The Aloha Chicken Project

[alohachickens]

Since this program is so far along, I've decided to set up a new thread for it.

What is the "Aloha Chicken Project"?

A few years ago, before Greenfire Farms imported the fabulous Swedish Flower Hens, I set about trying to create an American version of it. Now that Greenfire has imported the Swedish Flower Hens, or Blommehons, finally we have the ability to buy Blommehons in the U.S. Yay!

However, in the meantime, something pretty cool happened in my backyard, with what I was working with. I started to get some amazing colors and feather patterning. So, even though the original goal was to re-create the Swedish Flower Hen breed in the United States, and now it's here, I've decided to go own developing the American version, because it has a unique charm all its own.

These chickens shown below have NO SWEDISH FLOWER HEN bloodlines:

Right now, these chickens are smaller than what I would like, but improvement to size is happening. A few other people have now stepped in to help. Everyone is welcome!

Links to other info:

History/info from the start of the program in late 2008 through spring 2011:

http://alohachickens.webs.com/

Brand new Blog, for updates from Fall 2011 onward:

http://alohachickens.blogspot.com/

And a previous BYC thread, titled "Orange Mottled Chicken" - it's still going, but I thought that we're so far along that someone starting at the beginnng of that thread would have a lot to cover by now, ha ha. So if you haven't read through that whole thread, or don't want to, you can start here.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=259853

I am not sure where this program will end up, but the goals have started to diverge from the Swedish Flower Hens. If you were to ask "how are these different from Flower Hens?" I'd say: No feather crests on Alohas. More emphasis on orange/gold/red/bright colors. Less black/brown mottled. The "Confetti" color is another thing - the color I've called "Confetti" looks similar to some Swedish Flower Hen photos I've seen. These photos are on Feathersite and I also found some in this light pattern on a breeder's page over in Sweden a while back. However, none of the imports from Greenfire have shown up in this color, as far as I can tell? At least, not yet. Maybe it will show up in time, but right now, this color is very prominent in the Alohas. If you were to describe it, instead of a "colored chicken with light dots" you would call these "a white chicken with dark spots". Here's another example:

There is still a long ways to go, but I hope you'll enjoy following along! I thought enough progress has been made that perhaps it deserved a "breed thread" by now. LOL!

 

[alohachickens]

I wanted to share that there is FINALLY a pair of what I would call "finished" Alohas!

Last year, I had a tragic incubator mishap that killed most of the eggs from my best breeder pens. I had to re-stock last minute with basically "whatever" eggs were left. So my own progress last year was kind of . . . . meh.

However, I did manage to ship out a few batches of chicks before this happened, and sent the very best I could hatch to a friend in Texas. She got this AMAZING pair, which display the goals I've been working for all this time:

Here is another pic of the rooster, next to a 5 gallon bucket for scale. She reports he is 26 inches tall at the top of comb. Weight is 8 pounds, 8 oz currently, right at about 6-7 months old. Hen is right at 5 pounds. This pair just started breeding. I think 2 chicks hatched so far, but she's going to try and hatch every egg she can out of this amazing pair.

She's trying to hatch more chicks out of them, and I hope to get the extra roosters back from her while she keeps the girls to build up a bigger pen. Location of this pair is near Austin, TX - in case anyone is interested in setting up a breeding project using her stock.

There is also another friend that I set up with some nice stock last year in the Little Rock, AR area. She's been selling hatching eggs and chicks. Her chicks were the best I could get to her - large and colorful. Some of her more recent ones include the rare "Dun" color. I believe her eggs were selling for $20 a dozen but I don't know if she's offering shipping. Pretty sure that's local pick up, only.

(the all white and the gray hens in the above pic are NOT Alohas, but other breeds)

The quality has been improving a lot lately, and I've now got a couple of new breeders in AR and TX that have been doing an amazing job! Hoping they keep it up because while their flocks are fairly new, they're really nice quality. Super happy with progress this last year!

Now if only I hadn't had the incubator mishap last year where I accidentally botched over 200 of my best hatching eggs . . . . arrrrghhhh.

 

[alohachickens]

Also I'm taking photos of a few of the adults - already sold off about 10 adult hens because I have so many nice young hens growing out. Here's a few adult hens that are still left here, I will be hatching out chicks and selling eggs from these for another month or so before the heat will shut everything down.

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

Hello all from the Oregon branch of the Aloha Project!
For now I have no new photos to add (all these were posted on the aforementioned thread) but I figured I would share a few old ones anyway.
These lovely birds were shipped to me last spring as day old chicks by alohachickens. They are all so beautiful and unique!
Starting this spring I will be crossing them with some Speckled Sussex and Buff Orpingtons to try to make bigger chickens (hopefully with smaller wings so they don't do so much 'exploring' in places they don't belong!)

These are the two roosters I kept, Easter and Nameless

My favorite pullet, Blackbeak Larry (still missing, but I have not given up hope yet!)

Another shot of my rooster, Easter

Digit, a small, but lovely pullet

Goldy, one of the pullets

The best group shot I have of the whole batch of them... this was taken months ago- ignore the Polish and the Wyandotte!

Wow... looking back at all these pictures makes me realize how much I need to update! They have all changed so much since then (all for the better!) and I have to show off what they look like now. The roosters are growing stunning tails, and the pullets are putting on more spots all the time. Their feathers are lovely and they are clever and curious birds. My hope is that the Sussex I am adding to the mix will improve them by making them heavier so they will stay on the ground a bit more (a 7 foot fence is nothing to a teenaged Aloha) I am also quite enthralled with the unusually friendly nature of my Sussexes, and I am hoping that will rub off. But The colors, patterns, and feathering of the Alohas is great! They feather out quickly and continue to change as they get older, getting prettier all the time.

