Naked Neck/Turken Thread

[Fire Ant Farm]

Quote:
Don't give up yet, maybe it will be a pullet, and you have time. But I would prepare yourself in case it's not. I have gotten to where I don't let myself get attached to ANY boys - I can have roosters, but one cannot keep them all as they start fighting, and eventually most are culled, processed, and put into the freezer. While this is part of my chicken keeping goals (meat), it certainly is hard to cull a chicken that has a name...

- Ant Farm

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Apoc ended up being a very nice roasting chicken. He was seven months old. (Alas, I can't imagine keeping all the boys to 6 or 7 months before processing - I would lose my mind....)




- Ant Farm

 

[ForrestGump]

Tandy B - Your chick is pullet like, but the wattles at 5 weeks seem rather large for a pullet. My cockerels have always have much more red on the face at that age. A few more weeks and you should know for sure.

Fire Ant Farm - Apoc looks DELICIOUS

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Tandy B - Your chick is pullet like, but the wattles at 5 weeks seem rather large for a pullet. My cockerels have always have much more red on the face at that age. A few more weeks and you should know for sure.

Fire Ant Farm - Apoc looks DELICIOUS

Oh, yeah, he IS - very pleased (thanks for the brining info, @DesertChic ). This is the first time I've processed a bird as old as this, and the dark meat looks like duck meat, and is SOOOOO good (I couldn't help but keep eating big bits as I was dismantling and putting parts in the fridge). He ran around a lot - I should know, I spent a lot of time rounding him up when he would escape and try to fight with the other cockerels through the fences - EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Everything I know about catching and handling a rooster who doesn't want to be caught, I learned from Apoc... And this was BEFORE he started whaling on me...

- Ant Farm

 

[DesertChic]

Apoc ended up being a very nice roasting chicken. He was seven months old. (Alas, I can't imagine keeping all the boys to 6 or 7 months before processing - I would lose my mind....)




- Ant Farm

All I can say is...

 

[DesertChic]

Farm supply store. I have no idea which hatchery they pull from.



I'm guessing at the 4-5 weeks. I picked up some birds from the pullet bins 3.5 weeks ago. This one was mostly fluffy down with the wings coming in. I can't keep him if it's a boy. City requires us to be on 1/2 acre or larger to own a rooster and we are on .40

. This bird is so super sweet I'm really sad about it. I am lucky that the farm supply will take him back and try to re-home him - I just shouldn't let myself get attached so quickly.

Ok - So there are a couple cockerel votes and a pullet vote. As I am trying to learn more about the breed, I understand they develop differently. Besides the pink larger waddles and comb (which in other birds I've had was immediate give away), what else says "Cockerel" to you? Or 1TurkenLover, what says "Pullet". The only thing that I was clinging to as "pullet" was that the tail was growing in the same as the other ladies - where other cockerels I've had seemed to not grow their tail feathers for awhile. Again, I don't know how these guys develop and that's what I am trying to learn. I've tried to research and there is not as much info as I'd like.

Thank you guys for taking the time to answer thus far - and for dashing my hopes.

It's the height of the comb + the length of the wattles that screams "cockerel" to me. All of my NNs that looked like this around 4-5 weeks have turned out to be cockerels. And I learned from my hatch a few months ago that rate of feather growth simply is not an accurate indicator with this breed. One of my fastest birds to feather out turned out to be a cockerel.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Quote:
Oh, yeah. Turned out AMAZING!!!! I just did a cup of salt in about 1.5 gallons of water for the brine, nothing fancy, and because my week was crazy at work (including working until 1AM several days), I only just cooked him tonight - a 6-7 day rest/brine.

Just stood there at the stove eating bits off the carcass like a caveman (cave woman?) Yuuuuummmmmmmmm.......

You know, we keep wanting to push the weight higher, and I understand that, but this is honestly the largest chicken I've ever cooked, and while I don't mind, I'm not sure I HAVE to have a chicken this big, and certainly no bigger. But I do wish my girls were bigger - I think part of why Snape is being so hard on my girls' backs is because he's so much bigger than they are. Last time I weighed them, they were 4.5-5lbs each.

- Ant Farm

 

[Kassaundra]

I have zero experience with NN's, so I am coming to the experts. Super sweet bird about 4-5 weeks. Cockerel??? Bought as a pullet, but you know how that goes. Gotta love those soft, sweet eyes.

At 5 weeks w/ those legs, comb and wattles I'd say boy too. Take one of your known girls (any breed) of a similar age and compare the legs.(boys will be noticeably thicker) Also go out to the group of them (in the brooder or yard) keep your eye on this one, make an unexpected noise (like a whistle) see who pops their heads up (most likely boys)

 

[DesertChic]

Oh, yeah. Turned out AMAZING!!!! I just did a cup of salt in about 1.5 gallons of water for the brine, nothing fancy, and because my week was crazy at work (including working until 1AM several days), I only just cooked him tonight - a 6-7 day rest/brine.

Just stood there at the stove eating bits off the carcass like a caveman (cave woman?) Yuuuuummmmmmmmm.......

You know, we keep wanting to push the weight higher, and I understand that, but this is honestly the largest chicken I've ever cooked, and while I don't mind, I'm not sure I HAVE to have a chicken this big, and certainly no bigger. But I do wish my girls were bigger - I think part of why Snape is being so hard on my girls' backs is because he's so much bigger than they are. Last time I weighed them, they were 4.5-5lbs each.

- Ant Farm

I know what you mean. I watched my 11 lb Bielefelder rooster trying to mount my little 2 lb Silkie this morning. It was brutal. But I do like nice, big chickens for meal. The largest one I ever cooked up was about 5.5 lbs processed and we only had one thigh left over at the end of the meal...and there's only 3 of us. Anything smaller than that and they get eaten clean down to the bone with barely anything left for making broth.

 

[DesertChic]

At 5 weeks w/ those legs, comb and wattles I'd say boy too. Take one of your known girls (any breed) of a similar age and compare the legs.(boys will be noticeably thicker) Also go out to the group of them (in the brooder or yard) keep your eye on this one, make an unexpected noise (like a whistle) see who pops their heads up (most likely boys)

And most of my boys are just friendlier than the girls at this age. While most of the pullets keep their distance, the cockerels always run right to me, want to be pet, perch on my arm or shoulder....that's why it's so hard for me NOT to get attached to them.