The Naked Neck is a breed of

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

that is naturally devoid of feathers on its neck and vent. The breed is also called the

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

n Naked Neck, as well as the Turken. The name "Turken" arose from the mistaken idea that the bird was a

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two diff ...

of a chicken and the

domestic turkey The domestic turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo domesticus'') is a large fowl, one of the two species in the genus ''Meleagris'' and the same species as the wild turkey. Although turkey domestication was thought to have occurred in central Mesoamerica ...

. Naked Necks are fairly common in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

today, but are rare in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

and very common in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. The trait for a naked neck is a dominant one controlled by one

gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

and is fairly easy to introduce into other breeds, however these are hybrids rather than true Naked Necks, which is a breed recognized by the

American Poultry Association The American Poultry Association (APA) is the oldest poultry organization in North America. It was founded in 1873, and incorporated in Indiana in 1932. The first American poultry show was held in 1849, and the APA was later formed in respons ...

since 1965, it was introduced in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

in the 1920s. There are other breeds of naked necked chicken, such as the French naked neck, which is often confused with the Transylvanian, and the naked necked gamefowl.

Origin

The origins of the Naked Neck chicken are unclear. A common theory holds that it originated in Asia, where it has long been bred for

cockfighting Cockfighting is a blood sport involving domesticated roosters as the combatants. The first documented use of the word gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or entertainment, was recorded in 1634, after the term ...

in some countries. It is also depicted in old Japanese paintings. It was eventually introduced to

(today a part of Romania), where its breeding is documented by the late 19th century. The breed was then introduced to Germany, where it was refined and dispersed to the remainder of Europe and the Americas.

Characteristics

Despite its highly unusual appearance, the breed is not particularly known as an

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...

bird, and is a dual-purpose utility chicken. They lay a respectable number of light brown

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

s, and are considered desirable for meat production because they need less plucking and they have a meaty body. They are very good foragers and are immune to most diseases. The breed is also reasonably cold hardy despite its lack of feathers. Naked Neck roosters carry a single

comb A comb is a tool consisting of a shaft that holds a row of teeth for pulling through the hair to clean, untangle, or style it. Combs have been used since prehistoric times, having been discovered in very refined forms from settlements dating ba ...

, and the neck and head often become very bright red from increased sun exposure. This breed has approximately half the feathers of other chickens, making it resistant to hot weather and easier to pluck. Recognized color varieties include: black, white, cuckoo, buff, red, and blue in the United Kingdom and black, white, buff, and red in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

.APA Recognized Breeds and Varieties: As of January 1, 2012
American Poultry Association. Archived 4 November 2017.

Naked-neck trait

The naked-neck trait which characterizes this breed is controlled by an

incompletely dominant In genetics, dominance is the phenomenon of one variant (allele) of a gene on a chromosome masking or overriding the effect of a different variant of the same gene on the other copy of the chromosome. The first variant is termed dominant and ...

allele (''Na'') located near the middle of Chromosome 3. Since this allele is dominant, individuals which are either

homozygous Zygosity (the noun, zygote, is from the Greek "yoked," from "yoke") () is the degree to which both copies of a chromosome or gene have the same genetic sequence. In other words, it is the degree of similarity of the alleles in an organism. Mos ...

dominant (''Na/Na'') or

heterozygous Zygosity (the noun, zygote, is from the Greek "yoked," from "yoke") () is the degree to which both copies of a chromosome or gene have the same genetic sequence. In other words, it is the degree of similarity of the alleles in an organism. Mos ...

(''Na/na+'') will exhibit the naked-neck characteristic though the heterozygous individual will exhibit less reduction in feathering -

true breeding Purebreds are cultivars of an animal species achieved through the process of selective breeding. When the lineage of a purebred animal is recorded, that animal is said to be pedigreed. Purebreds breed true-to-type, which means the progeny of li ...

members of the

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

must then be homozygous dominant, and all individuals in the recognized breed must be also. Individuals which are homozygous recessive (or wild type feathered) (''na+/na+'') would not exhibit any feather reduction characteristics of the Naked Necks and, barring

mutation In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, ...

, would be unable to pass that trait down. Scientific studies have indicated that the naked-neck gene (''Na'') improves breast size and reduces heat stress in chickens of non-

broiler Breed broiler is any chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') that is bred and raised specifically for meat production. Most commercial broilers reach slaughter weight between four and six weeks of age, although slower growing breeds reach slaug ...

breeds which are

for the trait. Additionally, in

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

climates if the naked-neck trait (''Na'') is bred into broiler strains it has been shown to facilitate lower body temperature, increased body weight gain, better

feed conversion ratio In animal husbandry, feed conversion ratio (FCR) or feed conversion rate is a ratio or rate measuring of the efficiency with which the bodies of livestock convert animal feed into the desired output. For dairy cows, for example, the output is milk ...

s and carcass traits compared to normally feathered broilers.Performance of naked neck versus normally feathered coloured broilers for growth, carcass traits and blood biochemical parameters in tropical climate
PATRA B. N. ; BAIS R. K. S. ; PRASAD R. B. ; SINGH B. P. Asian-australasian journal of animal sciences: ISSN 1011-2367. 2002, vol. 15, no12, pp. 1776-1783.

References

* * {{cite book , title=Living with Chickens , last=Rossier , first=Jay , year=2002 , publisher=The Lyons Press , location=Guilford, Connecticut , isbn=978-1-59228-013-1 Chicken breeds originating in Romania Chicken breeds originating in Serbia

Origin

Characteristics

Naked-neck trait

See also

References