Orange Mottled Chicken!

[LarryPQ]

I need a real farm, so I can keep all the pretty birds I insist on hatching.

 

[hallerlake]

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Very pretty. I'm a sucker for spangled chickens. I wonder what would happen if I used some of your chickens to get Chamois Brabanters and Spitzhaubens.

 

[alohachickens]

Laree - you know the hen that you have, that you loaned to me? The one that had a Sussex mom, with Patch as the dad? Here's a photo of her, she's in your backyard right now:

(Patch is a "pure" Aloha rooster; first generation; he is shown as a juvinille on the first page of this thread. This is his daughter out of a pure Speckled Sussex hen.)

I used her all last spring; I'm thinking these are her "kids"? That was the only Sussex-bred hen that I had to use last spring. I kind of see a family resemblance, don't you?

Look at the body shapes - seems like mom/daughter possiblilty to me? If so, she's a really good producer, and I can't wait to see what she makes when crossed with "Pumpkin".

 

[LarryPQ]

I can't wait either. You'll be joining us for the NYD Hatch , yeeeeeees?

 

[alohachickens]

I would love to! But the boyfriend wants to go out of town for the first week in January. Poop. So I may have to do a belated January hatch. RATS!!! (Or find a willing chick-sitter?)

 

[LarryPQ]

*cough* [Laree raises hand] Maybe the older bator can come sit on the new counter with mine?

 

[alohachickens]

I'd be willing to cut a deal with you . . . if you chick-sit the first week, I'll take ALL the Aloha chicks you hatch (including Pumpkin's new kids) off your hands! LOL!

Okay . . . I'll even give some back to you later . . . snort. Seriously, though, I'm so eager to see what Pumpkin makes when crossed with Cleo, the above Sussex hen, and the pure Sussex hens you have around your place. Oh, and what he'll make when crossed with pure Buff Orpingtons. (Bet those will be big and golden.) Will be fun to see!

Ski trip first week, we're supposed to be back on the 8th, I think? So yeah, might have to bring the extra 'bators over to your house if I went in on the New Year's hatch . . . or I could just set mine back about 10 days?

 

[LarryPQ]

You do whatever you want.

ETA: Chick sitting for a week is no big deal. They don't start poopin for awhiles anywhoo.

 

[MaBo]

Yes, Tam'ra graciously let me pick out Xerxes, as he was my favorite coloring out of all of her roo's. Unfortunately, he is also the smallest and 'wildest' also - very skittish and flighty.

Yes, Sprinkles is the hen you referred to, almost pure white-mottled-orange, VERY similar to your latest hens you pictured. And smallest too! Ugh! But alas, next gens we'll bump the size up. I believe Tam'ra has at least one hen very similar. I guess it's her turn to post some updated pics next

. Oh, and I was searching all over the place for weeks for some Buff Rocks, and in just a day or two she managed to track down a big roo up in Washington, so we might have that to bring into the mix also for some good size.

As for next hatch, I'm planning to track/tag each bird from egg to adult, so as to really be able to see how the different characteristics carry down, and optimally select. I also have some designs brewing that would enable me to track weight, egg production (quantity and weight), and feed consumption, for each bird. How cool would that be...

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[alohachickens]

Yeah - WHY are all the coolest ones the smallest, too? ARGH!

Well, I take that back - check out the pics above, showing the half Sussex hen of Laree's on top, (she let me borrow her for breeding last year) and what I think are her two daughters. If I'm right, those two new young hens are 1/4 Sussex, 3/4 Aloha. The body type is a huge improvement, not gamey at all. Still kind of small-ish, though. (They are not fully mature yet, and maybe they'll grow a bit more in the next month.)

BUT, they are in with my GIANT rooster, Cheeto! So maybe . . . his size . . . plus their color . . . will have to wait and see!