The Aloha Chicken Project

[HEChicken]

No, I moved them out of the hoop coop after I had the eggs I needed for incubating. The hoop coop is my ONLY way to separate hens to collect eggs and I had a friend request specific eggs so needed to move my other rooster and his group of hens in there to collect those eggs for her, so the Exchequers got their freedom back. Although one of them liked laying in there so much so she "breaks IN" every day to lay her egg

It takes some doing too. There is chicken wire 4 feet high all the way around, so she has to jump up higher than the chicken wire, and then she can slip in through the cattle panel and jump down into the pen. Then she lays her egg and waits for me to come out and let her back out. Silly bird.

Yep - the white eggs are mostly theirs. I have only one other hen who lays white eggs, so I'm never entirely sure if a white egg is an Exchequer or not, but the other day I brought in 4 white eggs (a record) so at worst 3 Exchequers and the other hen laid and at best, 4 of the 7 laid that day!

 

[alohachickens]

No, I moved them out of the hoop coop after I had the eggs I needed for incubating.

Hmmm, so it was only 3-4 fertile eggs from this batch, right? Yowza, I hope they do hatch! If everything goes right, you'd only need something like two hens and one rooster to get going, but typically what I have happen is I'll have four fertile eggs, two will hatch, and both will be roosters. LOL!

Do you think you can re-try this breeding pen again in the Fall if you need more?

In my case, I've had issues getting chicks from the Buff Sussex breeder pen. Then I got that ONE single chick, who was a nice, big rooster, and those kids stole him! If they had not stolen him, he would have been of breeding age possibly by May, which may have given me one last shot at crossing him against my favorite small but super-colorful Aloha hens before I re-home those.

Now I'm finally getting more chicks from that Buff pen, but because of the timing, I'll have to wait until next fall to try my next-gen crosses with the Buff stock! My forward progress this year was really thwarted by the Buffs not producing well until *just now*. LOL!!!

 

[HEChicken]

Hmmm, so it was only 3-4 fertile eggs from this batch, right? Yowza, I hope they do hatch! If everything goes right, you'd only need something like two hens and one rooster to get going, but typically what I have happen is I'll have four fertile eggs, two will hatch, and both will be roosters. LOL!

Do you think you can re-try this breeding pen again in the Fall if you need more?

Yep - I have 4 developing with a 3-day difference in hatch dates between them. I love my R-Com incubators!!! Honestly, [knock on wood] my experiences with them so far (and they both ran non-stop from April to September last year) is that if it develops, it hatches. Out of dozens of eggs that developed last year, I could count the ones that didn't hatch on one hand.

So - while you're not supposed to count your chickens before they hatch (sorry, couldn't resist), I anticipate having 4 First Generation Aloha project chicks from this hatch.

I've had really good luck with genders too. Sometimes too much good luck, honestly

Among my other ongoing projects is keeping my family in meat, so I have a couple of breeds that I raise with the idea that the pullets will join my laying flock and the cockerels will provide my family with meat. So with that in mind, especially since I now have more laying hens than I need, my ideal would be to hatch about ⅔ cockerels. Instead, most hatches contain more pullets than cockerels. So the moral of the story is hope for cockerels and you'll get more pullets.

I definitely will do a few more in the fall. I might also put the Exchequers back in the hoop coop when the current birds vacate it next week, and try for a few more fertile eggs. Although I'll be traveling this summer, and wasn't planning on hatching any more, I have so many broodies that what I might do is hatch a few more and stick the chicks under the broodies to raise. That way I'm not leaving more work for my critter sitter, I'm breaking a broody AND I'm getting a few more project birds out of the deal without having to wait until fall.

 

[5moore]

Just curious, I had someone on the Ebay auctions ask how these do in the cold. So, how DID they manage? Obviously they can handle 110 out here but not sure of the other way. LOL.

Sommer the only one I lost from this pen was the orpington roo. No alohas were lost during the winter and we have had a really cold winter. Saturday our temps here was in the 80's, this am it is now 33 degrees! I'm hoping the teenagers are ok when I go out this morning. The last time the temp dropped drastically like this I ended up having to bring them back in. They just hadnt had time to get acclimated and of course the best pullet out of the bunch acted the worse. Once I got them in and warmed back up, they started eating again and were fine. These are teenagers I hatched from eggs layed by the chicks you shipped me last May. Those hens you shipped me had no problems during the winter. I got 5 eggs from the 6 hens almost every day, even on the days when the eggs would freeze within 2 hours before I could get home. They are very hardy!

 

[alohachickens]

HEChicken, 5moore, I was wondering, could you write a review of Alohas? I see someone else did one review here already:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/aloha-chickens

It would be really nice to have a couple more posted on there as our little fledgling project turns into a real breed!

Just whatever you want to say about them being hardy, or good layers. But no need to sugar coat it, either, if you want to mention they are still small or hard to keep contained yadda yadda and etc. As I know they are like that of course! LOL

 

[HEChicken]

I'll look into writing a review….I've never done it so will first have to see if I can figure out where I go to get started

My hatch is due tomorrow. Overnight 3 early bird turkeys hatched and this morning there are a bunch of pips, but possibly the pip I'm most excited about is a "tutor" - my very first "Aloha" egg is pipped!!! It could be until tomorrow yet before it hatches but you can bet I'll be keeping an eye on it today.

 

[HEChicken]

Sommer, first Aloha hatched overnight. It looks mostly black with white wing tips. And, unless it is baby hormones causing an enlarged comb, it is a cockerel

I have one more due tomorrow (set it a day late) and another due on Friday.

 

[alohachickens]

Sommer, first Aloha hatched overnight. It looks mostly black with white wing tips. And, unless it is baby hormones causing an enlarged comb, it is a cockerel

I have one more due tomorrow (set it a day late) and another due on Friday.

Are these the Exchequer x German New Hamp eggs?

 

[HEChicken]

Are these the Exchequer x German New Hamp eggs?

Yep! The second is pipped….

 

[alohachickens]

FINALLY got some action in the Turken pen. I'm going to 100% recommend the "Flock Blocks" for jump-starting the egg production in breeder pens.

I put one in the pen with the Buff Sussex up at Stephen's and got a crapload of eggs. Then put one in the Turken pen (because I was suspecting that they were egg eatin' as well) and sure enough, got about 14 eggs in there in 10 days. Compared with three eggs the previous 10 days.

This is actually not the Purina brand, it's some off-brand "free range block" not sure of company, but about $4 less than the Purina one. Two thumbs up!!!