Naked Neck/Turken Thread

[cielo]

I have had the same experience. It amazes me how fast and big my naked necks have grown. Anybody have suggestions for crossing in a breed for even better meat qualities?
This is my nn roo Gobble. He is about 3 months old in this picture.

I am looking to add Turkens to my flock as meat birds. I have one Turken and she has outgrown my other breeds by jumps and bounds. I'd like to add quality birds from breeders not hatchery (which is where I got my one Turken and she still out grew the others)

Does anyone know where I can purchase chicks from? I don't have a bator nor do I have a broody. I would like chicks in April so I can raise them up with my other meat choices and my turkey poults that have already been ordered. I want to compare the growth rate of 4 breeds at the same time.

I am also looking for Plymouth Rock, Astrolorp, (sp)and Delaware. If you know of quality breeders of these breeds I am also interested.

TIA

 

[drumstick diva]

cielo, I love your kitchen cabinets

 

[flower]

cielo Your rooster is gorgeous and a good size for 3 months. His feet are hugh and I bet he will be a BIG BOY ! Since you live where it is cooler, you could use a Brahma to cross him with but I would sure use him for breeding with his own kind also. His neck appears very naked which means that he has two genes for nakedness. If you have hen with similar nakedness you are quite lucky as it is difficult to find this bird with both genes. Maybe I an not seeing him correctly. Keep posting new pictures please.

 

[pgpoultry]

Definitely agree with Flower. Brahma X NN is a very good cross, grows quickly and has a sweet disposition. As for the taste of the meat, I don't have a clue (vegetarian for many years).

 

[Naked Neck Kevi]

Going to get a few NN hens today. Should I try and stay away from the Bowties. The woman said she has both, but they all came from the same hatch. My Rooster is a clean Neck and would like to keep that going. Dont Like the Bowties look.....

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Going to get a few NN hens today. Should I try and stay away from the Bowties. The woman said she has both, but they all came from the same hatch. My Rooster is a clean Neck and would like to keep that going. Dont Like the Bowties look.....

Then is she has cleaned necked birds, by all means, get them!! You don't find them that easily so take advantage of it. THEN post pics when you get home!!

 

[Naked Neck Kevi]

So If I get them and put them in with my clean neck Rooster than I should get clean neck chicks? Or is that gene still in there and maybe will come out? Her birds are 1 year old and my Rooster is 1 1/2. So we could find out pretty soon. She is just looking to thin her flock. Any suggestions on what I should be looking for.

 

[Kev]

I agree, get these! Natural total bare necks are not common. It's often said that these are the 'pure ones' for naked neck but that's not true. Most birds pure for the NN gene have bowties, just very small with few feathers on each side of neck. I have not seen anything on genetics of total bare necks, from my breedings it seems to be a recessive to bowties. But I didn't get around to breeding bare neck with bare neck or bare neck with small bowtie and see what percentages the chicks come up with.

I'd be very interested in seeing your chick results!

for a little more detail on my experience: tried breeding one group of hatchery stock with sole goal of getting bare necks. After couple generations it did not happen, did get birds with just one or two feathers on each side of the bowtie but that's as far as it went. Never got any bare neck birds from many, many sources- mutts, backyard breeders, show breeders. Then I got through an egg trade, a group of very obviously backyard mutts- had everything; crests, leg feathering, all comb types etc. Two had total bare necks. All of my occasional bare neck chick can be traced back to this group, I don't even need to breed down the bow tie size, it just shows up in hatches if two parents descended from this group are bred together, even if the parents have big bowties with feathers covering all of their front neck. I still have not got any total bare necks from lines that have zero blood from this one group(and it's been a while- I got that one group 20 yrs ago..). That's why I suspect it's something recessive and a separate gene from the "main" naked neck gene.

I would check the comb type, if they have rose or especially pea, there's a chance the total bare necks is side effect of pea(it can reduce the overall number of feathers on a bird, so combine that with NN, the birds can look "nakeder" than crosses with singles). If they have single combs, then they have the "true" bare neck due to NN plus this something mysterious that makes them lack the bowtie. I would not pass up a nice hen with bowtie from that person, because she might be carrying the no bowtie gene.

My guess, IF what my thoughts on total bare necks are about right:

No bowtie roo bred with bowtie hen carrying the no bowtie gene: 1/2 bowties, 1/2 no bowties.

No bowtie bred with no bowtie: 100% no bowties.

Would be interesting to see if the gene is sex linked or not... breeding is the only way to find out.

 

[Christie Rhae]

I got my first green egg from one of my little naked neck green egger girls! Thank you Lisa! (DipsyDoodleDoo)
I am not sure if it is the frizzle or the smooth feather girl. Look how colorful my egg cartons are getting!
from left to right pullet eggs....
marans, NN, black ameraucana, wheaten ameraucana and above is a barred rock hen egg,

 

[Naked Neck Kevi]

just got home......... got three new NN hens 1 year olds. No true bare necks. Two have pretty full bowties and one has just one feather on the side. I went for just the better, healthier looking one versus the bare necks. Two are reds and one is black. Question, should I go ahead and put them in at night or do it in the day light. Someone told me one time it is easier in the dark. They just wake up and do their thing. I know this can sometimes get brutal. What are your thoughts?