Naked Neck/Turken Thread

[Turk Raphael]

Pretty, pretty girl!!!!!

They all have feathered legs. I've accepted that I will have feathered legs in my marans and OEs, but I don't particularly like them, and don't want them in my NNs. I could cross with Cornish, but the Ameraucanas would give me green eggs, too.

SG NNs from Dunlap and Aloha NNs from alohachickens. Hatch date for the SG NNs is February 22, and hatch date for the Alohas is Feb 20. It'll be a busy week. I have another brooder to build because I haven't moved the 5 week olds outside yet. If the SGs don't impress me enough, they'll end up almost all culled like a batch of meat chickens, though I may still keep good pullets. If they do impress me, then maybe I'll keep a cockerel. But I'm likely considering keeping two boys from my two home hatches (Big Boy and the little NN with rose comb - who I want to name Khan because he reminds me of Ricardo Montalban in that role).








Too much of a good thing is still a LOT of work. I just got an Igloo drinking cooler form Lowes that I'm going to try to adapt as a gravity-fed "automatic" drinker - with a Y-adapter so it feeds both an "open" waterer with a float valve AND a set of horizontal nipples and drinking cups along a PVC pipe. Idea is to use a five gallon one for smaller groups, 10 gallon one for bigger groups. I would still need to fill with a hose occasionally, but would not have the amount of work I have now refilling and rinsing, etc, and the water will stay cleaner and cooler in the summer (and I can toss ice chunks in there). I need to make things as simple as possible for chicken sitters as well. I run misters for the hottest parts of the summer already, and there's only so many hoses I can criss-cross across an acre before I lose my mind...

- Ant Farm

By using those coolers as 'water towers', you can also put in large blocks of ice early in the morning of hot days and keep the water VERY cool for long periods of time. That would certainly make me feel more comfortable during miserably hot weather periods...I'll be watching to see how you do it....Just might copy your ideas...jajajajaja

 

[draye]

Well Junior decided to give a go at me this morning.

It will be a while but he'll probably try it again. His daddy did, but now he doesn't even look at me twice. Others though can just walk by his run and he jumps at them.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Quote:
That was my thought EXACTLY!!! Folks describe ice lasting days in these things, outside. I've tried ice in regular waterers, but it doesn't last long at all before the water starts to become warm.

I am using information I got on the internet from folks who have adapted these coolers for home brewing (you can google "Igloo cooler mashtun" and find lots of info), so they had already figured out for me how to remove the spigot and how large that hole is and the size of the pipe nipple needed, and there were how-tos regarding washers and other bits of hardware. Once I figure it out, I will post in detail how I did it in case someone wants to try it (maybe in a separate article?). I plan on having it worked out well before it starts to get hot here. My property is sloped, so I am suspecting that my real hurdle may be building good strong level stands for the coolers to have them elevated - it's what runs through my mind while I am sitting at traffic lights and waiting for the elevator...

- Ant Farm

 

[Colly1470]

Hey everyone! I just ordered my first Naked Neck! We have a small flock....a Silkie hen, 2 Orpington hens, and an Orpington rooster. We had originally bought the number of birds we could fit in our little coop, but more turned out to be boys than we could keep....so I got the go ahead to get a few more birds. And one of the chicks will be a naked neck. Anybody have any from Cackle?

 

[draye]

Hey everyone! I just ordered my first Naked Neck! We have a small flock....a Silkie hen, 2 Orpington hens, and an Orpington rooster. We had originally bought the number of birds we could fit in our little coop, but more turned out to be boys than we could keep....so I got the go ahead to get a few more birds. And one of the chicks will be a naked neck. Anybody have any from Cackle?

A lot of mine are descendants from Cackle stock. I've still got one hen left from Cackle, she'll be 5 in either March or April.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Hey everyone! I just ordered my first Naked Neck! We have a small flock....a Silkie hen, 2 Orpington hens, and an Orpington rooster. We had originally bought the number of birds we could fit in our little coop, but more turned out to be boys than we could keep....so I got the go ahead to get a few more birds. And one of the chicks will be a naked neck. Anybody have any from Cackle?

Welcome to the thread, and

You'll love your naked neck(s).

