The Aloha Chicken Project

[alohachickens]

Not sure if this is the same hen or two different ones? There are a few like this with nice body type and excellent size, but not the crazy-flashy color. Nice - but no yellow legs, and no excessive white. Currently in evaluation. Their final size will probably determine if they stay or go. One is very sweet and lets me pet her.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Wow and Wow! That's a lot of beautiful spotted birds! And yes, that hen's coloring was gorgeous! I am just soaking in all the fabulous color.

 

[alohachickens]

I'm sharing these pictures mostly for Deefield, as I'm going to send her some hatching eggs with the purpose of getting something with good spotting, plus YELLOW LEGS to cross with her Buff Sussex / Speckled Sussex "large" size stock. However, the Sussex don't have the yellow leg gene. But we don't want something ridiculously small, either - so most of my teeny tiny super flashy girls are out.

There are hardly ANY nice Aloha hens with good color, decent size, AND yellow legs. So here is the closest I have to date. Note they aren't huge, but a few of them are not terrible in terms of size. Like many hatchery stock chickens are about this size. They just aren't as huge as (for example) a really wonderful privately raised "heritage" breed.

OK, here we go!

This is my best hen to date. I had to about do a double take when she grew out, because this pen was from a "special" pen that was at least half Speckled Sussex bloodline. So she is really a decent size, but she also has the WONDERFUL Aloha coloring! Unfortunately, she also went super broody, and since I really **need** her babies, I gave her some baby chicks to raise a few weeks ago. I would love to pair her with a colorful rooster and send a few of her eggs to Deerfield, as she is my very best Aloha hen that I've ever bred:


Her legs have washed out but they were yellow originally.

I also kept her sister, whose white is a little excessive and also not patterned as nicely:


Sis is looking a bit ragged as she's almost a year now so probably ready to molt before too long? LOL. Has decent size, nice shape, and (now washed out) yellow feet.

Here's an older pic of the hen who is now brooding baby chicks - this pic was taken maybe January? Love this gal and it drives me crazy she's been broody and NOT LAYING. Sigh!!!

OK, here's more yellow leg hens with not terrible size:



Then I also have THIS hen who is 1/2 Hatchery NHR and 1/2 colorful Aloha:

Her color "tell" is on the wing - you can BARELY see it in the above photo.

Better pic:

(see the little bits of white?)

Here she is next to the rooster I would pair her with:

That boy is one of my newest, he is just barely old enough to breed, finally.




This is a different boy in this photo - would be lovely to cross these together and send the babies from THAT cross to HEChicken? The spotty rooster looking down on the hen in this photo, is almost exactly like an Exchequer Leghorn but in red and white. A spotted rooster cross between these two would mix beautifully with HEChicken's NHR x Exchequer cross hens, and would also mix nicely with heritage NHR's. This line could possibly make red & white mottled NHR's in no time flat.

So the above "plain brown" hen's Mom - was a hatchery NHR - and we all know what a hatchery NHR looks like.
But the "plain brown" hen's DAD - was THIS GUY:

So that's the dad, who was crossed with a hatchery NHR, and I kept their "plain brown" daughter who has a single wing spot.

OK, on to the rooster that I would cross with the "plain brown" hen for Deerfield's hatching eggs:

He is about half Swedish Flower and half Aloha.

His mom is my blue-eyed Aloha hen:

And this was the new rooster's dad:

So out of the hen who looks plain brown (but is actually half NHR) and the new rooster boy that I hatched specifically out of the blue eyed hen's eggs - because I wanted to keep one of her sons - we have a "photo pedigree" with pictures of basically ALL of the parents! Yay.

Only half of the "plain brown" hen's chicks would show spots. ALL would have yellow legs. The chicks would be 1/4 NHR, about 1/2 Swedish Flower, and the rest Aloha.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

I'm very happy with the group you're putting together for my hatching eggs. It is nice that the Aloha's will go broody but I really want some of her eggs. Maddie went broody and I gave her some eggs hoping she will finish the job! Thanks for the pics!

 

[alohachickens]

OMG! So excited!

