The Aloha Chicken Project

[draye]

Draye, he turned out REALLY nice.  A little weedy - but NICE.  

You should put him with some hens!  

I have him with hens. 3 reds with the black tails and 2 barred hens for some Sexlinks.

I have a feeling he is from the regular Aloha eggs you sent as extras and not from the NN eggs. Yes, he is kind of lanky, reminds me so much of the Leghorn type chickens. He's a real sweetie though only once did he try to jump at me, but he was just trying to protect the hen that I caught from his run. So he did good. I've learned to catch and put the roosters into hold while catching the hens.

The pullets/hens he's with have just begun to lay so probably late February or early March I'll begin trying to hatch from him.

 

[alohachickens]

I have him with hens. 3 reds with the black tails and 2 barred hens for some Sexlinks.

I have a feeling he is from the regular Aloha eggs you sent as extras and not from the NN eggs. Yes, he is kind of lanky, reminds me so much of the Leghorn type chickens. He's a real sweetie though only once did he try to jump at me, but he was just trying to protect the hen that I caught from his run. So he did good. I've learned to catch and put the roosters into hold while catching the hens.

The pullets/hens he's with have just begun to lay so probably late February or early March I'll begin trying to hatch from him.

Can't wait to see the chicks! Not that they will look spotted, unless yours have some hidden Mottled gene, but getting nice big hens who carry the Mottling gene would be a step in the right direction at least, for expanding your program.

 

[draye]

Well I went and did it!

My current eggs went into lockdown today a total of 37 eggs.

So I felt that wasn't enough chicks so I set another 18 today.
In this set were 7 eggs that ( hopefully) fertile by Mr. Bo Spangles. They were by one or two of the 5 pullets in with him. So in about 3 weeks we'll start to see babies by Mr. Soangles.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Well I went and did it!

My current eggs went into lockdown today a total of 37 eggs.

So I felt that wasn't enough chicks so I set another 18 today.
In this set were 7 eggs that ( hopefully) fertile by Mr. Bo Spangles. They were by one or two of the 5 pullets in with him. So in about 3 weeks we'll start to see babies by Mr. Soangles.

Yay! I love Mr. Bo Spangles!!!! I can't wait for the photo overload!

- Ant Farm

 

[alohachickens]

How exciting! Mr.Bospangles is a good looking guy! His kids may be boring if the Mottled gene hides, but just wait, it will pop back up again.

 

[HenHoneyGirl]

There are already a couple of breeds that have a silver and white mottled effect (though it's not really the same genes, I don't think,as Mottling?)

Have you seen these?

http://www.appenzellerspitzhauben.co.uk/

These are available at many hatcheries. The complaints I hear about them, is they are kind of small, (like Leghorn size) and very flighty. You could probably do very well trying to adapt this color onto a heavier body with a more production-friendly egg output and more manageable personality. Also, adding the Blue gene (to make a blue spotted version of this) or Blue egg gene, would probably work nicely.

Mottling doesn't really translate into a "silver and white" effect with Barred chickens (like Barred Rocks.) What happens is the white mottling, it just kind of gets "lost" in the Barred (striped) feather pattern. So it's doubtful you could get a "silver and white" effect? I did try it years ago to see what happened - and the baby chick looked cool at first - but then she just looked like a kind of weird barred rock hen. Not very amazing, LOL. Alll mottling does is add a white tip to some of the feathers.

But that Spitzhuaben is a great looking bird, yet sadly, they seem to be a kind of specialized breed. I haven't seen them really take off generally, like some of the more common "farm" breeds so I'm guessing they must not be as productive. I bet transforming that into a heavier farm-type chicken, with that awesome spangled color would be very popular. Can you imagine that color transplanted onto a heavier White Rock or Easter Egger body?

Your goals don't really mesh with the Alohas, honestly - but I think something like this Spangled color would be AMAZING on a more "productive" chicken. I'd certainly give them a look if I was chicken shopping!

The Spitzhauben don't show up often locally, but they ARE available to order through many hatcheries. The reason they don't show up in AZ, is that about 90% of the chicks sold in feed stores here come from Privett Hatchery in New Mexico, and Privett does not carry Spitzhaubens. So you never find them in feed stores, or on Craigslist from people who bought random chicks at the feed store and are looking to re-sell them.

Ideal Hatchery in TX sells them, and sometimes Pratt's in Glendale orders from Ideal. You can call and ask if they would consider an order?

BTW, the color is called "SPANGLED" and I don't know how it is different, genetically, from the Mottling gene? But it is also found in Silver Spangled Hamburgs, which is yet another very small, slight, lighter bodied breed. To my knowledge this fabulous color has not be transplanted onto any nice, heavy, "farm-type" production breed? Could be something to explore?

Edited to add: Meyer Hatchery also carries this breed and ships to AZ.

Thank you for the tips! Spitzhauben has been added to the list of chicken breeds to get. My mom thought I was crazy, "you want to get spitzwhat?"

I can't wait to experiment with them!

 

[alohachickens]

Thank you for the tips! Spitzhauben has been added to the list of chicken breeds to get. My mom thought I was crazy, "you want to get spitzwhat?"

I can't wait to experiment with them!

Someone on one of the AZ chicken FB groups had an extra rooster just yesterday or the day before? I think it was "Arizona Backyard Chickens" on FB. I'm going to post the link to the photo here, but I don't think you'll be able to see it unless you're in the group:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153497491623542&set=gm.588474554648283&type=3&theater

The roo is $20 and located in Prescott. Doesn't look as nice as most of the ones I saw in the photos I shared, but perhaps he's not finished growing? Could be a teenager.

 

[draye]

@alohachickens

Well Mr. Bo Spangles is now a daddy. 7 little Naked Necks hatched from the eggs that I set.
4 Black ( 1 with a head spot- cockerel) out of the Barred hens. And three reds, of course out of red hens. I set seven eggs ( pullet eggs) and all 7 hatched.

I'll try to post pictures tomorrow.

 

[alohachickens]

@alohachickens

Well Mr. Bo Spangles is now a daddy. 7 little Naked Necks hatched from the eggs that I set.
4 Black ( 1 with a head spot- cockerel) out of the Barred hens. And three reds, of course out of red hens. I set seven eggs ( pullet eggs) and all 7 hatched.

I'll try to post pictures tomorrow.

Congratulations!!!

 

[draye]

Here are three red colored babies from Mr. Bo Spangles.