Naked Neck/Turken Thread

[chickengr]

@Kev do you think these have broiler's blood?





they don't have impacted crops, they are piggy eaters. lol.

my NNs come from the same farm and probably are mixed with these chickens. Only my big fat NN and the black one lay jumbo size eggs, all the rest lay medium size tinted eggs. (one NN lays medium size pink eggs.)\

on the first pic you can see bella with a white leghorn, just to compare the size. the last pic is not good, but that is my wheatie. I desperately wanted a wheaten chicken and got it! bella, wheatie and meggie (red mottled) were bought as cockerels for meat (I wanted to try to raise chickens for meat but failed). luckily they turned out to be girls. and anita was supposed to be black NN and then the feathers grew up.

 

[Kev]

Ant- sorry about Paula....

How's the hatch going?

Seems Aloha NN are gaining popularity..? I do think they are very beautiful.

 

[Kev]

@Kev do you think these have broiler's blood?





they don't have impacted crops, they are piggy eaters. lol.

my NNs come from the same farm and probably are mixed with these chickens. Only my big fat NN and the black one lay jumbo size eggs, all the rest lay medium size tinted eggs. (one NN lays medium size pink eggs.)\

on the first pic you can see bella with a white leghorn, just to compare the size. the last pic is not good, but that is my wheatie. I desperately wanted a wheaten chicken and got it! bella, wheatie and meggie (red mottled) were bought as cockerels for meat (I wanted to try to raise chickens for meat but failed). luckily they turned out to be girls. and anita was supposed to be black NN and then the feathers grew up.

You say we have nice birds but I think you have nice birds!

It is a little hard to be very sure just from pictures.. The slow broiler hens I have are very big but pictures just don't show how BIG they really are....

The first two do have the 'broiler blood' look.. the wheaten one, she looks a little slender. I go back and forth on the black one being possible broiler mix.. she seems to have the long body common in broiler mixes but she doesn't seem very meaty?

The best way to tell is by picking them up and feeling the breast and legs, the breast should give the feeling of almost double the meat than a regular chicken and the legs should be very massive and hard on older bird. Compare it to the local chicken breeds- I remember you had a broody hen with a crest, right? She is "typical chicken".

Weight is a good clue, a hen weighing more than 7 lbs (3kg, is that correct?) is heavier than normal. So a hen weighing 9-10 lbs(4-4.5kg) definitely has broiler blood in it.

One last thing.. I don't know anything about European chickens.. are mottled chickens common? I ask this because white leghorns and white broiler stock usually have many genes thrown in to make them cleaner white, mottle is a common one. I wonder if the mottle on your birds could have come from the broiler stock... but if mottle is common on regular chickens, then that's not a very good hint.

by the way- egg size is genetic.. if you like the jumbo eggs and want more, hatch their eggs and save both daughters and sons for breeding. Big egg size is very easily lost so don;t be too surprised if the daughters lay regular or small.. this is why you want to save a son, he will have the big egg genes too. Either breed them with each other or back to the big egg hens.

My slow broiler hens laid small eggs as pullets... as they got older the eggs came up to a medium or just about large size. Not very big eggs at all.

 

[chickengr]

You say we have nice birds but I think you have nice birds!

It is a little hard to be very sure just from pictures.. The slow broiler hens I have are very big but pictures just don't show how BIG they really are....

The first two do have the 'broiler blood' look.. the wheaten one, she looks a little slender. I go back and forth on the black one being possible broiler mix.. she seems to have the long body common in broiler mixes but she doesn't seem very meaty?

The best way to tell is by picking them up and feeling the breast and legs, the breast should give the feeling of almost double the meat than a regular chicken and the legs should be very massive and hard on older bird. Compare it to the local chicken breeds- I remember you had a broody hen with a crest, right? She is "typical chicken".

Weight is a good clue, a hen weighing more than 7 lbs (3kg, is that correct?) is heavier than normal. So a hen weighing 9-10 lbs(4-4.5kg) definitely has broiler blood in it.

One last thing.. I don't know anything about European chickens.. are mottled chickens common? I ask this because white leghorns and white broiler stock usually have many genes thrown in to make them cleaner white, mottle is a common one. I wonder if the mottle on your birds could have come from the broiler stock... but if mottle is common on regular chickens, then that's not a very good hint.

by the way- egg size is genetic.. if you like the jumbo eggs and want more, hatch their eggs and save both daughters and sons for breeding. Big egg size is very easily lost so don;t be too surprised if the daughters lay regular or small.. this is why you want to save a son, he will have the big egg genes too. Either breed them with each other or back to the big egg hens.

My slow broiler hens laid small eggs as pullets... as they got older the eggs came up to a medium or just about large size. Not very big eggs at all.

thank you. after all the information I am not sure if they are broilers. they are not so meaty. there are some old greek heavy breeds (5-6 kg) and they are good layers too. I haven't seen them but many people have them (I am a new chicken keeper). I am not sure about mottle chickens but I have seen some. many chickens here have floppy combs, typical for mediterranean chickens. my broody is small, there are chickens like her but much bigger. she lays small eggs as well.

as for the eggs, regular size is ok with me. I just don't want small size eggs. I feel sorry for my leghorns and red sex link who are small and lay large eggs. btw, I need broodies and it seems I will need to get some broody breeds.

 

[Phill98]

You say we have nice birds but I think you have nice birds!

It is a little hard to be very sure just from pictures.. The slow broiler hens I have are very big but pictures just don't show how BIG they really are.... 