Just heard from my friend Deb in Tucson that some of her Alohas that I gave her had blue eyes!

She said she had just noticed - which sounds weird but actually the hen I got her eyes turned blue later when she was about 5 months old. So it makes sense that Deb may have just picked up on it, as I have been giving her a bunch of chicks to raise every times she drives up to visit Phoenix.

Told her to get some photos and will share. This is SUPER exciting news for the program, as it means this may be more than a random "fluke" on one single hen.

This is my blue-eyed girl - the only one so far - or at least so I thought -

 

[draye]

OMG! So excited! Just heard from my friend Deb in Tucson that some of her Alohas that I gave her had blue eyes! She said she had just noticed - which sounds weird but actually the hen I got her eyes turned blue later when she was about 5 months old. So it makes sense that Deb may have just picked up on it, as I have been giving her a bunch of chicks to raise every times she drives up to visit Phoenix. Told her to get some photos and will share. This is SUPER exciting news for the program, as it means this may be more than a random "fluke" on one single hen. This is my blue-eyed girl - the only one so far - or at least so I thought -

Pretty blue eyes.

 

[alohachickens]

I can't wait to see photos from Deb! She said hens - as in plural - with blue eyes! Super excited.

 

[alohachickens]

Stage 1 of the new "master coop" is done!
This is 16 x 16 and the plan is to build a second unit right next to it, for a total of 16 x 32 feet of coop, which can be sub-divided into four 16 x 8 foot breeding pens. (When chickens are not breeding, the idea will be to have them all loose and free in there.)

I turned all the peeps loose in there. I have about 30 to 35 new peeps that I'm growing out. Random mix - I kept the Naked Neck babies and then grabbed whatever other random chicks. Any that looked big and fat and robust.




Most of the peeps are still too young for any evaluation.
A few do stand out to me at this point, though:

Here is a Naked Neck rooster baby who is showing a ton of white plus YELLOW FEET. Might be an awesome cross for some of these Buff Sussex mixes!


There is also this lovely hen-chick who is super pale buff with tons of white feathering. I am excited to see how she develops.

Tons of other chicks are just gorgeous, but won't be able to really evaluate them until June when they are pushing the 3-4 month old stage.

 

[alohachickens]

5moore asked me to take some photos of my Buff Sussex rooster. He's originally from Waltz's Ark lines, from the pair I got in August 2013. He does show minimal mottling. Not quite as huge as his daddy - but still very meaty and thick in the body.

What I like - His thickness and the fact he does carry a trace of mottling.

What I don't like - His small comb, short tail - will make it tougher to sex his male offspring. I like the more Leghorn-ish big combs and long tails of my itty bitty Aloha roos. The boys "pop" so much earlier and it makes sexing the offspring WAY easier.














Here is a good size comparison. Buff Sussex rooster, then a nice big Buff Sussex hen, with smaller Aloha hen, in front:





I am thinking of crossing him with my most colorful small Aloha hens. Babies would not show yellow legs, most likely. Would have to work on that later. Goal would be to get some better size and type on light colored Mottled carriers. Here are a few of the super small but super colorful girls I may put him with?







The chicks would probably not be much to look at. Likely plain colored and not nearly as big as Dad. But perhaps I could pull out the color out again, in their offspring?

 

[alohachickens]

Here is a good size comparison. Buff Sussex rooster, then a nice big Buff Sussex hen, with smaller Aloha hen, in front:





I am thinking of crossing him with my most colorful small Aloha hens. Babies would not show yellow legs, most likely. Would have to work on that later. Goal would be to get some better size and type on light colored Mottled carriers. Here are a few of the super small but super colorful girls I may put him with?







The chicks would probably not be much to look at. Likely plain colored and not nearly as big as Dad. But perhaps I could pull out the color out again, in their offspring?

FYI - the above pics show the Buff Sussex, plus FOUR DIFFERENT ALOHA hens - all of which would be penned with this boy. I would add more if I can, but it will depend on the breeder pen situation. That is my biggest issue right now, not enough pens.