Naked Neck/Turken Thread

[Fire Ant Farm]

And now the girls....and one chick that keeps me guessing about gender. This grouping is much, much smaller.

Fezz - She's a bit nervous for my taste, but very alert and hardy with a good growth rate.




Princess - very sweet, okay growth rate, but she comes from one of my best green egg layers.



Weesie - *Sigh* Where do I begin with this one. Her name came from the cold she caught early on...or other respiratory illness...that appears to have stunted her growth. She doesn't show any additional signs of respiratory problems, and illness never spread through the flock, but she's so small! In fact, she's smaller than my Silkie/Bielefelder girls, weighing in at only 17.57 ounces at 8 weeks while the rest of her flock comes in around 26 ounces. Her growth rate has accelerate these past couple weeks, but everything about her is so tiny compared to the others...almost bantam-like. "Petite" doesn't begin to describe her. I'm debating whether to just cull her, or watch her development for the sake of learning.




And finally....This is Ruby...or Rudy. One day I think it's a female, and the next a male. Fast feathering and flightiness told me female, but then the comb and wattles became much larger and I though male. A weight of 27.55 ounces is much smaller than the boys, but larger than the girls. I guess Ruby will tell me by either crowing or laying an egg.

I LOVE looking at your photos!!! You have such lovely birds - and I always love photos of NNs. (Still so impressed at how nice your photos turn out!!!) You've got some very promising birds there!

I'm at work, but am really anxious, because even though I criss-cross-festooned the paddocks for the chickens with a lot of surveyors tape (what I had on hand), right as I was about to walk out the door, I saw a big hawk swooping down to try to go after the NNs. He couldn't get to them and while I would hope that my extensive festooning would help, I know hawks can be very smart - I HAD to leave then, and I can't get away again until the end of the day, and I'm not sure what I'll find when I go home. (And they'll likely stay inside tomorrow - which they will HATE.)

Is there a smiley for nail-biting?!

- Ant Farm

 

[Kev]

And finally....This is Ruby...or Rudy. One day I think it's a female, and the next a male. Fast feathering and flightiness told me female, but then the comb and wattles became much larger and I though male. A weight of 27.55 ounces is much smaller than the boys, but larger than the girls. I guess Ruby will tell me by either crowing or laying an egg.

Rudy. Here is why I don't put too much importance on combs to the point of ignoring everything else(which seems common elsewhere). Notice the feathers coming in a much darker shade than the body color on the wing? Red to the buff of his body. Also the glassy shiny feathers on middle of his back? Those are rooster feathers and color pattern coming in.

Kind of hesitate to say this...for flock health and vigor Weesie should be culled. No point in breeding from and with some diseases, recovered birds are carriers for life.

 

[Kev]

I LOVE looking at your photos!!! You have such lovely birds - and I always love photos of NNs. (Still so impressed at how nice your photos turn out!!!) You've got some very promising birds there!

I'm at work, but am really anxious, because even though I criss-cross-festooned the paddocks for the chickens with a lot of surveyors tape (what I had on hand), right as I was about to walk out the door, I saw a big hawk swooping down to try to go after the NNs. He couldn't get to them and while I would hope that my extensive festooning would help, I know hawks can be very smart - I HAD to leave then, and I can't get away again until the end of the day, and I'm not sure what I'll find when I go home. (And they'll likely stay inside tomorrow - which they will HATE.)

Is there a smiley for nail-biting?!

- Ant Farm

Yes agreed, loving all of the pics!

I suspect we may have a similar pattern with the bird eating hawks(coopers, sharp shins and a bigger hawk I just never can remember the name of... very heavily barred).... out here they are migratory.. present from fall towards mid spring. Back when the birds were free range, very very few chicks below a certain size survived this time period. Through late spring and summer, there usually was not a single loss to hawks, even for the day olds.

I kept all chicks completely confined-even the chicks with mother hens- from fall-spring and they could be free range right off their hidden nests over the summer without a single loss to hawks.

 

[DesertChic]

Rudy. Here is why I don't put too much importance on combs to the point of ignoring everything else(which seems common elsewhere). Notice the feathers coming in a much darker shade than the body color on the wing? Red to the buff of his body. Also the glassy shiny feathers on middle of his back? Those are rooster feathers and color pattern coming in.

Kind of hesitate to say this...for flock health and vigor Weesie should be culled. No point in breeding from and with some diseases, recovered birds are carriers for life.

Your input is always very much appreciated, so please don't ever hesitate with me. I definitely see what you're saying about those feathers on Rudy. Yeah....another one probably destined for the freezer in the future. At least I know we'll be eating well.

