I have to be honest when I say the main reason (other than they were completely irresistible as day olds) I wanted a NN was to be able to see the jugular and trachea. I know, slap me now, but let me explain. I had not yet butchered a bird and was holding back because I wanted to be able to effectively slice the jugular without cutting the trachea. Under all those feathers, I had no idea where the jugular actually was. Guess what, I found out.
I digress. I wound up with two gorgeous cockerels and a pullet.
Both cockerels have since been butchered and produced nice carcasses.
Pretty Boy Floyd (PBF) was not only beautiful, he had a beautiful crow but was human aggressive and, at 13 weeks, didn’t last as long with my flock as he could have.
PBF (the white NN in front just hanging out)
Boris, bless his gorgeous heart, was just one of three accidental roos. He and the third accidental roo were butchered at 23 and 24 weeks, respectively. I did not need 5 cockerels to service my 23 girls.
Boris
My pullet, Mrs. Biggles, is a very nice bird. She is friendly and lets me hold her
after I catch her that is. Mostly she prefers to just be on her own and does well with confinement but she
loves to free range. She is not involved in the pecking order during the day, but at night there are only certain birds she will let roost by her and she definitely inflicts the pecks to enforce it.
Here is a picture of Mrs. Biggles watching my grandson play.
Not only are they disease resistant, they are also featherless on their breast, under their wings and around the vent. I purchased my NN’s at TSC, but have also noticed Murray McMurray Hatchery sells them.
Regarding the mosquitoes, my flock has been vaccinated for fowl pox, but the vaccination would not stop the mosquitoes biting them. I haven’t noticed a problem with them being bitten even though the mosquitoes think I’m a buffet. And to combat the mosquito problems my family faces I purchased some eco-friendly
Wondercide after reading about it.
A clip from Wondercide’s website:
- Suitable for use around kids and pets. Unlike traditional permethrin and pyrethroid yard products, Wondercide is suitable for children, pets, plants, and beneficial insects, even when wet!
- Not harmful to bees and beneficial insects
- Addresses the life cycle to kill adults, eggs, larvae, pupae of insects including chiggers, ants, roaches, chinch bugs, fleas, ticks, scorpions and Japanese beetles. It also repels venomous snakes, all without harming beneficial bugs like bees and butterflies.
You spray it from the top of your house, down the wall and out through the yard to your fence line. Its active ingredient is cedar oil and although chickens are not supposed to use cedar shavings for their bedding, the cedar smell in this spray is not that strong and I have seen no adverse reactions from my birds. But I have seen less mosquitoes and ants and that’s a good thing. Look it up, you won’t be sorry.
