The Aloha Chicken Project

[alohachickens]

my chicks are now 11 weeks old.

i know its hard to tell at this stage, but do you think this one will get decent coloring? and what do you think about that tail? is that normal? i know i had a problem with tail feather picking... but it has stopped and i figured there would be more feathers by now.


my buddy, he's just a wonderful guy who loves attention. this is the one with the "crown" should he be a cull? since he may carry the double comb trait. i just love him tho...


so the "barring" is on the bottom one? and kinda the top... what about that one in the middle? i love her color and she is the only one in this picture i was planning on keeping.


its possible i will get a buff orp roo to cross with my ladies because my friends breed them. but they tend to be really mean and i dont think i want that... what would happen if i just kept one aloha roo with the aloha hens that i hatched out? they'd be 'pure aloha' ?? but too inbred? your thoughts...

TOP PICTURE: Looks like a Rooster to me? With no spots? Would probably cull if it's a rooster. Could keep as a breeder if it's a hen and she was also big.

MIDDLE PIC: There is no perfect Aloha yet! So just work with what you've got. There is a LOT of good stuff going on with this guy. Light body color, bright white spots, no sign of barring so far? What color are his legs? Anyway, the comb thing is in issue that will continue to pop up for a while. We will get there eventually! This rooster looks to me like he'd be a FABULOUS cross with purebred Speckled Sussex hens, or half Sussex hens, as I think his light color would brighten them up a lot. So no worries - looks like he may be a keeper to me.

BOTTOM PIC: Love all three of those on the right side of the photo! Watch the two on the top and bottom. Don't count them out yet. The bottom one in particular looks like she may be a sneaky one who will suddenly color up awesome at the very end! Top one looks very promising too. Even if it's a roo we should keep an eye on that critter. Next month will be a big one as these could go from "blah" to "wow". Ha ha ha.

Inbreeding? Well, this generation has "new blood" introduced via a pure Sussex rooster (from a private breeder's stock) plus two pure Sussex hens (from a different source - a hatchery) plus an influx of Buff Rock that came from Cheeto's mom, a pure hatchery Buff Rock. Let's say you worked just with what you have right now. Bred them to improve combs, leg color, and pattern. You could easily do that for a couple of years with no fears of inbreeding. They just aren't going to be huge, ever. Not without introducing some larger stock. But say after you get them "perfect" except for size, you could trade eggs via mail from your stock with another Aloha breeder for something fresh with more "big chicken" bloodlines.

Yes, you can work with what you have now, and then add more size later.

 

[runsw/scissors]

Thanks so much for sharing your pictures! It really helps me to see what you've got and what to keep etc... Keep 'em coming; LOVE it!

 

[alohachickens]

I do have pure Sussex- 4 hens, and one roo. All but one of the hens has more white on it than the pics posted here in the last few days, too . . . . . . I hope that I can get their personalities to stick to the Alohas, as well as their size and spots. We are making the perfect chickens.

MaBo has both a Buff Rock roo AND a NHR/RIR cross roo, so we have some red/gold big chicken down here too.
Between us we also have 8 Aloha hens and 3 Aloha roosters and a half dozen Buff Orps.

I haven't heard from MaBo in a few days (he just started a new job) so I can only speak for myself, but I would be happy to share SS crosses/eggs once I get everyone put in their appropriate pens. I will get that going soon, everyone is laying like CRAZY already! I am about to have a lot more chicken wrangling time as I just got laid off and only have 2 more weeks of work, counting today. (What was that was said about selling chicks to support feed costs? I may have to start...)

Tam'ra - I am going to be really excited to see your Aloha/Sussex crosses! Especially if the Sussex hens are that nice in looks and temperament to start.

And that's exciting that MaBo has both the Buff Rock and the NHR/RIR cross roo. If you hatched out Sussex/Aloha crosses at your place, and kept ONLY your hens from those crosses, that would be a really "easy" start. Keep all your hens that show good spotting. (No "hidden" spots on the Sussex crosses, yay.) Those half-Sussex are going to cross great with MaBo's half Aloha, half Big Chicken mixes!

The other nice thing, Tam'ra, about your half Sussex half Alohas, is the fact they will show color is going to help you sell the extras. They will probably all look like pure Sussex this first generation, but oh well, Sussex are still popular. LOL. So heck yeah, hatch out a big old batch of chicks if you need to, and sell some. (But . . . be sure to keep a bunch of half-Sussex hens for yourself.)

Poor MaBo is going to have to hatch out those boring half Aloha, half Buff Rock, and half Aloha, NHR/RIR chicks, and have all these "normal" tan and brown chickens for one season until they can be bred to get the spots back! LOL. But the Buff Rock crosses of his will be HUGE and his Aloha + NHR/RIR crosses will be egg-laying machines. So his crosses are going to rock on the size and egg laying. As sweet and colorful as the Sussex crosses are, Stephen reports to me that it's Cheeto's sister (half Buff Rock, 1/4 NHR, and 1/4 Aloha) who is the AMAZING layer of a big egg every single day, and she's huge, too. Like Cheeto, his sis doesn't have the spots, but she's impressively big and very practical.

You guys in the Pacific NW are going to totally going to get some awesome Alohas in about a year if you keep this up!

 

[alohachickens]

Photos showing all 13 of Cheeto's babies today:




I will be keeping all hens from this group as they will carry color regardless. Solid roos will be culled. Colored roos will be evaluated. I'll keep the best colored roo, and the second best will stay nearby. Either I'll give to one to Stephen or to my neighbor for safekeeping. Three of these colored chicks look very "roo-ish" to me? Only the little buff and white one looks like a hen.

 

[alohachickens]

Here's the one that is driving me CRAZY right now! Photo TODAY at 15 weeks old:



Here he was on Jan 30th:



Here he was at 4-6 weeks old:



So, my Sussex crosses are suddenly looking really cool and their spots are getting bigger and brighter. Meanwhile, this guy has white that is going away as he grows up! ARGH. He was so awesome as a chick, and now - not so much?

I am kind of worried about the Cheeto chicks, because the white going away on this fellow. How are they going to look as adults? It is so odd . . . some chicks getting are more white as they age, and others having less and less as they grow.

 

[notinoz2007]

oh no, that color changing roo is making me nervous! i love the color of some of mine and dont want it to go away, lol.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

So, my Sussex crosses are suddenly looking really cool and their spots are getting bigger and brighter. Meanwhile, this guy has white that is going away as he grows up! ARGH. He was so awesome as a chick, and now - not so much?

I am kind of worried about the Cheeto chicks, because the white going away on this fellow. How are they going to look as adults? It is so odd . . . some chicks getting are more white as they age, and others having less and less as they grow.

What?

How freaky is that?

 

[alohachickens]

Yes, but my Sussex crosses are doing the OPPOSITE and getting MORE white! ARRRGH.

Same chick before:



And here she was YESTERDAY:

 

[runsw/scissors]

Too weird! Alohachickens, I love this breed... I don't know of any other breed that can do that!

Here is a picture from this am


as you can see it's a little difficult to see what the chicks look like as grandma chicken has adopted them. Trying to take them out to photograph them is a risky thing to do as she is fiercely protective of her babies! I let the chickens out to wander around, and she heard their little peeps and decided (after a few days) that they were her babies...

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Ahhhh. What a good grandma. She looks like she means business too!