Naked Neck/Turken Thread

[Kev]

my brahma mix roo has long feathers and very often falls down when steps on them, lol. I like to watch how silly he is.

as for jumbo NN line, I am sorry for being too far to give you some eggs. but you have nice heavy breeds you can cross with your NNs.

if you cross NN hens with heavy meaty roos wouldn't most chicks be bigger size?

Yeah! eggs from your hen would be so nice.. There is a hatchery that has the broiler size NN however their minimum order is 100 chicks.. a little too many for me to handle.. so close, yet so far!

I did a cross last year.. am hoping to get second generation this spring.. hoping some of them will turn out big....

 

[DesertChic]

How interesting! I had never heard of this in all my years... always good to learn a new thing every day.

I'm curious- giving her aspirin was the only thing you did? No other alternations- moving to different location, messing/blocking up the nest etc?



Congrats! I think Fire Ant tied up their legs to deal with that issue? I saw in a video somewhere short bungee cords were used over the top the cone to keep the bird in... that seemed clever.

Should try to get the weights on the hatchery turkens for comparsion with those weights, the cockerel is very actively breeding the pullets(a bit TOO active.. far more than I am used to seeing... complete with screaming, fighting pullets...) and at least one pullet has been laying pretty decent sized eggs for their body size. I'm guessing those have gone down the egg layer selection for a bit... just noticed my smallest turken roo looks pretty big compared to the hatchery cockerel.

I've spent the past four days trying to break her broodiness. I moved her to an isolation pen, then a dog pen with a metal floor, tried keeping her in a broody box for several hours...she is a very persistent broody. Every time I'd let her go she'd run a lap around the yard and then right back into her favorite nesting box, sometimes even kicking out another hen that was laying there. A couple hours after giving her a baby aspirin she was back to her old self.

My husband and I were talking about using bungee cords on the cone. I'm also wondering if it will be as much of a problem with larger birds. These two were pretty darn skinny, but either way I'll definitely need to make some modifications. I felt a bit like I was living in a Bugs Bunny cartoon yelling, "No, No, No! Down, Down, Down!" All I was missing was the baseball bat to hammer away at them with. My son just stayed in the kitchen yelling through the window, "I am NOT coming out there to help you!".

And I know what you mean about the active breeding habits. My boys are really starting to drive the girls crazy. I think they sense that spring is fast approaching.

 

[DesertChic]

I may have spoken too soon about the effectiveness of that aspirin. I found Lily back in the nesting box tonight when I went out to lock everybody up.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Today was my first day using a cone to butcher a couple birds without my husband's assistance securing the birds. It was an adventure. Those buggers sure are good at twisting out of that cone, but it was still a success and I got both of them processed quickly and without too much fuss. Here are the first two culls from my last hatch.

Congrats on the solo cull. If I had let my 14 week old small boys grow out further, I suspect they would be sized similarly to yours (at least the littlest ones, who were close in size to my girls, who are in the 4-4.8 lb range at 20 weeks).

Almost every single NN cockerel flipped themselves out of the cone when I culled (sometimes after cutting the vessels - flying blood!!!!). The second to last, after he almost got out, I wrapped his feet together gently with large versions of these gear ties that I was already using to dunk them in the scalder once dead (see photo below). Last one I secured the feet first thing once in the cone. Totally solved the problem, and they couldn't leverage themselves out.



I finished the coop! I finished the coop!!!!! I moved the Naked Necks to their new home this evening to explore a little bit before bed (Snape wouldn't let me pick him up/catch him until dark, naturally). They're piled in a corner of the run sleeping right now (it's how they slept in the tractor). I figure they'll eventually figure out that they have a sheltered henhouse with roosts eventually...



Dumbledore went back outside today - he's looking good (though he has a little weight to regain) and is growing his tail feathers (and other ones) back.


My 15 Cream Legbar eggs are in lock down, so tomorrow night I put together the brooder in the mud room. My first hatch, no idea how it'll go... Then I get maybe a couple days rest before I start building growout/breeding tractors and A-frames for roosters.

- Ant Farm

 

[Pensmaster]

Congrats on the solo cull. If I had let my 14 week old small boys grow out further, I suspect they would be sized similarly to yours (at least the littlest ones, who were close in size to my girls, who are in the 4-4.8 lb range at 20 weeks). Almost every single NN cockerel flipped themselves out of the cone when I culled (sometimes after cutting the vessels - flying blood!!!!). The second to last, after he almost got out, I wrapped his feet together gently with large versions of these gear ties that I was already using to dunk them in the scalder once dead (see photo below). Last one I secured the feet first thing once in the cone. Totally solved the problem, and they couldn't leverage themselves out.

