The Aloha Chicken Project

[alohachickens]

Yes - while it's ideal to work with non-crested whenever possible, and it's not the standard, we can breed it out.

The yellow legs are going to continue to be an issue for us to get, as we work with a lot of Sussex blood, but it's all a process! I would rather have a big, robust, productive bird with good color and pink legs than a small, gamey, poorly colored bird with yellow legs. So it's all about balance! At least we finally are starting to get the comb issue resolved, that was a big problem early on that is definitely getting better. One thing at a time, I guess. LOL!

 

[alohachickens]

Photo update! Tons of new photos! None of these are great quality, LOL. But they are new!

First, this is a Confetti rooster that is half Swedish, half Aloha. This proves the Confetti color is dominant and easy to reproduce. (But I already knew as much from past hatches.) This is just the first time we've seen in on a half-Swedish. It means this must be the son of the two Confetti hens that I have here.

He is fairly tall, but kind of slight in build and somewhat "gamey". He did not inherit the yellow legs. So, I think I will cull him at this point in favor of his brother. But I will be trying this cross again, and putting my pure Swedish roo with the two Confetti hens, in hopes we will get another one similar to this guy, but perhaps with the yellow legs we're looking for. My two Confetti hens have pink legs.

He is a cute guy, though! If we can fix the body type and leg color issue, this color is going to look FABULOUS on the Swedish Flowers:

 

[alohachickens]

Here is the brother to the Confetti boy. He has something more than Aloha going on here, because his chest and body is much deeper. Overall, his size is BIG - just a touch under the pure Swedish rooster of the exact same age. Of course I don't know which Aloha hen is his mom, but if I had to guess, it would be one with either a dash of Sussex or a bit of New Hampshire Red bloodlines. This fellow has none of the "gamey" look of the Confetti rooster. He is maturing early. His tail is long and flowing. His color is clearly NOTHING like either a pure Sussex or a pure Swedish Flower. (It kind of reminds me of an Exchequer Leghorn with the black replaced by brown. The early Alohas had a trace of Exchequer, so this would make sense.) But, he's going to be larger and more robust than an Exchequer Leghorn.

His only significant flaw - he needs yellow legs. If he had the yellow legs, I would call this an Aloha. Size will not be as large as pure Sussex or pure Buff Rock, or pure Swedish. But he will be larger than a Leghorn. Clearly a "standard" size chicken, with no trace of his Banty ancestry showing. Just a lovely rooster all the way around, and it is looking like he will be the head roo of my flock for this spring. These photos do not do him justice! He's much nicer in person.

 

[alohachickens]

I hatched out a few "random" Aloha babies. I didn't expect much from these. Instead, I have been pleasantly surprised!

New Color Alert! (Terrible photo.)





I have one little chick here, looks to be a hen. She seems to be a pale buff in color, but with large areas of her plumage in white. I have absolutely no idea how she will look when grown, as I've never seen this color combo before. This will be exciting to see!

Next up - look at his legs! A very light golden-red rooster, with large areas of white. He also looks ragged, seems like the others were pecking him a bit before I moved them to their new larger quarters. He will not be large, but I'm kind of encouraged by this guy, because he is certainly not the smallest rooster I've seen. He is a "wait and see" baby roo. Kind of small, but great legs. Whether he gets a flock of his own will depend on if his white sticks around or disappears, and how big he gets. But I love his bright colors and yellow legs, and he is showing an encouraging amount of white so far. Well, let's re-evaluate this fellow in a few months . . . but he kind of reminds me of a "boy" version of the Ginger Girls? If he could be put with Ginger hens to keep their color but add yellow legs, he could be VERY useful indeed!!!




I don't know if this is a hen or a roo. All I know is he/she is GINORMOUS and GORGEOUS:




Seriously - this chick is huge and plump and wonderfully round! Wish he/she had yellow legs. Looking at the pattern, maybe seeing a bit of Sussex influence? (Sussex start out with white on the chest, and later it develops on the back. Exchequers and Swedish show color all over as chicks.)

Next, a hen or roo that is red with plenty of white. BUT - this reminds me a lot of Cheeto's Chick #3, the son who lost almost all white as he aged. So we'll just have to wait and see. Size is OK, not as big as the one above, but not ridiculously tiny, either. Not sure of gender? Legs pink, not yellow. All of this means it will only be considered if it keeps the color and is a hen.