 

[alohachickens]

Tam'ra, I can't wait to see them all grown up . . . the adventuring should settle a bit when they gain their final adult weight. Although yes, I have seen mine fly all the way to the top of my horse trailer, which is probably ten feet? Not often . . . but a couple of times.

I am really, really liking the Sussex influence. Here is a Blog post about Sussex crossed with Alohas:

http://alohachickens.blogspot.com/2011/11/sussex-influence.html

First generation the babies look like terrible quality Sussex, ha ha ha! Outcross back to Aloha (or an Aloha mix) the unique colors come back again. I have an AWESOME full Sussex roo in with some hens that are part Buff Orp and part Aloha. I also have two full Sussex hens to add size with various colorful Aloha roosters. The full Sussex roo is huge and very friendly. I can't wait to see his chicks. The chicks will be a good "preview" of what your Aloha stock will start to look like soon, ha ha. My program is running just one generation ahead of yours right now.

Here's a hen that is one quarter Sussex. The other 3/4 might be all Aloha, but I suspect her dad was my half NHR x half Aloha. She's definately bigger than the regular Alohas and really round. I love her color, she's stunning. We're getting really close on her, just a teeny bit bigger and she would qualify as the "end goal" of the program:

Great photo except she blinked, hee hee. Her eyes are orange.

Right now, I am SO CLOSE to getting the first "real" Aloha Chicken. It's exciting but frustrating, too! I keep waiting for it to happen. Needs to be big and round enough in body but with amazing color, too.

 

[alohachickens]

My friend Deb just emailed me photos of her extra roosters, and her "keeper" rooster. Check out her "keeper" boy!!!


Look at all that white! Long tail, bright yellow legs. Body looks stout, not "gamey" in type. This guy is AWESOME. This is totally what I've been trying to breed for.

MrsFitzDarcy - Soon as Deb's hens start laying, her friend has an incubator - and I'm sure they can hatch out some chicks for you.

 

[alohachickens]

Just wanted to share a bunch of photos of the current Aloha flock. Chicks are selling great locally. I've hatched HUNDREDS and cannot keep them in stock!

Working on the new coops (finally) and soon as those are done will have many more options for breeder pens and can raise specific crosses. Right now it's still a mishmash of about 80 random hens and roosters running about! Here are some photos of the current flock:













































I have not been posting much here lately, because of family issues (my Mom was diagnosed with cancer last March, prayers are always welcome) but know the Aloha project is still going strong. Just a little quieter than before. LOL.

 

[alohachickens]

It's here! The new "Backyard Poultry" magazine with a three page spread on the Aloha project!

I am hoping that this will bring new members to the project! How exciting!!!

 

[alohachickens]

Previously, I'd hatched out an AWESOME dun baby Naked Neck rooster, so I didn't keep very many hens with Dun, as I figured the rooster would provide plenty. He was huge, with tons of white, and the Dun gene. Unfortunately he broke his leg jumping off a high perch and didn't recover.

So currently there are only 2 hens in the flock, which makes it extremely easy to ID the possible parents of your chicks. Here are the two Dun gene hens:

Both are good size, because they contain both Buff Sussex and Light Sussex in addition to Speckled Sussex and Aloha.

One hen is darker brown in color and she has a terrific pattern and amount of white, especially for a young hen who will only get more white as she ages:

Her sister is a Mille with the Dun color replacing the black. I prefer her base color but I think the darker one has more bold spotting of the two! She's very striking:

This close up makes it a little easier to see the Dun where the black normally would be:

Based on the time frame when I collected eggs, I would guess the Daddy would be a very brightly colored and friendly rooster.

I try not to name my chickens but this guy has ended up with the nickname "Mr Eyebrows" for obvious reasons:

He's not as large as I'd like (think Leghorn sized) but has the best personality. Always friendly and never ever aggressive. Even let me pick him up and hold him, which is weird, because I tend to not handle my chickens. He just is that gregarious.

I put him in the pen with my less colorful but extremely large Sussex bred hens, as I felt maybe the girls could bring up the size of the chicks, especially the 3/4 and full Sussex hens!

 

[alohachickens]

@HEChicken - I just tried to send a message, not sure if it got to you, the mail system is a bit confusing to me on the updated format for this site, LOL. Anyway, the next few weeks are my best chance for shipping out Live chicks, and I would love to send some to you to mix with your gorgeous rooster.

Anyone else who stumbles across this post and is interested in Aloha chicks - I'm only able to ship out to other states a few weeks per year, because the temps must be no higher than 85 degrees, with a low no lower than 37 degrees, on BOTH sides of the shipment. The problem is that because I'm in Phoenix, we are already going to be at 81 degrees later this week, while other places are still really cold. Previously, we've had temps as high as 90 degrees in FEBRUARY which would technically be too hot to ship out!

That means the few shipments that I can get out each year are really special, so these need to go to as many breeder homes as possible. Because I'm simply not able to provide hatching eggs, or to ship chicks, for much of the year due to weather. I am looking for hobbyists who have experience hatching and raising chicks, have an incubator, can keep roosters, etc. Preferably homes where folks already have a Web site or FB page and are currently offering chicks or hatching eggs from other breeds. If you're one of those homes and are interested, feel free to drop me a line.