The Aloha Chicken Project

[draye]

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!!!

Are these (eggs) incubating yet?

 

[alohachickens]

Are these (eggs) incubating yet?

I just put them in last night! Quite a few, about 16 eggs, I think total. If everything goes well I might actually have a good selection of Tukenhas. (Or Alokens?) Of course not all will hatch, and half of those will be roos. So starting with 16 eggs *might* get me the hen or two I need.

Need just the right one, with that light Buff Columbian color and yellow legs!!!

 

[HEChicken]

Can you see the "Aloha" chick in this batch? The chicks were hatched as turkey tutors but they've done such a good job of tutoring that I think their students are ready to graduate, so the chicks are serving a second role now as broody breakers….

 

[CheyAut]

The chicks from my Aloha roo and my Brahma hens look like brahmas with extra black





Here are my Alohas from Sommer... The one I"m holding is my favorite. She (wishful thinking?) was the very first one I picked out of the group when I was getting them, she always had a super spotty face and I just loved it

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Hi all, I'm finally back. I've suffered some serious personal issues that caused me to cut my flock and go into a holding pattern.

What I have currently is a nice group of Buff Sussex. Four hens and one cock. These birds have everything you could possibly want -- great temperament, great size, great shape, extremely healthy and hardy -- got them from Walt'z Ark in Colorado. I had some Albritton Speckled Sussex (finally a quality Speckled) and every last one of them has died. Unbelievably disappointing. I have one Ideal Speckled Sussex I hatched last year -- she is very healthy and of decent size. Two of my Buff hens are broody and setting on eggs from my Aloha roo, orange/white, who is now deceased. This is their first time and they are setting quite happily together in the same nest. I don't know how many eggs they have but I'm expecting only a handful. The Buffs are within weeks of being a year old and are laying very well. I have only two Aloha hens -- kid's pets. These girls are not broody girls, are small, only one lays well but they are sweet birds. Altogether I am down to about 12 birds -- a record low for me.

We've not lost any birds to predators but did end up with rats that burrowed under the concrete pad in front of the hen house during the winter. Gross -- but I got rid of them. My husband, whose tolerance for the chickens was low to begin with, was horrified over the rat infestation. He wants very much for every bird to be gone. I'm not going to ruin a marriage over chickens but I am limited for now with what I can do. We've called a truce but hatching a bunch of birds is out of the question. We have been through an unbelievable amount of stress in a short period of time and I'm just going to hang onto the birds that I have and see how things look this fall. Beechcraft has just been purchased yet again, this time by Textron, parent company to Cessna, so yesterday a bunch of people with whom he has worked for years were layed off. Add this to our personal issues and he's just been stressed over the top.

hechicken, I'm excited to see you managed to get an Ex/Aloha chick. It's crazy those Ex's weren't better layers. How does that even happen?

5moore, you've been busy! I've just read a few of the posts I missed, but very interesting!

I will probably be checking in at least once a week now that I feel as though I'm getting my life back. Aside from everything else, we have 5 kids in Middle School. It has been a very interesting school year. I think the school principal has me on speed dial and that's only 2 of the five who are being difficult. Sheesh. What if they were all little monsters? I swear there must be a "pause" button for Mom's but I haven't found it yet.

 

[chef glenn]

Sommer,


FINALLY got back the ability to pm and post yea!

Pics to follow at 5 months! A few of the Palomar Mountain Alohas are sure getting BIG!! (Well, bigger that the others..one looks like a.

 

[alohachickens]

The chicks from my Aloha roo and my Brahma hens look like brahmas with extra black





Here are my Alohas from Sommer... The one I"m holding is my favorite. She (wishful thinking?) was the very first one I picked out of the group when I was getting them, she always had a super spotty face and I just loved it

Chey Aut, your "Bramahas" look REALLY interesting! Greatly improved depth of body from the smaller Aloha stock. If you were able to keep maybe two buff hens (perhaps the ones with best size and/or least leg feathering?) would love to see what would happen if you crossed them with a super colorful roo from this new batch of chicks. I love the width to their chest area, and how nicely rounded their shape is. Lovely chicks!!! They WILL carry the gene for color even though they don't show it. In Appy terms, these are the solid mares that would have scelera and maybe striped hooves but not much else. LOL.

Yes your hen chick has super-interesting face markings! Looks like a lot of Swedish influence to me. Which means she might also be big. Let's see if she keeps her color! Swedish generally drop a bunch of color right at four months (very disappointing) while the Sussex hens suddenly grow a bunch of color seemingly overnight! Now I'm crossing the two strains, so the funny thing is, we have NO IDEA what to expect now the two lines are crossing back and forth?

I've had Swedish drop tons and tons of white and end up with nothing but tiny faint dots. And I've had Sussex that were boring brown hens with a dab of white on the chest suddenly bloom into beautifully spotted hens. It's so weird how much the hens change right at puberty.

 

[alohachickens]

CheyAut, since we were talking about how the upright comb helps you sex them earlier, here's what I saw in one pic. The roo to the left with the ton of white, if he's also one of the biggest and has yellow legs, might be a good one to try and grow out? It looks like he has "too much" white right now, but since they can drop a ton of white at four months, I've kind of been leaning towards going overboard to compensate.

 

[alohachickens]

Can you see the "Aloha" chick in this batch? The chicks were hatched as turkey tutors but they've done such a good job of tutoring that I think their students are ready to graduate, so the chicks are serving a second role now as broody breakers….

Yep, I see the him/her! Nice body form too, much more stout than the Exchequers. What are the other breeds?

 

[alohachickens]

Sommer,


FINALLY got back the ability to pm and post yea!

Pics to follow at 5 months! A few of the Palomar Mountain Alohas are sure getting BIG!! (Well, bigger that the others..one looks like a.

PICS! PICS! PICS! PICS!!!