The naked neck chicken is an ancient breed of dual-purpose poultry. It is naturally devoid of neck and neck feathers. The origin of the bare-necked chicken is unclear, but it is believed that this breed was brought from Asia in the late 9th century by Hungarian settlers.
This breed of chicken is also called Turken, Kaalnek, Naked-neck Transylvanian Chicken, etc. Many people considered this breed to be a hybrid of domestic chicken and turkey. But that’s not true, and these birds are real chickens.
The bare neck trait is very dominant and is passed on to first generation offspring when crossed with the bare neck breed. Currently, the naked neck chicken is rare in North America, but fairly common in Europe.
This breed was recognized as the American Poultry Association’s Standard of Excellence in 1965. The naked neck chicken breed also has bantam varieties. Below are the breed’s characteristics, behavior, and full profile.
Characteristics of a Naked Neck Chicken
The bare-necked chicken is the strangest bird in the world of poultry farming, which has a very interesting appearance without feathers and neck strands. They look like a cross between a turkey and a chicken with their necks and faces completely featherless.
They have a fairly standard shape for chickens raised primarily for meat purposes. As a rule, these are large birds with a broad back.
The bare-necked chick comes in a variety of colors. The exposed skin on their necks turns bright red in the sun (like that of a turkey), but when not in the sun, it remains pink or yellow. The rest of the skin is yellow.
Their legs are featherless and yellow in the lighter feathered varieties or slate blue in the dark feathered four-toed breeds. Bare-necked chicks have a red crest and large wattles.
They have red eyes and red earlobes. On average, bare-necked males weigh around 3.9 kg and females around 3 kg. At the same time, the male bantam weighs about 965 grams, and the female – about 850 grams. Photo from Wikipedia.
Behaviour/Temperament
Naked neck chickens are very hardy, active and energetic birds. They are bred as a dual purpose breed and are suitable for both meat and egg production.
Hens are good laying hens, they bring a large number of brown eggs. They are good foragers and will be happy in the wild. But they also support confinement well. They are quite hardy, but require protection in very cold weather due to their lack of feathers.
They are excellent and work even better in very hot climates. They are very calm and calm birds, they are easy to tame. This breed of chicken is disease resistant and very strong. This breed can therefore be an ideal choice for small farmers.
| Breed name | bare neck |
| another name | Bald Neck, Turks, Transylvania Neck |
| Purpose of the breed | Dual purpose (meat and eggs) |
| Broad temperament | Active, calm, friendly, quiet, easy to handle, shutter tolerance |
| Breed size | big |
| sullen instinct | Medium |
| comb | A |
| climatic tolerance | All climates |
| egg color | brown |
| Egg size | big |
| Egg performance | medium |
| feathered feet | Not |
| scarcity | Available |
| Varieties | Buff, black, blue, red, silver and white |
