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Sorry, didn't really answer you question. LOL. The current smallest Alohas are 3-4 pounds. The improved ones are probably 5-6 pounds, which is not enormous, but I can live with that. Sussex and Orpington hens are about 6-8 pounds. So these may be the same size as a hatchery Speckled Sussex, which tend to run a lot smaller than what the private breeders can get. Not tiny, just not huge. Also, the heavier chickens eat a lot more food. Leghorns are great for raising eggs, as the hen put more of the feed into making eggs instead of building body weight. So the Orps and such are wonderful pets! But they do eat a lot of food per egg.
If you are looking at pure practicality, the itty bitty Leghorns give you more "bang for the buck". More eggs per bag of feed. That's why Leghorns are used in factory farming. If you saw how tiny those hens are, who lay those huge jumbo grocery store eggs, you'd be surprised! They are very small!
My Alohas, I do want to keep them practical, so even if I could get them massive and huge - while that would be awesome to see - it may not be the most practical? The mid size is actually a good compromise. Big enough to look neat, but not so massive they would eat you out of house and home.
The little Alohas are actually the most practical of all, if you just want a durable chicken that lays a lot of eggs. They are tough as nails, nearly impossible to kill, shrug off 115 degree temps and always keep an eye out for predators. However, people simply like to have big fat chickens, and these are supposed to be pets, too. The small Alohas are similar in size and type to Icelandic Chickens (even though they are totally unrelated) so if you have ever seen those, that's what an ittly bitty "original" Aloha looks like in size and often color. I've been trying to get the size up for years, but it's very difficult, when the small ones do so well here in AZ. The environment is fighting me. If I had an Aloha breeder in Wisconsin, she'd probably have more luck getting them bigger in size. LOL!
If you are looking at pure practicality, the itty bitty Leghorns give you more "bang for the buck". More eggs per bag of feed. That's why Leghorns are used in factory farming. If you saw how tiny those hens are, who lay those huge jumbo grocery store eggs, you'd be surprised! They are very small!
My Alohas, I do want to keep them practical, so even if I could get them massive and huge - while that would be awesome to see - it may not be the most practical? The mid size is actually a good compromise. Big enough to look neat, but not so massive they would eat you out of house and home.
The little Alohas are actually the most practical of all, if you just want a durable chicken that lays a lot of eggs. They are tough as nails, nearly impossible to kill, shrug off 115 degree temps and always keep an eye out for predators. However, people simply like to have big fat chickens, and these are supposed to be pets, too. The small Alohas are similar in size and type to Icelandic Chickens (even though they are totally unrelated) so if you have ever seen those, that's what an ittly bitty "original" Aloha looks like in size and often color. I've been trying to get the size up for years, but it's very difficult, when the small ones do so well here in AZ. The environment is fighting me. If I had an Aloha breeder in Wisconsin, she'd probably have more luck getting them bigger in size. LOL!
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