Arizona Chickens

[Pigeony]

I know what you mean. My Bielefelder's have picked up in laying too. I have a hen that's gone broody, but thing's are too hectic right now for a hatch, as my husband has been having medical issues.

I currently got 3 broodies that have pooled their collective 24 children and are just taking care of them as a group. 2 of them are Ayam mixes, other is an Aloha/Swedish Flower they actually raised last year. All but 3 of their 24 chicks are Alohas, the other 3 are Ayam mixes they managed to sneak in there. So those ladies definitely got their wings full right now, and my incubators are full too. So I can't really hatch much more myself, but I do hate letting Aloha eggs not be incubated, I usually keep more of my mixed eggs for eating and the Alohas for hatching.

 

[BlueBaby]

I currently got 3 broodies that have pooled their collective 24 children and are just taking care of them as a group. 2 of them are Ayam mixes, other is an Aloha/Swedish Flower they actually raised last year. All but 3 of their 24 chicks are Alohas, the other 3 are Ayam mixes they managed to sneak in there. So those ladies definitely got their wings full right now, and my incubators are full too. So I can't really hatch much more myself, but I do hate letting Aloha eggs not be incubated, I usually keep more of my mixed eggs for eating and the Alohas for hatching.

I have 2 good egg customer's that have been buying them from me for eating, so I just call them when I have enough extras built up.

The Bielefelder's are auto-sexing so when I decide to do a hatch, the boys can be dealt with right away. I would keep the girls for myself. I'm done hatching for other people. They can hatch their own if they want to. My husband has had a couple of operations this year already and at present, I just don't have the extra time. I won't let the broody hatch any because 2 weeks ago I had to get a rat snake out of the coop.

 

[Pigeony]

I have 2 good egg customer's that have been buying them from me for eating, so I just call them when I have enough extras built up.

The Bielefelder's are auto-sexing so when I decide to do a hatch, the boys can be dealt with right away. I would keep the girls for myself. I'm done hatching for other people. They can hatch their own if they want to. My husband has had a couple of operations this year already and at present, I just don't have the extra time. I won't let the broody hatch any because 2 weeks ago I had to get a rat snake out of the coop.

That's so convenient that you can tell the boys from the girls right away! The Alohas seem to take me about 4-6 weeks of careful observation before I can pick out the boys with decent certainty. I like contributing to the breed though as it's still a smaller project breed, so I try to hatch out what I can. I've also hatched out some interesting Aloha mixes for the science of it to see how the birds turn out. I'm lucky that I haven't had any snake issues yet, just the darn rats I'm always waging war against so when I have babies in the yard, I have to make sure they're well secured before night when those furry monsters come out to scrounge around.

 

[BlueBaby]

That's so convenient that you can tell the boys from the girls right away! The Alohas seem to take me about 4-6 weeks of careful observation before I can pick out the boys with decent certainty. I like contributing to the breed though as it's still a smaller project breed, so I try to hatch out what I can. I've also hatched out some interesting Aloha mixes for the science of it to see how the birds turn out. I'm lucky that I haven't had any snake issues yet, just the darn rats I'm always waging war against so when I have babies in the yard, I have to make sure they're well secured before night when those furry monsters come out to scrounge around.

I'm not mixing mine with other breeds. I have 2 good roosters that I'm happy with.

 

[Pigeony]

I'm not mixing mine with other breeds. I have 2 good roosters that I'm happy with.

I also have 2 good roosters I'm quite happy with, both Alohas. My mixes are mainly from "legacy" hens that I had before I decided to gravitate towards an Aloha breeding flock. And the few additional I have that aren't legacy birds are non-laying youngsters intended for adding genetic diversity to the Alohas from somewhat similar breeds that don't interfere too much with the Aloha appearance after a generation or two. It's just a small gene pool as it's a new breed still getting fully established. I'm passionate about raising chicks, and I got the time, so I'm trying to do my part. It's nice to have this thread to see what other chicken projects people are up to here while dealing with the unique difficulties in AZ!

 

[BlueBaby]

I also have 2 good roosters I'm quite happy with, both Alohas. My mixes are mainly from "legacy" hens that I had before I decided to gravitate towards an Aloha breeding flock. And the few additional I have that aren't legacy birds are non-laying youngsters intended for adding genetic diversity to the Alohas from somewhat similar breeds that don't interfere too much with the Aloha appearance after a generation or two. It's just a small gene pool as it's a new breed still getting fully established. I'm passionate about raising chicks, and I got the time, so I'm trying to do my part. It's nice to have this thread to see what other chicken projects people are up to here while dealing with the unique difficulties in AZ!

Well, good luck with your project, and in selling your hatching egg's.

 

[BlueBaby]

One of the girl's layed a bean this morning, or at least it's shaped like one.