Okies in the BYC The Original

[Buckguy20]

Ok, I am calling nnbreeder to share some breeding info on Naked Necks. I have a few questions and others may as well.
I saw on one of your posts about outcrossing with another breed.
When you do this, do you always get nn's or do just
some of the offspring have the naked necks?
Also does it matter if you cross a NN rooster over other breed hens or do you cross other breed roosters over NN hens. Does it matter either way, if so how?
Is it like EE's and colored eggs where you get offspring that may not have a naked neck but may carry the genes for it?
Just a few questions racing through my head.
Thanks for sharing
Monty

 

[luvzmybabz]

well I am not NN but want him to verify some info.
All 5 of my Turkens have bowties that is shy I was asking this ? This is not my info just replies to ?


bowtie x bowtie = 25% no nn, 50% bowtie, 25% nn, no bowtie

bowtie x nn, no bowtie = 50% bowtie, 50% nn, no bowtie

nn, no bowtie x reg feathered, no nn = 100% bowtie

reg feathered, no nn x bowtie= 50% bowtie, 50% reg feathered, no nn


It is a very common claim that presence of bowtie on a naked neck is proof the bird is not "pure"(meaning homozygous) for naked neck. This is not true though.

There ARE many naked necks pure/homozygous for naked neck with bow ties. A homozyous naked necked bird with a bow tie usually has only a very few feathers on each side and a clearly visible naked area below the bowtie on the neck and also the "chest" and a full crop are plainly visible. I have bred many of those who produced exactly as expected out of pure NN(ALL offspring with naked necks no matter if birds they bred with were NN or not)

A heterozygous(not pure) with bow tie usually has a very large bowtie that covers most or even all of the neck below the bowtie and the "chest" and crop are either not very visible or not at all.

The difference is visible even on day old chicks, homozygous ones can have what appears to be a single "down feather" sticking out on each side of the neck, and the heterozygous ones have a larger, fuzzier patch. It's obvious once these chicks are identified and placed side to side facing you at eye level.

However it's not that simple, there are other "unrelated" genes that happen to have the side effect of altering the appearence of naked necks. Pea comb is one. Most people know of pea comb as being the gene that alters the comb appearance but it also has the effect of reducing the overall feathering on a bird and also tends to have a extra bit of skin along the breatbone. But anyways, back to naked necks- NNs with pea combs can be far more naked than a "comparable" bird with a single comb. A heterozygous NN with a pea comb can look like it is pure for the naked neck gene due to being "very naked" with the lower neck, crop and breast being very visible. Another one can be feather length, some birds have shorter feathers and these can make a heterozygous NN look rather "pure"

As far as I can see from personal experience, completely bare necks seems to be due to some other gene involved possibly. Short story, my first batch of turkens, I tried to breed for bare necks with no success from hatchery stock birds.. then got a batch of a very mixed backyard surprise eggs, which threw completely bare necked birds left and right.

 

[countyroad1330]

Oh please do post pictures of these bowties babies!

Weatherford is about an hour and half from Blanchard, whoever asked that.

Oh I finally met FoghornLeghorn today. She is about to move to Gotebo!

For Ameraucanas, try this link. You need Adobe to view it, but I'm pretty sure there are some in Tulsa. Good luck!

 

[nnbreeder]

Most of the time there is about a 50/50 split when a NN is bred to a feather necked bird because all birds carry the gene. Now a homozygous NN is an NaNa and a hetrozygous bird is a Nana and all feather necked birds carry the dormant genes or nana. Now the bow-tie is not a good indication of the genes in the bird because if they were descended from the Madagascar game as many believe they were many had bow-ties as does this stuffed specimin in a museum in the North of France. and this drawing from the 1800s Does not have the bow-tie.

I have found that if you breed close for four or five generations that the adult birds will start to get smaller and the mortality rate of the chicks goes way up so to prevent that I outcross either way, regular birds over the NN hens or NN roos over the feather necked hens. Most that breed for show do the same thing. Now the NN genes will actually impose themselves over the genes of the regular birds from the studies I have read. All NNs will have disease resistance, less than 50% of feathers all over the body, and the ability to control bloodflow to either heat or cool the body. Plus they have a severe downside that keeps them out of commercial production, slow growth. I don't consider a NN to be fully mature till they are two years old, most don't bloom till their second molt. I prefer birds that are smooth from their chin all the way down to between their legs along the keel bone and the wife prefers them with a bow-tie. Folks that is worse than an OU/OSU house!

 

[nnbreeder]

Here is a good close-up of a bow-tie.

 

[coondog74017]

lashawnb, It would be Sat morning before I could come to B'ville I will call to make sure they still have some DE before I come and if you still have him call me at 283-1668. I used to come to B'ville almost every night to coon hunt on a 30,000 acre ranch in the osage hills.

 

[okcarla]

Wow, I just learned a lot about naked neck chickens today from luvzmybabz and nnbreeder. Thanks ya'll! Gerald sure likes our pullets we bought this spring, and thinks we should buy more naked necks! Gosh, I need to go take a look at ours and see if we have any bow ties. I really haven't paid that much attention to them.

Now, I'm trying to figure out if I should breed my pullets to a buff or white orpington roo? I sure wish I could use one of my wheaten marans roos, but I guess their offspring would have too dark of eggs? I wonder if people would like darker egged naked necks?

nnbreeder, that's a handsome bow tie ... it's comb looks enormous though ... it's not a single comb is it?

My nn pullets have small single combs.

 

[nnbreeder]

Single comb, the old rule of thumb is that spring hatched chicks will have larger combs than fall hatched chicks due to the hot weather but I have not paid all that much attention. Here is a side view of the same banny roo.

 

[nnbreeder]

Here is an overview of the Shawnee show a couple of years ago. Happens in Dec every year, in fact it is state law that it must be held. And if you like poultry it is where to be that weekend.

 

[countyroad1330]

Oh the Shawnee show is WONDERFUL! I can't wait to go this year! Hopefully the weather won't cause any issues with it this year.

That NN roo is so pretty! I think the only color of NN's I've seen are Buff. I like the white.

Carla, what color are your NN's?