Hello Ant Farm and others that might be interested, I've used the cone as well a while back. Never got the hang of them. Cone too small chicken too big, chicken too small cone too big. Chickens get out chickens flap it is a mess. Even tried tying them in. Got to looking around and decided to use a feed bag. Cut a small hole in the bottom corner without cutting into the strings. Get a hold of the bird feet first putting the bird through the bag with head going into the hole if the hole is not big enough be ready with scissors to trim a little larger. Wrap the bird securely twisting the bag around him and his legs all the while hanging onto the legs. Very easy to do once he's in the bag. Using a long enough piece of bailing wire that is already attached to a fence or post circle the wire around the legs below the feet twice. The weight of bird will hold him in place as the wire acts like a noose and will continue to pull. Attach the bailing wire to the fence to hold in place. NEVER let go of the legs until he's secure to fence. Your hands are in the bag for part of this and their toes are weapons as you know. Proceed the way you would usually butcher from there. Make sure he's at a comfortable height for you. I like their head at my eye height as I can see what I'm doing when making the cut. When attaching the bird put his back to the fence. His beak will be facing you. I also make the cut from inside the throat which is much easier than slicing from outside. At this point I go to get the next bird and the bleeding does not get on me that way. Be sure the knife is sharp at all times. Much easier on the bird that way. Hope this helps.

 

[Goosegrrl]

Hello Ant Farm and others that might be interested,


Proceed the way you would usually butcher from there. Make sure he's at a comfortable height for you. I like their head at my eye height as I can see what I'm doing when making the cut. When attaching the bird put his back to the fence. His beak will be facing you. I also make the cut from inside the throat which is much easier than slicing from outside. At this point I go to get the next bird and the bleeding does not get on me that way. Be sure the knife is sharp at all times. Much easier on the bird that way.

Hope this helps.

Is it possible that you could further explain the inside the throat cut to those of us that have never used that method?
I, as most others, have always(since childhood) used the external cut, and while effective it can still be messy if there is any wiggle of the fowl at all.
Much appreciated.

 

[Pensmaster]

Is it possible that you could further explain the inside the throat cut to those of us that have never used that method? 

I, as most others, have always(since childhood) used the external cut, and while effective it can still be messy if there is any wiggle of the fowl at all. 

Much appreciated. 

Use gloves when making this cut at least on the hand that holds the chickens head. Small 3" sharp pocket knife does best here. The trick is to get the blade into throat once that is done follow the tongue to the back of throat keeping the sharp edge pointing towards the neck bone and the blunt edge of knife pushing on the inside of skin once there make a slice toward the neck bone the veins run along the neck. I find it best to do both sides. Make sure the knife stays on the neck while making the cut I have had it slice though the other side before and it weren't for my glove my hand would be sliced. As I mentioned the knife must be kept sharp for ease of this operation. This took me a couple of times to get it right but I will never do it from the outside again. You can hang a weight from the beak to allow for better bleed. I have only tried that a couple times and found I did not secure the weight good enough. Sometimes a second cut is necessary if the knife is getting dull.

They will still wiggle can't get around that. I'm usually off getting the next bird bagged so I don't stay in the way of wiggle. Wrapped in the feed bag doesn't allow for much wiggle though. I usually have four going at once and that allows enough time that the first one has stopped.

 

[flower]

Here's one of my birds post-processing:

OUTSTANDING !

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Hello Ant Farm and others that might be interested,

I've used the cone as well a while back. Never got the hang of them. Cone too small chicken too big, chicken too small cone too big. Chickens get out chickens flap it is a mess. Even tried tying them in.

Got to looking around and decided to use a feed bag. Cut a small hole in the bottom corner without cutting into the strings. Get a hold of the bird feet first putting the bird through the bag with head going into the hole if the hole is not big enough be ready with scissors to trim a little larger. Wrap the bird securely twisting the bag around him and his legs all the while hanging onto the legs. Very easy to do once he's in the bag. Using a long enough piece of bailing wire that is already attached to a fence or post circle the wire around the legs below the feet twice. The weight of bird will hold him in place as the wire acts like a noose and will continue to pull. Attach the bailing wire to the fence to hold in place. NEVER let go of the legs until he's secure to fence. Your hands are in the bag for part of this and their toes are weapons as you know.

Proceed the way you would usually butcher from there. Make sure he's at a comfortable height for you. I like their head at my eye height as I can see what I'm doing when making the cut. When attaching the bird put his back to the fence. His beak will be facing you. I also make the cut from inside the throat which is much easier than slicing from outside. At this point I go to get the next bird and the bleeding does not get on me that way. Be sure the knife is sharp at all times. Much easier on the bird that way.

Hope this helps.

I have three different sized cones. Because I'm compulsive like that...

But seriously, the issue was not the size of the cone, it was that the birds could get a grip on the lip of the cone with their feet to lever themselves out. Restraining the legs/feet together prevents them from getting this leverage - very easy.

- Ant Farm

 

[Pensmaster]

I have three different sized cones. Because I'm compulsive like that... 

But seriously, the issue was not the size of the cone, it was that the birds could get a grip on the lip of the cone with their feet to lever themselves out. Restraining the legs/feet together prevents them from getting this leverage - very easy. 

- Ant Farm 

I only had one cone and was always having problems with over the top or through the bottom escapes. After using bags it just made things so much easier for me that I did not pursue more cones. And there's alway a surplus of bags.