Anyone keep turkens?

Just wondering if anyone on here keeps turkens. It seems that I read a lot about other breeds on poultry forms but little on turkens. We've ordered a half dozen this year and am hoping to keep a breeding pair or trio (not looking good on the trio as they mostly seem to be roos). It is my understanding (correct me if I'm wrong) that turkens were bred for meat and they seem to be heavy little birds. Also, the fact that they have fewer feathers should make them a little easier to pluck (not a significant consideration, but still I won't complain). Anyway, wondering if anyone has kept them and what your opinion is to their value as a meat bird.

I have one, and yes, she's plum and firm compared to the average chook. Since the feathers are only absent from the neck, I don't really see that big an advantage for plucking.

One interesting thing, though, is that they are reputed to have better than average immune systems, and so to be generally more disease resistant than many other breeds.

Turkens are Naked Necks. They are very hardy and excellent tasting. Naked Neck come in both bantam and large and different colors.

Love Turkens
Cant Find any here in Sask.
I keep hoping someone will order from the states that is close so I could get some
They are great Layers of a nice light brown egg and they will go broody if allowed
as for a meat bird they are slow growing but have a fair amount of meat and taste good also (g)

had them before and love them still trying to find some again

McMurrays has them.

ipf wrote:McMurrays has them.

Yeah I know that is why I keep hoping someone from my area orders from them
so can go in with them

We got ours from Performance Poultry in Ontario. They are done hatching for the this season though.

since you have a lot of naked neck roosters, cross them with anything & you will have naked neck offspring. In my opinion, they are the best all purpose bird & an interesting conversation piece. Ya either love em or hate em! I've always hatched healthy chicks, the hens are good mothers, & hardy winter layers. I saw them in cuba & they are known as great foragers. Never had a mean naked neck rooster.

Not quite - what you'll have is offspring that are heterozygous at the Na locus; i.e. Na/na+. (Turkens are Na/Na; all other breeds are Na/na+). Yes, they'll look pretty much like Turkens (but with a cute little "bow tie" of feathers on the front of their stringy little necks).

This won't necessarily buy you the other qualities of Turkens, however, since you don't know what that mix of genes at all the other loci will produce.

I have heard that it is not the absence of feathers, but the feathers themselves are easier to pluck for some reason.

ipf wrote:Not quite - what you'll have is offspring that are heterozygous at the Na locus; i.e. Na/na+. (Turkens are Na/Na; all other breeds are Na/na+). Yes, they'll look pretty much like Turkens (but with a cute little "bow tie" of feathers on the front of their stringy little necks).

This won't necessarily buy you the other qualities of Turkens, however, since you don't know what that mix of genes at all the other loci will produce.

Quite right. I have read that pure Naked Neck has something like 40% less feathers than a normal bird and a cross has 20% less.

Nice bird, I had them for a while. Very smart (for a chicken) and not a bad carcass on them. I did find them easier to pluck too. They didn't even have any of the hairs to singe off. I've always thought that, if I wanted to produce meat birds for myself, I'd cross a good big rooster (maybe Cornish or White Rock) on some Turken hens.

ipf wrote:Not quite - what you'll have is offspring that are heterozygous at the Na locus; i.e. Na/na+. (Turkens are Na/Na; all other breeds are Na/na+). Yes, they'll look pretty much like Turkens (but with a cute little "bow tie" of feathers on the front of their stringy little necks).

I've been reading some on this. Our necked necks have very small bowties growing on their necds so now I'm thinking that they are Na/na as opposed to Na/Na, which would mean that they are not pure. Am I right in thinking that? Not that it really matters as we are just interested in them for ourselves - eggs and meat.

I'm not completely positive, but I think that even pure Na/Na can have small bowties. How small are your bowties?

Since it's a trait governed by a single locus, there are only three possible genotypes, Na/Na, Na/na+, and na+/na+; the latter of course is normally feathered.

Last year in a mixed batch of chicks I received two chicks with conspicuous bowties and two with no bowties; I assumed they were, respectively, Na/na+ and Na/Na. We kept one of the "no bowtie" girls (so assumed Na/Na), and now that she's about year old, she has grown a small bowtie; just a few feathers really, but still, undeniably a bowtie.

.

So I finally got a chance to take some pictures:

These show the bowties on my turks. The red roo has the biggest bowtie of all of them. Most of the bowties are more the size of the black pullet.
P.S. Yes, all dressed for dinner. Such ladies and gentlemen!!
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Here is a pic of the feathering (or lack of) on the belly/breast. I've read that turkens are supposed to have 50% less feathering than feathered breeds. (An NO, I didn't pluck here - she is very much still alive and well LOL)

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When reading up on bowties, I find it of interest that most American turkens have small bowties. In England, the bowtie is undesireable at shows though a very small one may be allowed.

Thanks for sharing Love them
Maybe I will find some before winter or I will have to order them from the states next spring