Naked Neck/Turken Thread

[cactusrota]

Wow, thanks for the info!

They've been around here so long they're considered a local breed, but I've searched everywhere and bantam NN's are unheard of here. That, combined with her feather, leg and egg colouring aswell as her 5 toes leads me to believe she must be a mix. But I don't know where she came from, so maybe she was bred that way on purpose by a breeder.

There weren't any NN's available when I ordered my new chicks, so I got Koekoeks (another local breed similar to barred rocks) and New Hampshires, but if she gets on with them well enough and the roos aren't too big for her I might try crossing her with a Koekoeks.

Seeing all the pics here of naked neck chicks is getting me excited for the hatch, they do make the cutest little babies

Be careful about breeding her with roosters that are much bigger than her. Hens only lay eggs in the size that they lay them. If you introduce bigger genetics, the chicks could be too big for the egg and cause development and hatching problems.

 

[chameleon]

Be careful about breeding her with roosters that are much bigger than her. Hens only lay eggs in the size that they lay them. If you introduce bigger genetics, the chicks could be too big for the egg and cause development and hatching problems.

Thanks, I definitely won't breed her with a roo that is too big, but 2 of the Koekoek chicks I got are much smaller that the rest and one looks like it might be a roo. I'll see how they turn out, but I'm wondering if the breeder didn't give me bantams by accident. I'll only put them together if they're close to the same size.

I should add, I don't have other bantams to compare to, but I think her eggs are pretty big for such a small chicken. I compared them to store bought medium eggs and they are the same size.
Hers is the white one.

 

[Kev]

Be careful about breeding her with roosters that are much bigger than her. Hens only lay eggs in the size that they lay them. If you introduce bigger genetics, the chicks could be too big for the egg and cause development and hatching problems.

Personal observation- this has not been an issue even with extreme size differences and having to use AI for fertility. Pretty consistent over the years with many different breeds/mixes etc.

It happens quite often in mixed breed backyards also. almost inevitable there's a silkie, d'uccle, cochin with EE, buff orp or RIR..

 

[DesertChic]

Be careful about breeding her with roosters that are much bigger than her. Hens only lay eggs in the size that they lay them. If you introduce bigger genetics, the chicks could be too big for the egg and cause development and hatching problems.

Personal observation- this has not been an issue even with extreme size differences and having to use AI for fertility. Pretty consistent over the years with many different breeds/mixes etc.

It happens quite often in mixed breed backyards also. almost inevitable there's a silkie, d'uccle, cochin with EE, buff orp or RIR..

My little 28 oz Silkie has been routinely bred by my 11 lb. Bielefelder without any hatching problems for the chicks. The only thing I've noticed is that the "Bielkies" are usually the first eggs to hatch, but all of the chicks have proven healthy and vigorous....and turn into really lovely, outstanding layers. And they're surprisingly meaty too. They're all larger than Mama, but not not quite large fowl or bantam.





Edit: On a side note....I take one day off and had six pages of posts to read. Wow! You guys have been busy! Love all the chick photos!

 

[Kev]

Thanks so much for this! You are such a treasure mine of knowledge! Yes the cockerel I've been asking about has a neck like this too with dark legs, his fibro is hard to see too. So the id can be bred out then? It's not dominant? And the right hens would be any that are slate legged (given that they have other winning qualities)? Or fibro? Great.

The cockerel I originally asked about is for the chop, he started picking on one of my favourite hens today. Thank you eveyone for your help and advice. I let his good looks get in the way of my judgement for too long.

It's great how busy this thread is, I have a lot of catching up reading to do - again!

Ancel

Id is a sex linked dominant.. just like barring is, if you are familiar with how barring works. Actually you can use a barred vs non barred chart to remember or understand how Id inherits..

the good thing about dealing with dominant genes is you can see it and is very straightforward to get rid of in a line, if desired. In some ways, it being sex linked makes it even easier- like breeding that one cockerel with one dose Id over slate leg hens and you'll get non Id chicks in both sexes... keep those and you won't have to worry about Id again..

Sorry about that roo, he IS abnormally aggressive. Nothing you did caused it in some way either. The not so fun part of the hobby is having to cull.

 

[Kev]

Quote:
Thanks and those are nice looking birds!

@islafarm here are great examples of how fibro is affected by other genes. Those probably have fibro from the silkie mother, but at least due to *barring and possibly Id, also the skin looks normal.

*barring also removes dark pigments from the skin. It is very widely used in meat market chickens(especially white ones) to help make a "cleaner looking" skin on the carcass.

 

[DesertChic]

Thanks and those are nice looking birds!

@islafarm here are great examples of how fibro is affected by other genes. Those probably have fibro from the silkie mother, but at least due to *barring and possibly Id, also the skin looks normal.

*barring also removes dark pigments from the skin. It is very widely used in meat market chickens(especially white ones) to help make a "cleaner looking" skin on the carcass.

The hens are still actively laying, but I did butcher the cockerels. Their legs were blue and their skin was "tinted" blue in several areas, with other areas, such as along the keel, appearing more white to yellow. The wing tips were the most darkly pigmented verging on dark grey, but not quite black, and the wings themselves were rather greyish in appearance, as were the legs closest to the feet. Very interesting! Having that (frozen) carcass to examine for comparison to the pure Silkie is really helping to clear this up for me. (Do you see that little light bulb above my head, Kev? That's thanks to you...again.)

 

[Phill98]

@DesertChic do you have some photos of those partially fm ones?

I mean a carcass of them.

 

[Kev]

Quote:

I do see the light bulb above you!

They would have been darker without the barring.

Have you noticed the shading is the same on both sides? Specific muscles/tissues on both sides. I think that is pretty cool, as it it were an anatomy lesson of some sort. It is more obvious on carcasses that aren't so dark, with a combination of 'normal' and tinted insides.

 

[DesertChic]

@DesertChic do you have some photos of those partially fm ones?

I mean a carcass of them.

Right now it's frozen, shrink wrapped and labeled, concealing much of the coloring. As soon as I thaw him, I'll post a photo of the carcass.