The Aloha Chicken Project

[a little chiken]

I am so excited to be starting my Aloha flock thanks to Sommer. I am building a coop just for them. It is exciting to be a part of this. they are such a beautiful bird and I cannot wait to learn all I can about what we are striving for.

Thanks
Melanie from Tucson

 

[HEChicken]

Here is a 2-week update. I have two hens, one raising two chicks and the other raising one. I took some photos of them last night - they were two weeks old on Tuesday. Sommer, see what you think - are these turning out more as you expected? By the way you mentioned pied vs. mottled. In what I read about Exchequers, they are supposed to be pied. I have looked at the feathers on mine and they are mostly pied but because they are hatchery birds, some feathers are mottled rather than pied. So now I'm wondering: if Exchequers are pied rather than mottled, is this project even going to work like you thought at all? I guess we shall see. In addition to these 3 chicks, I have two more in the incubator due to hatch next Tuesday.

The mother hens are doing an awesome job with their chicks and moved them from their nursery quarters to the main coop before they were a week old. The chicks already know how to navigate the pop door and know that is where they sleep at night.

This is the Buff Catalana with her one chick. She is extremely protective and was an aloof hen to begin with, so I had to take this with all the zoom I had so I know there is not much to see of the chick.


And this is my Aloha hen and her two chicks. She is friendlier and lets me get closer to them.








Its hard to tell in the photos, but there is a sort of brownish/reddish sheen to the black feathers. Hard to describe.

 

[alohachickens]

This is going to be really interesting!

Like I mentioned before, folks used to call the Exchequers "Pied" and other spotted ones "Mottled" but now they say it's the same gene, the Pied ones just show more white?

But if these show spots in the first generation, it will tell us more about this gene! Which is why your experiment in particular is REALLY interesting. It will be something the whole "chicken community" might learn from!

Yes, the original F1 Exchequer crosses that I raised here, years ago, had that reddish sheen. The weren't a "true" black! Grew up to a coffee-brown color . . .

 

[HEChicken]

Time for the 3-week pics. Sommer, look what is happening to their chests! You remember you were surprised/disappointed to see they had white chests, because you had thought they would be solid colored? Well, it looks like you were right. Despite the white chests, they are feathering in with the same coloration on their chests that is on their wings/back.

 

[alohachickens]

Time for the 3-week pics. Sommer, look what is happening to their chests! You remember you were surprised/disappointed to see they had white chests, because you had thought they would be solid colored? Well, it looks like you were right. Despite the white chests, they are feathering in with the same coloration on their chests that is on their wings/back.

OK, we'll see what happens! Often, when a chicken carries only one gene for Mottling, it appears solid, but often there is just one or two little spots somewhere that might clue you in that they are carriers of the recessive Mottling gene. I've had the "hints" appear as a speck of white on the tail, in the middle of the back, one single white wing feather, etc. But we have never done such a "pure" gene test like you are doing there! Two breeds that only come in ONE color - either solid red, or black & white. My Alohas were not a good test subject because they had too many possible gene combos. Going to be fun with your project, a true "Punnett Square" model!

 

[a little chiken]

Hey sommer here are the Alohas after eating FF so they look wet lol.

See what I mean about them piling? And thats with a light.

 

[a little chiken]

Here are the small ones that dont seem to be doing as well.....

 

[alohachickens]

Oh, I know what the deal is with the small ones! There are three Banty sized hens, kind of a throwback to the first Aloha, who is a Banty. They just started laying a while back. I tried to give those Banty hens away to the next door neighbor, but they flew back over again. I collected and hatched eggs from that pen. I bet those are the sons and daughters of the Banty sized hens! I'd better re-home those ASAP so I won't have any more mini-chickies hatching out! LOL.

 

[alohachickens]

Hey sommer here are the Alohas after eating FF so they look wet lol.

There is a ton of color in this group already! Wow.

 

[a little chiken]

There is a ton of color in this group already! Wow.

these are the ones I am keeping, I am having a hard time picking out some to give to deb but I will tonight.