The Aloha Chicken Project

[alohachickens]

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

Yep, it's REALLY hard to tell at this age! Many of the roos drop a ton of color, and the hens get more, except the Swedish lose color and the Sussex get more spotting, and since these have half Sussex and 1/4 Swedish chicks in there, it's impossible to tell which way they will go! Such hard decisions . . . .

 

[a little chiken]

Yep, it's REALLY hard to tell at this age! Many of the roos drop a ton of color, and the hens get more, except the Swedish lose color and the Sussex get more spotting, and since these have half Sussex and 1/4 Swedish chicks in there, it's impossible to tell which way they will go! Such hard decisions . . . .

so Jodi took 16 and Debi got 7 more and I have what is left I thinks its around 22 ish. I will take pics next week so you can see them again

 

[alohachickens]

Going to be exciting to see how they grow!

I am still waiting for my other babies to feather in a bit more before I post pics. My oldest bunch of chicks keep pecking at each other, even with extra protein, so they look a mess! But here's a rooster who is not spotty, but does have the rare "DUN" color on his neck feathers:


He is simply enormous. His dad is the Buff Sussex and his mom is the Light Dun Sussex in this picture:



This chick does not carry spots, but will carry Dun color and improve size. Will take a while to get the spots and yellow legs in, while trying to keep some of his size, and the Dun gene. But, we are one step closer, at least!

 

[draye]

Hey Sommer,
How about this one for an Aloha?



I'm thinking this one is a rooster, it started out looking like a pullet , but I think it is a slower maturing rooster. I'm just waiting to see, I think if I continue with the chickens I will probably use it whatever sex it is.
By the way it has whitish/pink legs. Sorry but it was not wanting to cooperate on the picture taking so I had to hold it while my wife tool the pictures.

It was supposed to be a Naked Neck but it didn't get the NN gene. Both parents were NN.


Daddy Salmon colored NN rooster. Cackle stock.


Mom I think, not the greatest picture but to give you an ideal. She was by a Barred NN out of a Buff Columbian NN hen.

 

[alohachickens]

Hey Sommer,
How about this one for an Aloha?



I'm thinking this one is a rooster, it started out looking like a pullet , but I think it is a slower maturing rooster. I'm just waiting to see, I think if I continue with the chickens I will probably use it whatever sex it is.
By the way it has whitish/pink legs. Sorry but it was not wanting to cooperate on the picture taking so I had to hold it while my wife tool the pictures.

It was supposed to be a Naked Neck but it didn't get the NN gene. Both parents were NN.


Daddy Salmon colored NN rooster. Cackle stock.


Mom I think, not the greatest picture but to give you an ideal. She was by a Barred NN out of a Buff Columbian NN hen.

Draye, looks fabulous so far!!! If it keeps the spots, appears the size should be good based on the parents. Yep, a little dark, but nothing wrong with that because at least it's a different color than a Speckled Sussex and it's not just plain black like a Mottled Java. (I am not against dark colors on Alohas but they will "overwhelm" the light colors and you will get all dark chicks, so it's best to use dark chickens in moderation!)

By the way, the half Aloha, half Turken chicks? Some of them have SPOTS!!!

I don't know if it's the temporary spots that will shed out when the adult feathers come in, or if one or both of the Turken hens were carrying a hidden Mottled gene. We'll find out in a few short months!

I will try to get photos soon and post them!

 

[draye]

Draye, looks fabulous so far!!! If it keeps the spots, appears the size should be good based on the parents. Yep, a little dark, but nothing wrong with that because at least it's a different color than a Speckled Sussex and it's not just plain black like a Mottled Java. (I am not against dark colors on Alohas but they will "overwhelm" the light colors and you will get all dark chicks, so it's best to use dark chickens in moderation!)

By the way, the half Aloha, half Turken chicks? Some of them have SPOTS!!!

I don't know if it's the temporary spots that will shed out when the adult feathers come in, or if one or both of the Turken hens were carrying a hidden Mottled gene. We'll find out in a few short months!

I will try to get photos soon and post them!

Well, I've decided that that Salmon-Buffish colored hen isn't the mama after all.

I think this one maybe the mother: . If that one turns out to be a rooster then I'm going to put him back over this hen mama or not.

I'd like to find some of those Columbian buffs to put under him also, I've read that you need the Columbian buff to keep the tricolored thing going.

 

[alohachickens]

Yes, Buff Columbian is the color I'm trying for now.

Okay, if that little roo (or hen, whatever) actually KEEPS the mottling, that means your Salmon rooster is a carrier of spots - even if he doesn't show the spotting himself! It could be he has one Mottled gene, and one Solid gene, which would make him appear solid but have the abilty to have spotty chicks.

That would mean if he's a carrier, that when bred to the Buff hens, half the chicks will be "secret" carriers of spots - even though you won't know who does or who does not carry. But let's say you kept four hen-chicks from your Buff hens, and this rooster. And then you crossed them to a spotty Aloha roo or a spotty NN roo. A percentage of the chicks will end up spotted. Won't be a lot in that scenario.

All the chicks would carry Mottling from the Aloha roo, and statistically two of the Buff hens would carry no spotty genes, so those chicks would not appear spotted but would carry spots from the Aloha. Statistically the other two Buff hens would carry one spotty gene, and that would mean half of their chicks would be spotted. So in that scenario, you'd get one in four spotted chicks.

Basically, if you ALWAYS make sure just one parent is Mottled, EVENTUALLY the spots will show up again!!!!

 

[a little chiken]

Sommer I did not know you are having some NN Alohas. I want some of those eggs in Oct if I can. I can also put some of the babies with my NN if you want me to try that next spring. I have 12 NN so far including blue and black red and white red splash. I need my husband to help me to take the pics of the aloha chicks one at a time.

 

[alohachickens]

Sommer I did not know you are having some NN Alohas. I want some of those eggs in Oct if I can. I can also put some of the babies with my NN if you want me to try that next spring. I have 12 NN so far including blue and black red and white red splash. I need my husband to help me to take the pics of the aloha chicks one at a time.

It's not that I'm trying to make NN Alohas, ha ha ha!

What happened, is that I happened to look over to my neighbor's yard. And there were these big, fat, gorgeous Buff Columbian hens, that were PERFECT for the Aloha project, except, they were Naked Necks! But the NN gene is a dominant gene, so it should be no big deal to breed that one trait out.

So I asked my neighbor if I could borrow the hens, and I put them in with my most spotty (but way too small and thin) Aloha roo. Hopefully, the chicks will inherit some of momma NN's big wide body type, and some of Dad's flashy colors. While I was chasing down the neighbor's hens, I discovered one of her other hens had a trace of Mottling! Then I researched and it turns out that some NN's do carry for Mottling.

It will be interesting to see if any of these chicks end up Mottled. I was expecting the answer to be "no" since these Buff hens did not have any spots, but right now several of the chicks show VERY prominent white spotting. Sometimes the white sheds off as they reach adulthood. We should know by three months old which way these chicks will go. Here's a photo of the breeding pen:




Dad had incredible color and gorgeous yellow legs, but his body was very narrow. He was fairly tall but light in build. By contrast, the NN hens were compact, heavy, and wide bodied.

 

[a little chiken]

Wow do you have any NN chicks you want to part with? Im going to phx next week.