Naked Neck-turken

I got Naked Neck eggs in the spring of 2010 just for fun, but I've really come to love my birds. I feel their production is high among my layers. They have been healthy through all types of weather conditions. My flock is blue, black, splash in color, which I prefer. Occasionally I'll see some red in wing feathers, though. I'll probably always keep some Naked Necks, especially since they are so fun to look at and get conversations started.

One of my girls went broody after only laying a couple weeks and hatched out another hen's eggs. Good mother, very patient. Hope she goes broody again!

Loved them their my favorite breed. They were the first breed I started with back when I only had 4 chickens. They were great laying large brown eggs NEVER stopped laying even all winter. Also had great personaity. everyone of them was different. Will love to get some more.

I absolutely love this breed of chicken. At one point I had several of them, some of which we cross bred. We had very colorful turkens. Turken-cochins; Turken-bantams, Silkie Turkens....the list goes on. they are great layers. I am in the market to buy 2 hens now. I don't know why but i find their unique(weird) look, attractive. I love them!

I have 2 and I think they are great!

I would love to add one of these to my flock once I have more room

I have raised these in the past and they are pretty nice birds. I just can't get past how ugly they are.

These birds should be raised by those people who go to the pound and adopt the ugly puppy with mange and three legs.

LOL...they attract a LOT of attention from visitors. Before they visit I can tell you what everyone will ask..."What the hell is that thing?"

This breed is a great example of how to learn genetics. I have had fun doing different crosses and the blue type i have are very pretty, for a turken. Another cross i made started laying eggs at 4 months. This one looks like the myth of the Transylvanian Naked Neck. I have also found that within this naked gene is the level of nakedness. Some can have the "bowtie" on the neck or can be completely naked on the crop and the belly. They are very hardy, lay well in the winter, do not go broody. The roosters really do look like turkeys when they fluff and dance. I get large brown eggs. They free range really well. The Naked Gene is dominant. The gene also affects the levels of Vitamin A which inhibits protein. Google it, like i said its a great genetic experiment.

Update:
This is the scientific article that first mentions the connection: http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001029

This one is even more scientific about the gene location and the functions:
http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001028
Hopefully you guys can access these sites, I am a college student so I sometimes get access to scientific articles that are not open to the public. When in doubt use google scholar and type "naked neck gene" they have articles that show the naked gene has a larger breast than production meat birds.