All chicks turned out with Naked Necks, which means Mom hen was Homozygous. For those reading who don't know what that means:
There are two kinds of genes, "Dominant" or "Recessive". A Dominant gene is like an on/off switch for your lights. Flip it on, and the light is on. Flip it down, and the light is off. All you need is one "flip" to make it light or dark. One parent can turn the light - or trait - on or off. All by themselves. The Dominant trait can come from Mom or Dad, it doesn't matter.
If a parent has a super-strong double copy of a Dominant gene (called "homozygous") then they can actually pass a certain trait to their babies 100% of the time. The gene for NN is a simple dominant gene, which means some NN's who had two parents with NN's and got a double-copy, will throw only NN babies, no matter what they were crossed with. It appears the neighbor's hens are Homozygous for the NN gene, as 100% of their chicks were NN's.
The nice thing is, this trait will be easy to breed out. Now her babies (my Aloha x NN crosses) have ust ONE copy of the gene. I know this because Daddy had a normal feathered neck. I will breed these baby hens to a non-NN rooster when they are grown. Half will have naked necks, half will not. I'll keep the half with regular necks, and re-home the NN babies. Easy as can be.
Dominant genes don't hide, so they are super easy to work with. The babies with "regular" necks will never throw another NN baby in the future. The gene is gone when you can't see it any more.
So even though working with NN's seems like a really FREAKY direction to take the Aloha program, getting rid of that one glaringly visible gene is much easier than the tough time I've had removing pea combs, dark legs, and the cursed small size issue. LOL!
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Draye, Mottled Java is a terrific bird, but the black is super-dominant and will literally take YEARS to breed out. A much safer bet to get the Mille color would be to first start with some of these lovely Buff Columbian NN's to get your nice pale golden buff "base" color. (I'm sure my neighbor got these from the local feed store, who buys chicks from Privett, so just look around to see who has some?)
This Ebay'er has a Buff Roo and at least one of the pale buff hens:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Turken-Tran...866?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item233ff3316a
Or put a "shout out" to the BYC community trying to get some black tailed Buff (Columbian) NN eggs. Someone has to have some in their flocks?
I also shared a link earlier for an ended auction for some Mottled Turken eggs - keep an eye out for that seller, some of those were nice! There was a Mottled NN in that group that while he was black and white mottled (bad - dark color will be tough to breed out) the spotting was SPECTACULAR and most NN's are not homozygous for black like the Javas are. Odds are good that there are red or buff in the background of any "black" NN that you find, because very few people breed all-black flocks of NN's. Seems every NN flock I've seen is a mix of colors? The more red and buff in a black chicken's background, the better the odds some recessive (hidden) red or gold will appear in the babies. So if you find a spotty Turken, even if it is black and white, from that Ebay breeder or another Turken breeder, odds are it will be easier to remove the black than if you use Mottled Java that has nothing but black and white in the background for many generations.
Black color is very difficult to remove, especially if your goal is Mille, which is literally the OPPOSITE end of the spectrum. That is also what I'm trying to get using these beautiful pale buff Turken hens. Black is going to wipe all of that gold color out and replace it with dark brown or black for many generations.
Other ideas: I'd suggest either a really spotty Sussex rooster, maybe a spotty Jubilee Orp? (Pink legs, and dark brown color, on both breeds, that's not ideal - but both are big breeds and a few of the Jubiliee Orps I've seen have been lighter in color.) Another way would be to find a very nice Mille Swedish hen,and mix her with your Turken flock to get the Mille color. The Swedish are slow growing, and not very spotty, many Sussex are more colorfully spotted. But when Swedish do reach full size, they are very large. (They just need to get there faster, ha ha ha!) Hopefully the Turken bloodline would help them fill out and mature earlier.
I'd probably base my spotty choice on whatever is near you? Example, there is a breeder of Swedish up in Scottsdale, AZ right now. You know the tough part for breeders, they grow out stock and always end up with too many roosters! See if you have a Sussex or Jubilee Orp or Swedish Flower breeder near you. Let them know you are looking for something with lots of white spotting, and lighter color. (Some Jubilee Orps turn out unusually LIGHT in color - not Mille but not dark,either!) Here is a pic of a rooster that turned out really lighter than normal:
http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/uploads/2794_jubilee_pair_11_27.jpg
Or try to find a hen of either Sussex or Jubilee Orp that has TOO MUCH white like the hen shown in these lower pics:
http://www.sdranch.com/bluejubilee.html
A great thing would be to look for "culls" that won't work for other people's programs. Breeders can't keep ALL those roos, even if they are a "rare" and hard to find breed! Would be easy to get extras boys on Swedish, Sussex, or Jubilee Orps. Just find what is closest to you and put the word out!
One good thing on my current NN flock is that I now know that my rooster is carrying a copy of the mottling gene. At least one hen is carrying at least one and most likely two copies of the mottling gene. She show some mottling in her partridge color. I just need more stock to spread those gene around, don't want to inbreed too much.
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. Today I lost a favorite aloha hen. :'( not sure what was wrong with her. I'm excited to hatch some eggs in the upcoming months.
