The Aloha Chicken Project

[RareBreedFancier]

Beautiful birds Tam'ra, it's fascinating to see how much they've changed.

Good luck to everyone hatching, I can't wait to see all these new Alohas in a few weeks time.

 

[alohachickens]

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I take a giant salad bowl and line it with a soft towel, and take them all out at once, candle within five or ten minutes, and put them back in. Like you said, the hen would take breaks all on her own, so they will be just fine.

If you want to help things warm up again, though, I keep some extra dish towels laying around during hatching. I find that covering the incubator by draping towels over the entire unit (except for the air vent holes) helps "insulate" and get the temps back up faster. So I'll move eggs to the hatcher, then pile towels all over the unit for thirty minutes to an hour, then take them off as needed until the temp is back where it needs to be. It seems to help. (Or maybe it doesn't but at least I feel better because I'm doing "something". Ha ha ha!!!)

 

[mrheinz77]

Ohhhh. They are beautiful. We need Aloha's in Iowa. I have Sussex cross (cross between the colors) that look to have similar marking. I'll have to get pictures and see if their genetics would be beneficial. A friend on BYC is working on several Sussex projects (Lavender, Milli Fleur, ...) My last batch of eggs from her looks like she is well on her way to Milli Fleur. If I can get pictures and eggs, I will post them to see if these genes are needed. They hatched around Oct 8.

 

[alohachickens]

I would LOVE to see what other stuff people are working on - including any and all Sussex crosses!

The spotting gene in the Sussex is recessive, which means the first generation of (for example) Sussex to Rhode Island Red, in a regular barnyard, would be solid dark red-brown chickens. But, if someone kept a rooster and a hen from those chicks and bred them togetether, some of the chicks would get spots again - but would probably be more "red" than a pure Sussex because of the Rhode Island Red bloodlines.

But since this takes more than one generation to see it through, finding spotted chickens at all is kind of rare! Since the Sussex aren't all that common to start with.

The fun part is, though, is once the spots are back in the parents they breed true again . . . two spotted parents are supposed to make all spotted babies . . .

Please take pics, that would be awesome!

Sommer

 

[alohachickens]

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Oh, forgot to mention if you want either hatching eggs or chicks, can work that out. Especially if you already have some good "base stock" that you can work with. Always looking for more help, and anyone is welcome! I'm not "hoarding" these genes, they're for anyone who wants to join in the fun.

 

[MaBo]

Ooooooh, Mille Fleur.... I've always liked those too! Too many favorites! ..... FOCUS.... FOCUS...!!!!

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[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

I was thinking the same thing! ...maybe we could trade! We'll send you some Alohas if you send us some Milli Sussex!

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[alohachickens]

Spent the entire day north of Phoenix with a newer member, Stephen Fowler. He has a big 10-acre farm up there. I gave him about 40 chicks this past summer. Some are mature, others are 4-6 weeks from laying. It was CULLING CULLING and CULLING! So much fun! I think after hatching chicks, culling is my second favorite thing. It was awesome to have so many to choose from. We hit it hard - a lot of hens were nice, but even little things like a funky comb or when two were equal, the leg color or set of tail were enough to put one in the "for sale" pen over another. When we were done, only 8 or 9 made the cut, and 14 cute little girls were in the cull pen!

These were the culls, which were pretty nice:

(these are the culled hens.)

(these are the culled roosters.)

These REALLY colorful girls were kept:

We put my gorgeous BIG purebred Sussex rooster in with the colorful gals, but those ones are still a bit young - about a month from laying.

And only two of these girls were kept in this pen:

A third pen will be set up soon, I gave Stephen a really lovely smaller Aloha rooster, who is not terribly small and has a wonderful upright comb. He's putting that colorful little guy with "big" pure hens like Speckled Sussex, Buff Rock, and New Hampshire Red. (Didn't get a photo of him yet.)

Stephen will have three small breeder pens, total. Two with big roosters and small colorful hens, and one with a small colorful rooster over big hens. Probably only 12-14 hens total between all the pens, when everything is set up but they will all be NICE hens, and every egg should be fertile with the hen/roo ratio at about 4:1. Everything should be rolling in about six weeks - all the pens set up, all the hens mature. By February, it will be time for hatching chicks! Yay!!!

 

[MaBo]

Dang. I don't know if I'm up for this! How will I ever be able to select so few from so many interesting and unique birds!?!?


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[notinoz2007]

even the culls are such nice looking birds. i'm so glad that i'll have those features in my backyard soon. i'm going to candle these eggs tomorrow. its been hard to leave them alone this long but i keep telling myself i have to if i want to have any success at all. i hope one hatches into a pretty little roo that stays quiet so i can keep him hidden from my neighbors