The Aloha Chicken Project

[alohachickens]

#1 - Probably a Splash pullet. This is why I'm going to cull Blue out of my flock entirely. If these were mixed with Alohas, it will be too hard to tell who is Splash and who is super-mottled with lots of white. Going to replace that Blue gene with Lavender, which is TRUE BREEDING gray, and never results in Splash!

#2 - Looks like Blue has lightened her Black somewhat, but that is basically a Black Mottled hen with a crest. And are those pink legs? Nope, she's not a good candidate for the Aloha program. But will be great for someone who loves Swedish!

#3 - Some real potential here. Hang on to this guy. Looks like a great Mille rooster.

#4 - Too much black! Re-home.

#5 - Isn't that weird??? Apparently not only the Cheeto chicks have issues losing spots! I don't know what to say on this guy. Do you try crossing him with your Sussex hens to see if he can lighten him? Or are we just asking our spots to go away if we continue on that track? Hmmm. Maybe grow him out for a bit. I don't think I've ever seen a pure Swede with so little black.

#8 - Grow her out. Evaluate later.

#6-10 - Too much black.

#3 and #8 are the most promising pair. The duo could make more pure Swedish of the type that would also cross well with Alohas.

Kind of curious about the light buff rooster. That's just odd. Haven't seen that in a Swedish before. I wonder if the spots would come back if he was crossed with Sussex. Would he lighten their Mahogany base color and make you some Mille chicks? I have no idea! Kind of looks like he has pink legs, though - I think? How would that guy do when crossed with Confetti Aloha hens?

What an interesting group of chicks. The non-Aloha candidates with too much black should make a wonderful flock for a Swedish Flower enthusiast.

Here are my 9 week old Swedish Flowers. Thoughts?

#1 Pullet



#2 Pullet



#3 Cockerel


#4 Cockerel


#5 Cockerel This one is almost completely solid.


#6 Pullet


#7 Cockerel


#8 Pullet


#9 Pullet


#10 Cockerel

 

[Deerfield Acres]

notinoz, hummm. I wonder if those chicks will grow any faster, even though they didn't hatch any larger to begin with?

So, I just candled the German New Hamp eggs and out of 12 eggs, only 5 are growing and that's with picking them up. Glad I bought the 8 chicks along with the hatching eggs or I would be one disappointed woman. They and my own chicks are doing great. The German New Hamps have such round bodies, they're cute. I hope they will add some size for us.

I'm on a list for Buff Sussex and Speckled Sussex chicks in the spring. I'll be ordering some SX from Ideal also because I think I can get more white from their birds than any other place.

I picked up a 2 yr old Speckled Sussex roo and 2 SSX hens that have a lot more white on them than mine. The roo is a really broad backed guy with more white than either of my roos. Overall, he's larger than Big Red but not quite as tall as Big Spotty. He has lots more white than Spotty and is built like a tank. Spotty has a more leggy look. The guy I bought them from got them from a private breeder so who knows where they came from originally.

My red Alohas are still laying but my ginger girls have stopped. I think that's weird. All of the Alohas are doing very well, healthwise and are very friendly birds.

 

[alohachickens]

i wanted to post before i forgot. the large eggs did not result in larger chicks. out of the 3 that hatched only 1 seems bigger than normal aloha size. we are feathering out right and so far lots of white shoulders. they are so pretty.

Second test of this type - same results. Just like the eggs you hatched from the pure Sussex hen and the itty bitty Buff Mottled roo.

Kind of a good news / bad news thing? I guess now we know that using large hens with tiny roosters will not "magically" improve size in one generation. So no easy fix.

On the flip side, though, if keeping our itty bitty pretty hens and adding a big rooster is just as effective, my tiny colorful girls aren't going anywhere for a while. LOL.

 

[alohachickens]

notinoz, hummm. I wonder if those chicks will grow any faster, even though they didn't hatch any larger to begin with?

So, I just candled the German New Hamp eggs and out of 12 eggs, only 5 are growing and that's with picking them up. Glad I bought the 8 chicks along with the hatching eggs or I would be one disappointed woman. They and my own chicks are doing great. The German New Hamps have such round bodies, they're cute. I hope they will add some size for us.

I'm on a list for Buff Sussex and Speckled Sussex chicks in the spring. I'll be ordering some SX from Ideal also because I think I can get more white from their birds than any other place.

