The Aloha Chicken Project

[alohachickens]

Here's a rooster that I'm confused about. He has good body type and tons of speckles. But, he has pink/white legs, barring, and a totally black chest. I mean, there are spots on the chest, but the parts that are colored, are colored black. All of that is bad. Shoot!

And we are kind of out of room for breeder pens. And we are short on yellow-legged hens to put with him. So I don't know what to do, we don't have anywhere to put him or the right girls to cross with him anyway!








But . . . that perfect comb! That long tail! That nice round body! And, those SPOTS. Zero Swedish Flower blood.

A person on Craigslist has some New Hampshire hens for sale . . . not grown yet but maybe four months old? They aren't the German NHR, just regular hatchery stock though. Very tempted to try this guy with some bright red hens with yellow legs. IF we can find room. (Big If.) But, what if it gave us really spotted red and white mottled chicks with yellow legs in the next cross? Oh, to have more breeder pens! And more big hens with yellow legs! LOL.

 

[alohachickens]

The mixture in the ones you want me to have sounds great. Should be lots of varying colors and a nice mix of genetics to play with. My "plan" or basically thoughts are that I will put the spotted pullets/hens I have under a German New Hamp, and then the big boned, "plain Jane" ladies under the smaller but spotted roos. I don't want to use any SFH. I would rather work on this track. I had thought about ordering chicks, but what you are offering would be so much better! If you end up with an "Extra" GNH roo let me know. If not, maybe I can get a couple eggs or maybe a some chicks, if not, maybe I will contact Kathy(inMo) to see if she has an extra roo.

I'm kind of excited to see what Taz can come up with going with zero Swedish. Me, I'd love to have continued along that track, trying to reach the goal of a Swedish-type bird with "All American" blood. But, since I've been on this project for five years now, I'm just getting frustrated!

Taz, if I can start you off at my "year five" and have you start there, that would be so awesome. I'm just so ready to reach the "end game" that at this point, I don't care any more how I get there as long as I get there SOON. I was just thinking about this super-spotty rooster, (from the above post, up at Stephen's) who has zero Swedish blood, and how stoked I would have been to have something like this guy to cross with New Hampshire Reds, when I was first starting this project . . .

Taz - if you get established, maybe I can set up a special breeder pen of "non-Swedish" Alohas just for you? I'd include this fabulous roo from next door who is the closest to anything I've bred to the end goal:



I'd put him in a pen with all my super nice 100% Alohas for you. Like this hen who also contains zero Swedish blood and is awesome, just too small:





And I'd also hatch out eggs from the pen with J.R. (Jorge's Roo) and the daughter of Cheeto, outlined above. All of those could be great when mixed with German New Hamps and Speckled Sussex. None would contain any Swedish. So keep me posted on the progress of your program, 'cause I love the idea of someone going the "No Swedish Blood" direction! Let me know how I can help as your program progresses. I'll do whatever I can - ship live chicks, etc.

 

[tazcat70]

I'm kind of excited to see what Taz can come up with going with zero Swedish. Me, I'd love to have continued along that track, trying to reach the goal of a Swedish-type bird with "All American" blood. But, since I've been on this project for five years now, I'm just getting frustrated! Taz, if I can start you off at my "year five" and have you start there, that would be so awesome. I'm just so ready to reach the "end game" that at this point, I don't care any more how I get there as long as I get there SOON. I was just thinking about this super-spotty rooster, (from the above post, up at Stephen's) who has zero Swedish blood, and how stoked I would have been to have something like this guy to cross with New Hampshire Reds, when I was first starting this project . . . Taz - if you get established, maybe I can set up a special breeder pen of "non-Swedish" Alohas just for you? I'd include this fabulous roo from next door who is the closest to anything I've bred to the end goal: I'd put him in a pen with all my super nice 100% Alohas for you. Like this hen who also contains zero Swedish blood and is awesome, just too small: And I'd also hatch out eggs from the pen with J.R. (Jorge's Roo) and the daughter of Cheeto, outlined above. All of those could be great when mixed with German New Hamps and Speckled Sussex. None would contain any Swedish. So keep me posted on the progress of your program, 'cause I love the idea of someone going the "No Swedish Blood" direction! Let me know how I can help as your program progresses. I'll do whatever I can - ship live chicks, etc.

