Naked Neck/Turken Thread

[Pensmaster]

I have a question for you guys who have bred NNs for a while - do you ever cull fully feathered chicks when they hatch if you are only interested in NN offspring? Do you grow them out for meat?

Just curious... 

- Ant Farm 

Not culling NN yet but project birds get checked for structure on butchering day. Good equals egg layer. Not so good equals meat. I'm watching a good rooster now for continuing project. Nice size and looks like his dad.

 

[DesertChic]

so what do they weigh roughly and when do they get to the desired harvest weight

I'm not sure what your target harvest weight is, but the extra cockerels I selected for culling processed out over 3 lbs by 18 weeks, and those were my small birds. My largest NN rooster who's about 1.5 years old weighs 11 lbs. My largest hen of the same age weighs nearly 8 lbs, but most of her sisters range from 5-7 lbs.

 

[elevatedruby]

im new to NN and dont have any right now because i chose to start with BR and RIR as starter breeders. the weight of a dressed out bird for 18 weeks seems good. have you processed a RIR or BR at that age, if so what was theirs

 

[DesertChic]

im new to NN and dont have any right now because i chose to start with BR and RIR as starter breeders. the weight of a dressed out bird for 18 weeks seems good. have you processed a RIR or BR at that age, if so what was theirs

I've never owned RIR, but I have owned hatchery BRs and butchered the cockerels, which all turned out to be too aggressive for me to keep. One of the cockerels matched my NN weight, but he was actually exceptionally large compared to the other BR males. But again, these were hatchery stock, so it's possible that a good breeder quality BR would've resulted in a greater weight at processing.

I also want to reiterate that the NN processing weights I mentioned were for the smallest of my birds. The NN cockerels I retained for meat breeding were 5-6 lbs live weight by 18 weeks, and NNs usually process out at 65% - 70% of live weight. I hope this helps.

 

[elevatedruby]

it does and thank you. i know i will need to keep the birds for much longer to reach my minimum desired weight of at least 4 to 4.5 dressed out

 

[DesertChic]

it does and thank you. i know i will need to keep the birds for much longer to reach my minimum desired weight of at least 4 to 4.5 dressed out

I'm the same way. When I have too many cockerels, which seems to be most of the time, I will process out a few of the extras when they're smaller but I usually prefer to wait until I can get a 4.5 - 5.5 lb bird for roasting.

 

[elevatedruby]

i want to breed meat birds that grow a bit faster than br and reds but not like the cornish. but weighs out in about 18 to 20 weeks. other than NN which are best. i want them for the reason of having alot of extra irds so that when i get too many to sell i can make charity BBQ plates and donate t money to boys and girls club and things of that nature

 

[Flowerbh]

i want to breed meat birds that grow a bit faster than br and reds but not like the cornish. but weighs out in about 18 to 20 weeks. other than NN which are best. i want them for the reason of having alot of extra irds so that when i get too many to sell i can make charity BBQ plates and donate t money to boys and girls club and things of that nature

I've never eaten any of my birds (pets), but I have a family who comes and buys all my chicks because he says they grow so big. My rooster is a Brahma and he is really huge.

And, Brahmas are the sweetest chickens ever! Beau is the best
rooster! Never even gives us a funny look. My DH picks him up to show the renters (https://www.facebook.com/BearRidgeLodge/ ) here and he can say, "Beau, do you love me?" and this rooster will lay his head on my husbands chest!

 

[elevatedruby]

wow that is a large bird. i am not much of a feather footed fancier. my coach gave my mother n law some but she thinks a bird is aa bird. period. the two males are nowhere near that size.my pullets are close to outgrowing hers. i dont know what happened

 

[DesertChic]

I've never eaten any of my birds (pets), but I have a family who comes and buys all my chicks because he says they grow so big. My rooster is a Brahma and he is really huge.

And, Brahmas are the sweetest chickens ever! Beau is the best
rooster! Never even gives us a funny look. My DH picks him up to show the renters (https://www.facebook.com/BearRidgeLodge/ ) here and he can say, "Beau, do you love me?" and this rooster will lay his head on my husbands chest!

Wow! He is huge and a beauty! I have to confess to coveting the Brahmas, but I'm just afraid they won't be able to handle our intense heat...and afraid that I'd turn them all into pets instead of production birds.