I picked up a 2 yr old Speckled Sussex roo and 2 SSX hens that have a lot more white on them than mine. The roo is a really broad backed guy with more white than either of my roos. Overall, he's larger than Big Red but not quite as tall as Big Spotty. He has lots more white than Spotty and is built like a tank. Spotty has a more leggy look. The guy I bought them from got them from a private breeder so who knows where they came from originally.

My red Alohas are still laying but my ginger girls have stopped. I think that's weird. All of the Alohas are doing very well, healthwise and are very friendly birds.

I am really excited about the German New Hamps! I loved the dash of New Hamp in the Alohas here. It was brought on fairly early (my first "big chicken" outcross besides Sussex) and it did not seem to have any negative effect on amount of white in the grand-chicks (in other words, no disappearing spots) and it seemed to round out the gamey body types of my early Alohas quite a bit. The New Hamps are also fast growing and good layers. But, I do dislike the short tails. That's my one and only complaint with New Hampshires. Just a dash seems to go a long way towards improving type, though. And I was using "regular" New Hampshire - not the private breeder German stock.

That is doubly exciting about finding a more-spotty Sussex roo! Lucky duck! I'd totally go for the big stout spotty one, because now that you'll have what looks to be an excellent Swedish rooster to use, (roo #3 in the photos above) you'll find the Swedish are very tall and leggy birds. So while the two sons of Cheeto are much shorter than my pure Swedish roo, they are both way more compact and "meaty" than the Swedish. The combo of Buff Rock and New Hampshire Red made them earlier to mature as well. They looked more robust and were ready to breed WAY before the Swedish rooster was.

My pure Swede roos did not really "have their act together" with the ladies until they were pushing 8 months. I was able to get them to breed at six months when I removed all competition, but they still alternated between being terrified of the hens and then picking on them. Unlike the American Heritage-type stock roos that seem to figure out how to charm the ladies at an earlier age. At six months, the Swedish were acting like punk teenage boys who would show affection by pulling a girl's hair and then running away!

That is interesting about the Gingers. I have noticed some trends that should not be based on color but seemingly are . . . my Confetti girls seem the most broody, my Gingers the most fussy and the loudest cackling complainers. Nui is in a category all her own! She is the giant-sized half Aloha half Sussex hen. I've never seen a chicken gorge food like her in my life. When I named her "Nui" - which means "BIG" in Hawaiian - I had no idea how fitting the name would be! Her eggs are in my 'bator now. Dad: either of the two sons of Cheeto. Can't wait to see her chicks!

 

[alohachickens]

notinoz, hummm. I wonder if those chicks will grow any faster, even though they didn't hatch any larger to begin with?

I am wondering the same thing?

 

[Deerfield Acres]

My Buff Rock roo is finally ready to mate but now that he's ready the Speckled Sussex and Ginger girls aren't laying. LOL! Isn't that just the way it goes? Patience, patience. He's not hard to put up with so it's really no big deal. Just ironic. He's a really big boy and good tempered. There's not an ounce of fight in him that I can determine. Same for the lav/buff orpington. They are both very sweet and stealthy when it comes to mating. No picking fights for those boys but they're still getting the job done. I just don't need anymore EE's though and they just keep laying like troopers! So crazy. I'm putting the new roo with the red girls since they are at least laying and he hasn't shown any sign of illness since bringing him home.

 

[alohachickens]

So your new more-spotty roo is with the red Aloha hens?

Oh, and just a tip - take a few photos of the breeder pens because six months from now you'll forget who all was in there. ROFL!

 

[Deerfield Acres]

New Spotty is going in with the red Aloha girls tomorrow. You are so right about taking pics of the breeder pens. With the chicks I have now, I can barely remember who came from who as they grow and change! I'm going to have to get serious about banding or toe punching because I can already see how easy it's going to get to become confused as to which chick came from which hen/roo

 

[knjinnm]

#3 - Some real potential here. Hang on to this guy. Looks like a great Mille rooster.
#8 - Grow her out. Evaluate later.

Hi All,
I like #3, #8 would be OK except for the head feathers. Are head feathers in the standard? Also, neither appear to have yellow legs which may not be a problem since yellow legs is supposed to be dominate.

Joe

 

[Deerfield Acres]

We don't have an official standard but we are working toward non-crested birds in the final product. The crest is recessive unless it is bred to another crested bird so it shouldn't be too much of a problem to get rid of.