The first two do have the 'broiler blood' look..   the wheaten one, she looks a little slender. I go back and forth on the black one being possible broiler mix.. she seems to have the long body common in broiler mixes but she doesn't seem very meaty?

The best way to tell is by picking them up and feeling the breast and legs, the breast should give the feeling of almost double the meat than a regular chicken and the legs should be very massive and hard on older bird.  Compare it to the local chicken breeds-  I remember you had a broody hen with a crest, right? She is "typical chicken".

Weight is a good clue, a hen weighing more than 7 lbs (3kg, is that correct?) is heavier than normal. So a hen weighing 9-10 lbs(4-4.5kg) definitely has broiler blood in it.

One last thing..   I don't know anything about European chickens.. are mottled chickens common?  I ask this because white leghorns and white broiler stock usually have many genes thrown in to make them cleaner white,  mottle is a common one.  I wonder if the mottle on your birds could have come from the broiler stock...   but if mottle is common on regular chickens, then that's not a very good hint. 

by the way- egg size is genetic.. if you like the jumbo eggs and want more,  hatch their eggs and save both daughters and sons for breeding.   Big egg size is very easily lost so don;t be too surprised if the daughters lay regular or small.. this is why you want to save a son, he will have the big egg genes too.  Either breed them with each other or back to the big egg hens.

My slow broiler hens laid small eggs as pullets...  as they got older the eggs came up to a medium or just about large size. Not very big eggs at all. 

I wouldn't say that they have broiler in them. I have chickens that look the same and I know that there is no broiler. Alao I have some hens that reach around 11 lbs ( I don't have all of them that big, I also have some that are really small, like 5 or less lbs. These two are also the most active birds I have.

I personally don't like broilers that much, here they are poor layers and don't do well in the summer.

Edit: and that thing you said abput eggs is very helpful. I noticed that my chickens from last year lay tiny eggs, that must be their sire's fault. I have five of them and only one lays medium sized pinkish eggs

 

[Phill98]

thank you. after all the information I am not sure if they are broilers. they are not so meaty. there are some old greek heavy breeds (5-6 kg) and they are good layers too. I haven't seen them but many people have them (I am a new chicken keeper). I am not sure about mottle chickens but I have seen some. many chickens here have floppy combs, typical for mediterranean chickens. my broody is small, there are chickens like her but much bigger. she lays small eggs as well.

as for the eggs, regular size is ok with me. I just don't want small size eggs. I feel sorry for my leghorns and red sex link who are small and lay large eggs. btw, I need broodies and it seems I will need to get some broody breeds.

Your birds are beautiful. I love how leghorn eggs look, there is something about that big white eggs I like. I don't really like the brown and tan ones I have.

 

[chickengr]

Your birds are beautiful. I love how leghorn eggs look, there is something about that big white eggs I like. I don't really like the brown and tan ones I have.

thank you. what do you say about these eggs:




my marans' and araucana's eggs. I also like pink eggs from 1 NN girl but I don't have a good pic, they look tinted. my phone camera does not take good pics.

 

[Phill98]

thank you. what do you say about these eggs: my marans' and araucana's eggs. I also like pink eggs from 1 NN girl but I don't have a good pic, they look tinted. my phone camera does not take good pics.

I like them. Especially the blue one. Do you have rumpless araucanas or?!?

 

[Kev]

thank you. after all the information I am not sure if they are broilers. they are not so meaty. there are some old greek heavy breeds (5-6 kg) and they are good layers too. I haven't seen them but many people have them (I am a new chicken keeper). I am not sure about mottle chickens but I have seen some. many chickens here have floppy combs, typical for mediterranean chickens. my broody is small, there are chickens like her but much bigger. she lays small eggs as well.

as for the eggs, regular size is ok with me. I just don't want small size eggs. I feel sorry for my leghorns and red sex link who are small and lay large eggs. btw, I need broodies and it seems I will need to get some broody breeds.

Wow.. you and Phil have big chickens. In the US, the biggest chicken breed is the Jersey Giant, roosters reaching 11-15(almost 7kg) pounds and hens 9-11.

Rough typical weights for common dual purpose chicken breeds(rocks, orpingtons, etc) are around 8lbs for roosters and 6 for hens.

I have noticed a lot of cross breeds go broody.. NN x sussex, NN x wyandotte etc so maybe you can try that?

I hate small eggs.. especially from big hens lol.

 

[Kev]

I wouldn't say that they have broiler in them. I have chickens that look the same and I know that there is no broiler. Alao I have some hens that reach around 11 lbs ( I don't have all of them that big, I also have some that are really small, like 5 or less lbs. These two are also the most active birds I have.

I personally don't like broilers that much, here they are poor layers and don't do well in the summer.

Edit: and that thing you said abput eggs is very helpful. I noticed that my chickens from last year lay tiny eggs, that must be their sire's fault. I have five of them and only one lays medium sized pinkish eggs

Seems there are bigger/heavier chickens on your side of the pond. 11 pound hen is exceptional over here. Even a 11 pound rooster is considered very big over here. I do have a pullet that weighed in at 11, however she is a slow broiler hen. She probably weighs more now that she;s a year old and has gained a lot of fat.. not crazy about how fatty she is right now but oh well I am trying to increase size in a NN line.

If you can/want to, keep sons of big egg hens and breed back over her. I had a line of large NN that laid huge eggs but in attempt to reduce flock size, I merged this line with another new project line(small/medium eggs) and unfortunately all of the cross hens are laying small eggs, extremely disappointing especially as I already culled out all of the big egg line birds. Lesson learned....... Hope to get the big eggs back eventually in this line.