As for Weesie....you echo all of my concerns. I really struggle with killing chicks because the mom in me says, "NO! You must care for and save that which is small and weak!" This is probably my greatest struggle with keeping chickens for meat. I can butcher a healthy, mature chicken for food no problem, but an innocent chick? Ugh! There is no way I would ever consider breeding her, so that's not a concern, and being so petite means she probably won't offer much for us to eat even if I let her mature.....but now that she's recovered and active and seemingly happy, killing her just challenges my innate tendencies. Whenever I discuss this with my husband he very lovingly offers, "Do you want me to do it?", but starting down that road also defies my beliefs. My problem...I must impose the solution. So I will probably spend the next few weeks battling with myself. Oh....the drama.

 

[DesertChic]

@Fire Ant Farm

Keeping my fingers crossed for you Soul Sister!

 

[Phill98]

Amazingly I managed to get all of the incubator chicks weighed and photographed yesterday for their 8-week weigh-in, and got all of the photos cropped, so.....time to share! I'll start with the boys, as most of my chicks are boys. This is Blaze. He's sweet, but small compared to most of the other boys, and his muff is bigger than what I'm going for, so he'll be a cull. Next is Chance, who looks A LOT like his daddy but seems nicer. Still a larger muff than I'd like, but I'm keeping an eye on him for other reason. And now Dutch, who was supposed to be Duchesse. LOVE the feathering, and now that his growth rate is suddenly kicking into high gear he's got my attention. He's also on the watch list. And here's my massively dense Ozzy. He's now even surpassed in size and weight my biggest Fast Five hatch cockerel that's a week older. I don't like the comb flopping over, but his body is solid muscle. And luckily his personality is friendly, though not affectionate, with no signs of aggression towards me so far. I already posted a photo of this guy, Pepper, in another post, but I'll put him here too. He weighs more than Ozzy, but his body is leaner. He's VERY friendly and would gladly accompany me anywhere if I allowed him to. Ramses - beautiful, but again smaller and less "dense" than I would like. Raymond - I really love his feathering right now, and he's developing the body shape and density I'm looking for, but now as quickly as Ozzy. And finally, Taz, who was supposed to be Tess. He's probably the most nervous bird in the chick pen and shares the strongest personality traits with daddy, but he's also got the highest growth rate since hatch. I'm watching him, but not favoring him. And I almost forgot...This is Lance, who was supposed to be Lacey. He's had a very sudden growth spurt that has me now appreciating more than just his feathering.

Ramses looks like a girl to me. Can't stop feeling it.

 

[Phill98]

I LOVE looking at your photos!!! You have such lovely birds - and I always love photos of NNs. (Still so impressed at how nice your photos turn out!!!) You've got some very promising birds there!

I'm at work, but am really anxious, because even though I criss-cross-festooned the paddocks for the chickens with a lot of surveyors tape (what I had on hand), right as I was about to walk out the door, I saw a big hawk swooping down to try to go after the NNs. He couldn't get to them and while I would hope that my extensive festooning would help, I know hawks can be very smart - I HAD to leave then, and I can't get away again until the end of the day, and I'm not sure what I'll find when I go home. (And they'll likely stay inside tomorrow - which they will HATE.)

Is there a smiley for nail-biting?! 

- Ant Farm 

Fingers crossed for them to be ok! Thankfully, here we don't have "air" predators, but if there were any of them, I wouldn't have chickens. We just couldn't keep them here because the place where I live is very open and don't have many natural places to hide. So I am realy lucky for not having them.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Fingers crossed for them to be ok! Thankfully, here we don't have "air" predators, but if there were any of them, I wouldn't have chickens. We just couldn't keep them here because the place where I live is very open and don't have many natural places to hide. So I am realy lucky for not having them.

All was well when I got back (except that my nerves were shot from worry). But just in case, I added an additional 800 feet of surveyor tape. It'll have to do until I can arrange something more permanent (and less bright). It tell myself that it's, well, Christmas-y. Maybe...





- Ant Farm

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Oh, and with regard to cockerel observation - this afternoon, Tank and Dozer were clearly working as a pair keeping watch for the flock (Dozer being the leader). Very interesting dynamic. (Bane could care less...)

- Ant Farm

 

[DesertChic]

All was well when I got back (except that my nerves were shot from worry). But just in case, I added an additional 800 feet of surveyor tape. It'll have to do until I can arrange something more permanent (and less bright). It tell myself that it's, well, Christmas-y. Maybe...





- Ant Farm

Muddy the ground and it could be a Tough Mudder obstacle endurance course. Too fun!