The Aloha Chicken Project

[alohachickens]

Is my rooster an Aloha? I bought him at The Stock Shop. There were 3, I bought 2 but one died.

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He was young when I got him and silly me assumed he was a hen... never wanted to own a roo. But I'm so glad I didn't realize he was one, I love him

And since I had a roo... I bought an incubator. My first batch hatched last week

And I am thrilled all 7 did! (Brinsea Mini Advance)

My hens are two brahmas (a light and a dark) so while they won't be Alohas, I can't wait to see what they end up looking like

I would say with almost 100% certainty, that's an Aloha. I did not bring any to the Stock Shop, but I have given away many eggs to local BYC'ers when my 'bators were full, so yes, it is VERY likely. I have also SOLD locally (via Craigslist) several HUNDRED chicks this year!

Previously, all extra eggs went to Derek, who was trying to get a program started. He gave away many chicks last year (ones with pink legs, etc) to friends in Mesa & Queen Creek, so likely there are many Alohas floating around the East Valley, as well. Unfortunately, Derek and his neighbors have suffered tremendous losses due to predators in that area. He told me his neighbor lost a huge flock of Cream Legbars to coyotes recently, tragic! So he's building new runs and actually burying the perimeter with wire a few feet deep. The dogs/coyotes have been digging down under the fence to get them. So he has few Alohas left now.

Since he did not have his new runs finished, instead of the extra eggs going to Derek this Fall, they have been going into the giant incubator that he loaned me, and then sold on Craigslist. I am guessing someone bought chicks from me, maybe back in November, and then took the extra roos to the Stock Shop? That would make the rooster nearly 6 months.

The only other option (looking at him) would be Swedish Flower. But being as I've been selling massive amounts of Alohas locally this year, and there are no breeders of pure Swedish flowers in AZ that I know of (Stephen does have one pure Swedish pen at his place) then Aloha would be most likely. Also, he shows more white than most Swedish.

He's gorgeous, by the way!!!

 

[alohachickens]

FYI -

This boy crossed with LIGHT BRAHMA *may* make Buff Brahma looking chicks?

If you get any with this color, keep the "Buff" hens. Then cross back to rooster. There would be a chance of getting huge Mille Fleur chicks.

Not sure if this is 100% correct, but from my feeble understanding, this is possible. Basically, you'd have a small chance of getting something like this:

http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/5/51/350x700px-LL-519acbae_safflower.jpeg

Which OMG would be a huge help to the program. LOL.

 

[alohachickens]

FYI, if you want some Aloha chicks, please PM me right away. I will be shipping a batch to San Diego but will have extras left. Was going to sell to random Craigslist folks, so if you want 'em, they have been selling FAST.

Good news, all possible Aloha breeders . . .the chicks are selling great! They have been quite popular. I sell them cheap, but most people mention the pretty colors when they call, not the price.

 

[CheyAut]

Very cool! Being a lover of appaloosas (I breed mini horses and have several that are appy, plus I have some POAS) I was drawn to him for his color. I call him my apparoosta

I'll update pics of the chicks when they get their adult feathers in I have my 7, and I just gave a friend eggs from my hens for her to hatch, so I can also share pics of those later. LOVE the pic in the link, sure would be happy if some looked like that!

So sad about his losses. I lost all but one of my first birds to coyotes. I had over three dozen, which included chickens, guineas, ducks and turkeys. There is a trio of coyotes that lives right by me in the open field, plus the farm field across the street and the wash by me. This trio is VERY bold. They dug into my pen and killed all but 2 mallards, but one of those died the next day from his injuries. I still have the survivor and he's my favorite (this was two Novembers ago). They also killed 3 of our nigerian dwarves, so we had rehomed the rest. We now have two nigi kids and 4 sheep, plus 17 ducks and our 3 chickens (and now some chicks but they're in the house). But, we also have livestock dogs now. We have a Great Pyr who lives outside 24/7, and we have a Leonberger/Newfy/Pyr Mastiff who stays out at night with him and whenever she wants to during the day (and my old Alaskan Malamute stays out when it's not too hot). The dogs have literally been a lifesaver for our critters. Sadly, they coyotes moved on to a neighbor's goats (and his are big, boer and nubian crosses I think).

I would LOVE to buy some chicks from you, I will PM you now

 

[alohachickens]

Very cool! Being a lover of appaloosas (I breed mini horses and have several that are appy, plus I have some POAS) I was drawn to him for his color. I call him my apparoosta

HA! That's a good one. I have a background in horses (and studied horse color genetics, but it turns out chicken genetics are a lot different much to my dismay) and I tell my friends I breed kind of "Appy Chickens" for lack of a better term! And I'm trying to get the range of patterns on them as well. The Confetti ones remind me of Buckskin Leopards, and others, like snowflake appies, and even others have faded varnish roan markings instead of clear, bold spots. So a lot of the patterns are there, too!

 

[alohachickens]

50 baby Alohas sent to San Diego, and pushing 60 more hatched since. I also have a batch of 20 eggs that are Sussex / Aloha crosses that I'm going to KEEP for myself, and raise for size improvement.

I have loaded 90+ eggs to hatch on the 2nd, and another 90+ eggs for the 8th, and Stephen says he has a HUGE pile of eggs at his house, but unfortunately, we've had trouble meeting up for various reasons so I can get them. (I hurt my back last week and crouching over to collect eggs in his coop was not an option, it was terrible!)

I am filling EVERY INCUBATOR up right now. This means I should have room to try and set as many as 150 more eggs from what I get at Stephen's house.

The girls are laying so well that there have even been EXTRA eggs beyond this, going to Derek. I will be selling or gifting even more hatching eggs once the 'bators are at max capacity. It's an Aloha baby boom here in Phoenix!!!!

 

[CheyAut]

I'm sooo excited to pick up my chicks today!!!

 

[CheyAut]

Got my chicklets Some are for a friend but most for me. Gonna have to build another coop lol

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Got my chicklets

Some are for a friend but most for me. Gonna have to build another coop lol

Haha! Nice!

 

[alohachickens]

Will have more hatching on April 2nd, April 8th, and will set more for April 14th. After that, my 'bators will be totally full, so I won't be able to set more eggs, until the April 2nd hatch frees up some room! I'm firing up not just the 300 egger, but the two foam tabletop models as well. (Genesis and Hova Bator with fan.) That way I will max out at 380+ eggs set for April.

Yesterday, I had 20+ chicks remaining, but I needed to move them out, because I have a special group (of Sussex crosses, and pure Swedish, for size improvement) that I want to keep and raise for next year's breeding flock. I have about 15 of those hatched so far. But they were milling about in the hatcher, becuase the brooder was full of "sale" chicks. I had to clear out that brooder ASAP so I could put my own babies in there!!!

So first I contacted folks on the Craigslist wait list. Two wanted to buy, one couldn't come over until later that evening, the other wasn't ready for chicks that quick.

Then I posted on CL, because I really needed them gone by that night, and it was like a feeding frenzy, but nobody could make it over right away. Arrrgh. Many calls, but nobody ready to drive over and buy right now. One guy said he'd be over, then called back and said he couldn't be over until that night. UGH. So I told him, sorry, the ad said first come first served.

Then there was like this chaos of mixed messages and two people trying to get here at the same time to buy the 20+ that were still here.

OMG what a mess!!!

Bottom line, had I had the room etc to hatch unlimited chicks, I think I would have sold about 100 chicks yesterday.

As it stands, between the shipment to San Diego and what was sold locally, the total Alohas hatched and sold in the last 3 days is: 130+

The really crazy thing, is I could be selling several times that many. The 300 egg incubator is just not enough. LOL!!!