The Aloha Chicken Project

[jbolt]

This is the smallest hen of her age group, 3 months, there weeks to be exact, but look at all the color!

 

[jbolt]

And then here's some pics of the chicks I got from Sommer about a month ago.....

 

[jbolt]

 

[jbolt]

 

[jbolt]

just found this super interesting thread regarding buff mottled duccle.....
http://www.practicalpoultry.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1274899654

 

[notinoz2007]

Sommer, I wanted to get on and give you an update on my lone Aloha hen. I got her from Deerfield last July after a fox obliterated my flock and she kindly gave me some birds to help build back the numbers. She hatched from the batch of eggs Deerfield picked up from Notinoz by the side of the road, if I'm not mistaken. Anyway....I know you are trying to avoid broodiness in the Alohas but you have to hear about this wonderful hen, who is named Miss M (by a friend and the M doesn't actually stand for anything, yet the name fits her to a T).

In April, Miss M went broody. She sat faithfully on the eggs I gave her and hatched 3 chicks from the 3 eggs. The next day I had turkeys hatching and decided to see if she would raise them for me. When I took them down to her, she recoiled in horror but then got a resigned look on her face that said "Well, they may be aliens but they're baby aliens" and she called them over and tucked them under her. From then on, she raised 3 chicks and 2 turkeys and worked really hard to get those baby turkeys eating since they didn't respond to her encouragements to the chicks. (She discovered that if she held the food in her beak they would come and eat it out of her beak, even though they wouldn't peck at the ground where she told them to).

Anyway, after raising her brood for 5-6 weeks, she left them to their own devices and....went broody again. I'm not sure she laid a single egg in between!

I didn't need any more chicks hatched so I put her on some muscovy duck eggs, which take 5 weeks to incubate. She was joined by a multitude of other broodies - 5-6 hens and a duck - who spent the next 5 weeks fighting over who got to actually SIT on the eggs. They were passed around whenever a hen took a broody break.

Yesterday 5 ducklings hatched (7 eggs total and another is pipped today). The hens and duck all continued to share the nest and the ducklings ran under whoever was closest. This morning Miss M decided it was time to leave the nest. She left one duckling with the duck (who is now also out and about raising her offspring) and commandeered the other 4 ducklings. First she took them to the feeder and broke up pellets for them to eat (I special order my FlockRaiser in pellets because I don't like crumbles so fear not; she is NOT feeding them layer pellets). I just checked on them again just now and she has them outside the coop, parked in front of the waterer and is cluck-cluck-clucking to them to encourage them to drink (not that they need much encouragement).

Anyway, I know broodiness isn't the goal but I am just so impressed with Miss M, who not only is a terrific broody, but is willing to raise any species of baby you give her.

she does sound like a great broody of all the aloha hens i havent had a single broody. as a matter of fact in 2 years of chicken keeping i havent had a broody ever, of any breed, lol.


2 days ago with all the rain i had to rescue my whole brood. they were in their sleeping piles in TWO INCHES OF WATER!! they dont like to roost in the brooder coop for some reason but that night i went out and placed each one on a roost so they wouldnt drown. crazy things. but so totally cute!

 

[notinoz2007]

finally! after heat losses in the first 2 weeks and the first cull at 4 weeks i have 15 left. looking out there now i see at least 7 who will be removed due to lack of spots, or pale leg color.


i do have a few good looking roosters. they are 10 weeks so i know there is a chance we can still lose a lot of white.


i love sunflowers. they grow really easy here and the chickens eat EVERY part of them. plus they are just really pretty up against a block fence.

both these pics are blurry but i have been watching this white one hoping its a pullet. the comb is much smaller than all the rest, but still a chance its a roo. i havent had such a white or spotty hen with yellow legs, i'm pretty excited about this one.

 

[alohachickens]

i love sunflowers. they grow really easy here and the chickens eat EVERY part of them. plus they are just really pretty up against a block fence.

both these pics are blurry but i have been watching this white one hoping its a pullet. the comb is much smaller than all the rest, but still a chance its a roo. i havent had such a white or spotty hen with yellow legs, i'm pretty excited about this one.

The hen (?) with all the white is looking great!

I need to take more pics of mine, the one roo with tons of white is STILL showing tons of white, while his three "regular" mottled brothers are losing more and more white each day. Based on this, I feel the "regular mottled" roos that you have will also turn out the same way. (White not increasing with age as in Sussex, but decreasing as they age more like Swedish.) Now why the two lines would act so differently is beyond me! (Swedish shed white when they hit five months old, Sussex gain white as they hit maturity. Weird.)

 

[alohachickens]

Ok, I took much better pics today.....girls first......

Looking very pretty here!!!

 

[pattiann]

I'm really interested in seeing how these chickens do.currently I have 15 amerucanas with one being a beautiful white rooster. I also have four black star hens and two white leghorns and a rock rooster. If your interested in seeing what we can make,let me know. I live in White Hills about 30 miles from Hoover Dam. Cooler and thankfully no losses from heat.