I read this last night right before going to bed and then my mind just raced as I lay there. I love that idea, obviously any help would be great! I am still sitting here trying to figure out the best way. I am currently hatching out chicks, however, the 3rd week in March I am (hopefully) going out of town. So I am planning on turning off the incubator by the end of Feb, so that it will be easier on my house sitter. When I get back I will most likely start back up. I did just find out some great information about the hens reproductive tract, that when they are bred, the hens store it in a tube, and the freshest deposit is used first.

 

[tazcat70]

Sommer-

Does egg color matter? I am wanting to use some Welsummer in the mix, they have a great body type and some of the requirements (tail, leg color, comb, etc) but they may darken up the eggs some.

 

[alohachickens]

No, egg color won't matter at all. I'd love to (someday) get blue eggs from the University of Arkansas project "brown leghorns" that they bred to lay blue eggs, but being as they weren't offering to ship those, i have no way to get them to AZ.

Don't even think of using Ameraucanas to get blue eggs - I went down that road already. By the time you bred out the pea comb, the puffy cheeks, and the dark slate legs, all the blue egg genes were gone. We'd have to either start with the umm, Legbar - which already has an upright comb and yellow legs, and breed out the Barring and add body size, or try to get a hold of the U of AR blue-egg laying breed and cross with something more "meaty" to add size and spots. (Like the Sussex.)

So if I had to pick an egg color for Alohas, I'd go with blue of course, because an ocean-blue egg on a colorful chicken would be SO COOL. But, with all the "other" issues I'm having, that is far, far, far from any pressing thoughts right now! Ha ha ha! But, if you would like to pursue that, what he was describing as a light brown Leghorn that lays blue eggs would be the perfect "base" for adding Aloha spots to:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/624359/blue-egg-layers-from-unversity-of-arkansas

They were from COMMERCIAL brown leghorn stock - which meant they would be super productive layers, as the research was to see if they could get commercially produced blue eggs! But it seemed impossible to get eggs from them, and now it sounds like they may have disbursed the flock! Arrrgh.

OK, Taz, if you get everything else set up for me - like get your program really going (which sounds like you already have) with breeding pens set up and some Aloha chicks "baking" in the 'bator, just pay the cost of shipping and materials and I'll send you the "all American" line chicks for free. Esp. if you get some of that German New Hampshire stuff going on.

Because these American Alohas are going to be terribly, terribly small . . . and if you use only Sussex to try and improve size, they will turn into nothing more than lousy, tiny Sussex in a few generations. LOL! Need some other robust stock with good size and brighter, lighter colors.

Express shipping was running about $35 previously for a box of 25 chicks, but I think the US Postage rates are going up a little, and the chick-shipping box itself was $5. So shipping + materials to go Express is going to run about $40-$45. They also sell 50-chick shipping boxes, and we can try that, too, if you want that many. Shipping would be more for 50 chicks, of course. How much more I don't know? I mean, it costs like $12 or $16 to ship an envelope Express mail, so obviously there is some kind of "base cost" to going Express. So I'm thinking if it was $35 to ship 25 chicks, surely it wouldn't be twice that to ship twice as many chicks? I'd hope that it would only be $20 more or something . . . but since I don't know how much a box of 50 Aloha chicks would weigh, I can't really get a shipping estimate for that? LOL!

I am going to try selling Live chicks for $100 ppd. per box of 25 babies this Spring to new breeders, which sounds like a lot, but since I only want to use Express shipping, what I will actually be charging per chick is only going to be $2 per chick, plus the cost of materials and shipping. Hardly price gouging, LOL!

 

[draye]

No, egg color won't matter at all. I'd love to (someday) get blue eggs from the University of Arkansas project "brown leghorns" that they bred to lay blue eggs, but being as they weren't offering to ship those, i have no way to get them to AZ.

Don't even think of using Ameraucanas to get blue eggs - I went down that road already. By the time you bred out the pea comb, the puffy cheeks, and the dark slate legs, all the blue egg genes were gone. We'd have to either start with the umm, Legbar - which already has an upright comb and yellow legs, and breed out the Barring and add body size, or try to get a hold of the U of AR blue-egg laying breed and cross with something more "meaty" to add size and spots. (Like the Sussex.)

So if I had to pick an egg color for Alohas, I'd go with blue of course, because an ocean-blue egg on a colorful chicken would be SO COOL. But, with all the "other" issues I'm having, that is far, far, far from any pressing thoughts right now! Ha ha ha! But, if you would like to pursue that, what he was describing as a light brown Leghorn that lays blue eggs would be the perfect "base" for adding Aloha spots to:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/624359/blue-egg-layers-from-unversity-of-arkansas

They were from COMMERCIAL brown leghorn stock - which meant they would be super productive layers, as the research was to see if they could get commercially produced blue eggs! But it seemed impossible to get eggs from them, and now it sounds like they may have disbursed the flock! Arrrgh.