(Mine are from Ideal, but others can comment on Cackle's stock).

- Ant Farm

 

[Colly1470]

No need to welcome me to BYC lol. This is my second account...first one broke. I've been around the forums for a few years.

 

[draye]

Out if the 80 chicks that hatched, well two disappeared. No sign of them whatsoever, but that's happened before.

So I was left with 78 chicks, figures I wouldn't sell them all, but that's just what I did, all 78 sold, only three cuxtkners too.

 

[Kev]

Quote:
Oh yea that's a very good reason. Leg feathering is extremely difficult to clean out of a line after a feather leg cross. Part of the problem besides it's multigenetic and some are recessive, some feather legs will have clean legs but throw a whole lot of feather legs. It still shows up in american stock cemanis for example...

I don't recommend EE.. if you remember, tried that and oh man those were the worst feather pickers and cannibals ever. This rooster cannot grow a full tail due to EE brood mates nearly killing him by picking out his feathers and were working on his bloodied tail bump and vent- did not think he was going to make it.




Looks like a ratty or molting tail but that's all he can grow. She got picked too but not as severely(lost all feathers on back, tail and the vent was starting to get red, not yet bloodied but was well on the way if I had not rescued them) so she made a full recovery.

I know there are others who don't have problems with EE but I got a bunch of private messages and a couple public comments about having problems with their EE also. Never again...




Quote:
KHAAAAAAAAAAN!!!11!!! The even share the bared chests, haha! And a small bib too. (um are there ant lion larvae around your yard....?)

Quote:

Oh yeah.... watering is a headache for a whole series of pens. I too look forward to seeing what you come up.. mostly use pails- the easiest for me to manage on a daily basis but it IS overly messy and it gets tiring to pick them out for cleaning/freshening up and yeah, dragging the hoses around haha. Would be more than open to something that takes less work and keeps water cleaner for a longer period of time.

I'd be interested in how the drinking cups work for you.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

No need to welcome me to BYC lol. This is my second account...first one broke. I've been around the forums for a few years.

Oh, well.... Welcome anyway!

Quote:
Oh yea that's a very good reason. Leg feathering is extremely difficult to clean out of a line after a feather leg cross. Part of the problem besides it's multigenetic and some are recessive, some feather legs will have clean legs but throw a whole lot of feather legs. It still shows up in american stock cemanis for example...

I don't recommend EE.. if you remember, tried that and oh man those were the worst feather pickers and cannibals ever. This rooster cannot grow a full tail due to EE brood mates nearly killing him by picking out his feathers and were working on his bloodied tail bump and vent- did not think he was going to make it.




Looks like a ratty or molting tail but that's all he can grow. She got picked too but not as severely(lost all feathers on back, tail and the vent was starting to get red, not yet bloodied but was well on the way if I had not rescued them) so she made a full recovery.

I know there are others who don't have problems with EE but I got a bunch of private messages and a couple public comments about having problems with their EE also. Never again...




Quote:
KHAAAAAAAAAAN!!!11!!! The even share the bared chests, haha! And a small bib too. (um are there ant lion larvae around your yard....?)

Quote:

Oh yeah.... watering is a headache for a whole series of pens. I too look forward to seeing what you come up.. mostly use pails- the easiest for me to manage on a daily basis but it IS overly messy and it gets tiring to pick them out for cleaning/freshening up and yeah, dragging the hoses around haha. Would be more than open to something that takes less work and keeps water cleaner for a longer period of time.

I'd be interested in how the drinking cups work for you.
I remembered your EE feather picking issue - I have no interest in pursuing EEs. I got the weights and photos for the TankxGNH chicks at 5 weeks (just haven't gotten the data charted and ready to post - I may wait and just post at 6 weeks, but Big Boy is 25+ ounces) - I noticed one of the pullets has some picking on her upper back. I think the issue is Goodwin's kids, who are a bit of a nightmare. I am totally considering culling the very badly behaving ones that I'm pretty sure are boys RIGHT NOW.

Yeah , he looks even more like Khan now that he's approaching 3 weeks - I need to get another photo of him. Little guy is a total stud.

Watering is what I have nightmares about especially in the summer here. I'll let you guys know how it goes...

- Ant Farm