Last is this chick, who is mostly brown with just a few stray white feathers on her chest. But, I have never seen a prettier brown chick. I know that sounds weird, and the photos can't capture it, but there is this gorgeous shading on some of the feathers. They lighten to almost gold on the tips. Then there is a bit of black lacing on top. It's the most beautiful brown chick I've ever hatched. I have no idea if the lovely brown tones will stay, or if they will flatten out to "just brown" as she matures. I have no idea if she will develop more white. At this point, she's just a very pretty "maybe" chick:




Photos do nothing to capture this color.

There are other chicks, too, about five more Alohas, but they will be culled for having too little white, or for having gray legs, or too much black. (This brown chick would be with them if her brown wasn't so interesting.) I am glad to see promise in these, however, because it means about HALF of the random-bred chicks show some potential. We'll have to wait and see who (if any) makes the final cut in a few months. So far I'm most encouraged by the gold/white hen with tons of white and the extremely HUGE chick with lots of color. These are probably not Swedish Flower crosses, as he was the least dominant roo in the pen at the time these eggs were collected. A total of five roosters were running around with the hens when the eggs were gathered, though, so technically any rooster on the property at that time could be the father.

 

[alohachickens]

Chicks are hatching now! The special breeder pen featuring the two sons of Cheeto with some of my most colorful hens! About a dozen babies so far. Possibly as many as two dozen could hatch in the next couple of days.

Because I wanted to make sure we'd get plenty of chicks from this pen before I cull the dads - just in case we get something good - I set another two dozen eggs from this breeder pen! Plus, I'll be giving more to Derek to hatch, and then saving even more for Notinoz. Hopefully, we'll get some COLORED babies with Cheeto's body type in these chicks. Argh, I sure hope so!

Babies this cross will be 1/4 Cheeto (Who was mostly Buff Rock and New Hampshire) with the rest a blend of (mostly) Aloha with a dash of some Sussex in a few of the chicks.

Will probably not show a huge improvement in size, but they should show a good boost in body type. These chicks will be rounder, more stout, and less gamey than the original Aloha stock.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

WoW! Love the pics -- great colors! I've got some interesting chicks growing out and I have more on the way. I'm putting in 2 dozen more eggs to hatch tomorrow and I should have 1 1/2 dozen coming out. Some of those going in will be pure Sussex. I crossed Big Spotty with my 2 new spotted speckled sussex hens that have more white on them so I'm hoping some really spotty birds will hatch from the cross. I crossed the new roo with more white with the red colored Aloha hens and one New Hamp. It'll be interesting to see what comes from these eggs.

 

[alohachickens]

You should get a lot of size from the Sussex and NHR crosses! And a lot of size, in general. Will be a "boring" generation but should give some nice sized chickens to cross the little Alohas to.

 

[alohachickens]

I phrased that wrong - more spotty Sussex are not exactly "boring". Ha ha! But probably won't get the "new" colors just yet.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Yeah, but I know what you mean -- there won't be anything new color wise. The best we can hope for is an improvement in spots which will save me some time and money in that I maybe won't have to wait for spottier birds from Ideal. It will be exciting for me to see if I can come up with better spotting sooner than I expected. Hopefully, there will be an improvement in vigor and using these really good sized birds should bring some increase in size as well. If we could just get that size to pass on easily to the Alohas!

 

[alohachickens]

Photos of the new chicks. Grand-babies of "Cheeto".

Dads: #3 and Dragon, both roos 1/4 Buff Rock and 1/8 New Hampshire. Remainder Aloha.

Moms: Assorted colorful hens. Mostly small Alohas showing strong mottling, but two hens have noticable Speckled Sussex influence.

PARENTS:






BABIES:






The chicks are surprisingly uniform in body shape, size, and overall color! There are some differences in stripes. Some have dark brown stripes, others are mostly buff with stripes that start on the head but fade on the body. However, the overall appearance of the chicks is very similar. Usually, in most Aloha hatches, you will have some big, fat, fluffy chicks and some tiny, itty bitty, scraggly looking chicks. This entire hatch is more "medium plump" in size and build.

About 22 (I think?) and a few more eggs remain. No pips or signs of action on the remaining eggs, though of course I'll keep them in the 'bator the rest of today just in case.