NN/Turkens?

[ArabiansR2Cool]

What are the genetics of the Naked Necks/Turkens? If I breed a Turken with a non NN, will the babies be NN?

 

[CHICKEN little 1]

Not big in genetics,but my experience with mine were 50% NN,and 50% non NN when hatched from NN's,and non NN'S mix.

 

[Kev]

NN is basically semi-dominant. Which means a NN x not NN cross will throw NN chicks.

It's semi-dominant because there is a little bit of visual difference between birds pure and not pure for NN. Not pure have a huge bowtie with feathers covering either all or most of the lower front neck and crop. Pure ones have a very small bowtie with an obvious naked area below it on neck and crop is visible when full.

Here's an example of pure NN(front) vs not pure NN(in back, jmhappycowboy's hens):

It's visible even on day old chicks(mine)darker one on left has huge bowtie, lighter one on right has smaller one with naked area below it clearly visible:

Chicken little's answer is a result of breeding not pure NN with not NN.. will get 1/2 of each. A bird pure for NN will throw 100% NN chicks no matter what it is bred to.

 

[ArabiansR2Cool]

Thank you very much for such a detailed answer, even complete with pictures! That helps so much

 

[CHICKEN little 1]

Does that mean some hatcheries do not sell pure NN. My roo came from a hatchery,had a bow tie. When i bred him with a none naked neck. It came out about 50-50. Just wondering.

 

[Kev]

It's very common for hatcheries to mix them up. McMurray even says up front they deliberately mix them up for a "varied color flock".

So yeah.. hatchery stock are in a way like Easter Eggers. Nice heavy and productive birds(which is really more their goal- more eggs to set, more chicks to sell) but with a lot not even matching the "proper breed standard" as for color and some other things.

I don't know why hatcheries produce a lot of birds obviously not pure for the naked neck, with the huge bowties. It's so easy to pick the pure ones out and make a flock pure-breeding for the naked neck trait, at least.

However, it's not just hatcheries, it's also very common for private persons or backyarders to mix them and/or not select them out for pure breeding. Birds matching the show standard are not very easy to find, actually.

Someone suggested(and I like the idea) maybe hatchery stock could be called Turken with the show standard ones being called Naked Necks.. in the same manner of EE vs Ameraucana.

In any case, both Turkens and Naked Necks are very nice birds.