color as my NN rooster since they all developed the same color patterns at the same time. That would make them all golden duckwings (I guess??)

This weekend I have to finish the "time out" coop for the cockerels. The Turken is getting really annoying with the hens and he needs some time to mature and reflect. LOL He can stay in there with the other boys for a month or so. Hopefully he's better when his sentence is up.

 

[beckybsc]

my little beeker is getting more and more red and waddle every day I BELIVE it's a boy!! I really was hoping for a girl to make more little baby beekers lol oh well now I'll have to go and find another naked neck yay chicken math! Lol

 

[Sueg4332]

Quotee hen is so cute I just started reading the N/N forum. She looks silver lace wyandotte/NN. I am crossing my one and only NN hen with my Brahmas have 7 babies . Now growing Think I got a lot of rooster want hens. A 2 legged predator stoled my pen of 10 pullets a month . Putting a lock on the pen.ago

 

[AmyLynn2374]

That is precious!