OK, Taz, if you get everything else set up for me - like get your program really going (which sounds like you already have) with breeding pens set up and some Aloha chicks "baking" in the 'bator, just pay the cost of shipping and materials and I'll send you the "all American" line chicks for free. Esp. if you get some of that German New Hampshire stuff going on.

Because these American Alohas are going to be terribly, terribly small . . . and if you use only Sussex to try and improve size, they will turn into nothing more than lousy, tiny Sussex in a few generations. LOL! Need some other robust stock with good size and brighter, lighter colors.

Express shipping was running about $35 previously for a box of 25 chicks, but I think the US Postage rates are going up a little, and the chick-shipping box itself was $5. So shipping + materials to go Express is going to run about $40-$45. They also sell 50-chick shipping boxes, and we can try that, too, if you want that many. Shipping would be more for 50 chicks, of course. How much more I don't know? I mean, it costs like $12 or $16 to ship an envelope Express mail, so obviously there is some kind of "base cost" to going Express. So I'm thinking if it was $35 to ship 25 chicks, surely it wouldn't be twice that to ship twice as many chicks? I'd hope that it would only be $20 more or something . . . but since I don't know how much a box of 50 Aloha chicks would weigh, I can't really get a shipping estimate for that? LOL!

I am going to try selling Live chicks for $100 ppd. per box of 25 babies this Spring to new breeders, which sounds like a lot, but since I only want to use Express shipping, what I will actually be charging per chick is only going to be $2 per chick, plus the cost of materials and shipping. Hardly price gouging, LOL!

You'll have to find someone that have them already to get the eggs from. U of A no longer any of the blue egg layers. Thy've even got rid of the Araucana.

 

[15littlem]

How did you achieve the barring on this roo? I've wanted to go the other way, being a barred, orange/buff colored breed where hen/roo have the same coloring. What breeds went into this?

 

[knjinnm]

See post #9,
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...s-anyone-who-has-done-a-project-can-post-here

 

[15littlem]

See post #9,
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...s-anyone-who-has-done-a-project-can-post-here

Still couldn't figure out the parentage, though. All I could see is that it was an Aloha.

 

[alohachickens]

How did you achieve the barring on this roo? I've wanted to go the other way, being a barred, orange/buff colored breed where hen/roo have the same coloring. What breeds went into this?

That is the "unique" Aloha blood that kind of makes this more than just a "cross-breeding" project! I'm inviting ANYONE to help create Aloha Chickens. However, I have a special line of chickens here that were descended from one very weird hen who was a color I've just never seen before or since? I spotted her in my neighbor's yard. They spoke only Spanish and weren't able to communicate much to me other than they got her on the East side of town, which was not helpful at all, LOL. They didn't know what breed or breeds went into this "odd" hen. So I nicknamed her Oddball. Her three chicks when bred together and with other chickens got me tons of barred + mottled chickens.

This was Oddball, foundation he for the Aloha breed. I hatched out a few chicks and after that, she refused the advances of every other roo, so all further eggs were sterile. (Though I tried to hatch all of them!)






She was Banty sized, and because of that, future generations of Alohas tend to be small. My hope is to eventually pass on only her color genes, and place them on a "big" chicken body. Imagine this color on a show quality Sussex body (but with yellow legs) and that's pretty much the goal. But her non-barred babies tended to look like this, another unique color, that I've called "Ginger" which is an orange-ish color with white speckles. This was her daughter, "Ginger" the first in such a color:




So the color is probably whatever this shade is, with mottling, and barring. You'll see faint stripes or patterning on the tail feathers of the Ginger hens. I love the tail-stripes plus the orange and white! Kind of makes me think of a tiger or leopard. The dark patterning gets more pronounced near the tail. So the "base" color (before the white spots are added on top) seems to be light orange at the neck and darker as the pattern progresses down the body.

I would love to know what the technical name of the "base" color is (before the white spots are added on top) and what breeds carry it, so if you find out let me know.

I also found a WILD CHICKEN on the island of Kaui, Hawaii last summer in the "Ginger" color, which was really cool! How I wish I could have caught her and shipped her back.

Other than this one, I haven't seen this color anywhere else?