Nankin Discussion Thread

[chikincrazee]

Hi Richard you are going to laugh at this but the group of cockerels came from the parents from a box of nankin chicks we bought from a gentleman at a swap...Mary Ann Harley wanted to know the lines for the club and they are now known as the iowa box group....my son showed them extensively and when we did face other nankins his won BB...the hens turned out lovely we have 3 and the two boys are a nice rich red color now the new boys about 4 have that rich red color which is correct and the others have more of the blonder color so they would be hen breeding colors i guess but they are all nice birds starting to crow and pick on my poor silkies who are three times the size of them....i have a website with some pics of the iowa box group on there...Leroy is one of the dads and the hen my son is holding is one of the moms she went BB at Illini show at Belvidere...BB Ohio Nationals...RB IL/MO and one of the dads captured a BB at one show...but they all had the spot on their heads that was mentioned earlier and all the chicks do and none have mottling or lacing in their feathering.. if .you are interested you can have them for the price of shipping as we want to promote the breed to keep it from going extinct...we will be breeding a few more in the warmer weather to get ready for Crossroads as they want to have a qualifying meet for the APA but they are recognized in the ABA and i think i could talk my son the chicken baron into sending off hatching eggs as they are fertile little layers...i keep mine in a heated as in 50 degree coop as i dont want them to suffer from frostbite and they repay us in scads of eggs.....Chris

 

[phasianidae]

I really like Nankins

 

[sunket77]

is anyone familiar with Purely Poultry?? I was checking out their wesite and found they have NANKINS! Has anyone ever ordered from them and can vouch for the quality of their chickens like for show? Thanks!

 

[GardenerGal]

The birds described as Nankins @ Purely Poultry are too light colored, especially the cocks.

Nankin cocks should not be buff or tan, or light red-orange. They should be a deep chestnut red-brown, with black tails. Hens should be a lighter red-buff color. Both should have slate OR white legs (the U.K. standard allows white legs; U.S. seems bent on slate.).

It is really hard to breed true, even with pure bred stock. My 10-year-old original Nankin hen passed away today. I'd bred her for nine years and she brought up so many broods of chicks. The cocks all have good coloring and conformation, but the hens almost all had substandard color (mostly because of black pencilling/lacing on the back feathers, too-dark plumage). The one good pullet I got from her died of Marek's last year. It's been frustrating.

What Ideal does is a shame. They should not be trying to present mixed breed birds as pure breds. Especially with an endangered breed such as the Nankin.

Wish we could get breeding stock from England.

Here's a photo of my first cock and hen, whose coloring fits the old standard (legs are very light slate, but "legit"):

http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1171469583038181576QoGBMc

 

[franciscreek]

Gardnergal,
Im sorry to hear about the loss of your hen. She sounds like a great ol bird. Where did you get your original stock? How many Nankins do you keep?
Have you seen any of the british birds recently that you liked? Most of the birds i have seen in the past couple years are very light and rather large. I have only seen pics from three breeders there, they were very consistent in regards to type and color. Do you know of any U.K. breeders that have the color you refered to? I like to contact them if you have any contact information.
Franciscreek

 

[GardenerGal]

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Thanks for your kind words, Franciscreek. She was a fine bird, and never was sick a day in her long life. I have no complaints as she was a good breeder of good-quality cocks. The lack of breeding stock in line-breeding can bring out birds with poor traits. I was fortunate that the only inferior traits in my lead hen's offspring was the females' poor coloring. All other factors - conformation, shank and leg color, temperament and health/hardiness have been very good, and I will continue to breed them in hopes of occasionally getting female offspring with good color.

My original pair came from a woman in Ohio, whose birds, in turn, came from Roy Parker's flock in Missouri. Currently, I have only about 20 Nankins, evenly divided between hens and cocks. I am only allowing a couple of hens to breed. I am not truly a "serious" breeder as I am not really scientific in my approach; I let my hens hatch and brood their chicks naturally (the cocks help - they have retained the wild instinct of taking the older chicks while the hen starts a new clutch of eggs). But I love the breed and in my small way hope to help keep it going.

My thought about British birds is that we have so little to choose from here in the US and Canada, that our stock is terribly in-bred. If we had access to new bloodlines we would at least be able to expand our gene pool, then line breed from there.

When I first got Nankins, I did look around and saw that there were British breeders with what looked like superior birds -- there were photos on the Internet. I have to admit that I have not recently seen British stock that I would like to breed from; however, a few years ago I did see pictures from a UK breeder, of birds with very good color. I couldn't tell from the photos whether they were larger than our American stock, as there was nothing in the scene to use for comparison. But the birds themselves had really good form and the right plumage color, dark slate legs, and well proportioned single- and rose combs.

 

[chikincrazee]

Hi sorry to hear of the loss of your flock lead hen...its amazing how attached you can become to a chicken...we love our little nankins...i now have birds from each coast...ones from North Carolina....my originals from Iowa and another nice set from Washington state...so hopefully i can get some lines that are not so related...i do have good coloring on the roos and some of the females are good but i had one light colored roo this year....so i am experimenting with my other two groups and so far the offspring are promising...hoping to get to Croosroads with a bunch...my favourite this year is a tiny pullet i call peepers and she flies up to greet me all the time and follows me around peeping....such personalities

 

[GardenerGal]

Thanks chikincrazee. You're right, it is surprising how attached we get! My old hen was gorgeous, perfectly colored, and was the "alpha" hen of the flock right up till her last day.

It's strange how it's hard to get good plumage in the hens, but easier for the roos. There must be something going on in the roo vs. hen genetics.

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[prairiehen74369]

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Anyone who loves Nankins is a good egg pun intended. I know I'm kinda corny. My Nankins were picked out of a water tub at a local farm and ranch store as baby chicks didn't know what they were for the first year. I can't be without them,now,they are hardy take pretty good care of themselves, lay lots of eggs are good setters and mothers the ideal backyard chicken. They are beautiful as well I could go on and on.

 

[greenkalki]

Greetings Nankinphiles,
I am the proud "parent" of four Nankin chicks that are four weeks old. Could anyone tell me what the earliest signs are to identify the sex/gender of my birds, and the approximate age at which I can expect to see such signs?
Thanks!