The Aloha Chicken Project

[draye]

I also wonder about lavender on the red lace color- you know, like the BLR wyandotte but replace blue with lavender..

That would be awesome!

 

[alohachickens]

I think that she suggests rooster because you'd have less chickens to buy and that you can get more prod gent from a rooster quicker than a hen. After all she only lays one egg a day and a rooster can fertilize umpteen I don't know how many eggs daily.

This - if you find a crazy spotted rooster it's easier to spread those spotty genes to non-spotted breeds like NHR.

However - the roosters seem to show less white than the hens, just in general! So finding a rooster with that much white is VERY unusual.

If you Google "Speckled Sussex Rooster" please note in particular the amount of white on the neck feathers of this Ebay guy.

Here is a very minimal spotted boy:

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGP/Sussex/SpSusC.JPEG


And here is a boy with a fabulous spotty chest, but now compare his almost totally dark neck to the Ebay auction roo:

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGP/Sussex/SpSusCkl.JPEG

So it's the spotty neck in particular that is unusual.


I wish the hens showed MORE white though!


Here is one other boy I came across on Google that has some white on the neck and head areas:

http://www.granny-miller.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Young-Speckled-Sussex-Rooster.jpg



And just for fun, here's a really cute hen:

http://www.chickensforbackyards.com/images/Speckled Sussex 5.jpg


I wish I had the time / money to raise a flock of 25 or 50 hatchery SSX to 4 months just to pick out the most spotty and sell the rest. Kind of hard to plan for that, the Sussex from Meyer and Ideal tend to sell out fast, so you have to order WAY back in October. I could have done it this Spring but I wasn't sure. I do like to travel which makes it challenging to plan a batch of chicks six months in advance. It's easier with hatching my own. Eggs hatch in only 3 weeks, and if something comes up, I can always sell the peeps and try again later. Would hate to abandon an order of Sussex, but committing to four months and a dedicated area to raise that many peeps to almost point of lay is daunting! (Even though I know the extra Sussex pullets would sell great out here,.)

Oh well, some day I'll do that, and see what kind of variety is seen in the hens.

 

[alohachickens]

I also wonder about lavender on the red lace color- you know, like the BLR wyandotte but replace blue with lavender..

That would be awesome!

That's a neat idea, wonder if the Wyandotte folks have tried it yet? Fun!

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Quote:
Interesting... I got lucky - my feed store had them, and I took all they had (the last five). Turned out to all be pullets, which was surprising, but has turned out well, especially as 2 have more of the spottiness that I like. One joined Tank for a while today and squatted for him = success. She didn't want to go to bed in her coop tonight - I think she was looking for him. And one of them is laying at 20 weeks (found an egg in the coop - need to unblock their nest boxes and get that tractor coop built!)

Sommer, have you heard of My Pet Chicken's "Ameri-flower"? They are selling hatching eggs - supposed to look like a Swedish Flower Hen and lay green eggs...

- Ant Farm

 

[alohachickens]

Interesting... I got lucky - my feed store had them, and I took all they had (the last five). Turned out to all be pullets, which was surprising, but has turned out well, especially as 2 have more of the spottiness that I like. One joined Tank for a while today and squatted for him = success. She didn't want to go to bed in her coop tonight - I think she was looking for him. And one of them is laying at 20 weeks (found an egg in the coop - need to unblock their nest boxes and get that tractor coop built!)

Sommer, have you heard of My Pet Chicken's "Ameri-flower"? They are selling hatching eggs - supposed to look like a Swedish Flower Hen and lay green eggs...

- Ant Farm

I'm guessing - because you live in TX - that your local hatchery is Ideal? Ask your store where they order. A lot of REALLY spotty Sussex have popped up out of Ideal's stock!

There was a post on BYC from many years ago (2010) that showed ridiculously spotty Sussex from Ideal, but though I've posted asking BYC'ers to post pics of their hatchery Sussex (and what hatchery they came from) haven't had much luck. So I don't know if the really spotty ones are still coming from there.

We also got some Meyer hatchery Sussex years ago from someone in AZ who ordered them to raise and sell, and they were both large and spotty. Really nice hens.

My problem is the local feed stores get our chicks from Privett in New Mexico, and every Sussex hen from there has been decent in size and body but minimal in spots. Which is actually closer to the proper breed standards, so it's not like I can gripe about it, ha ha ha!

But really - the spotting can vary a LOT from chick to chick - even within the same hatchery! It's wonderful you got some decent spots on two girls.

Just looked up Ameri-Flower. Looks like Ameraucana / Swedish cross. I found that adding spots to Ameraucana was super easy, and the hens did lay blue or green eggs. However, they looked like Mottled Ameraucanas. My friend loved them and might still have some from that experiment, to this day. I bred several Blue Mottled and they were quite spotty and great layers, but the pea combs and dark slate legs were *impossible* to get rid of, so they ended up re-homed. So my guess is the "Ameri-Flower" will strongly resemble Ameraucanas in body type.

 

[HEChicken]

Sommer, I got a follow up message from that seller last night and he said he bought a new camera and has taken some new photos with it, but eBay won't let him change the photos on the current listing. Once it expires, he'll be putting the new photos up on the next one. Just wondering if you decided to try and bid on them given how young that rooster really is to be that spotty?

 

[alohachickens]

Sommer, I got a follow up message from that seller last night and he said he bought a new camera and has taken some new photos with it, but eBay won't let him change the photos on the current listing. Once it expires, he'll be putting the new photos up on the next one. Just wondering if you decided to try and bid on them given how young that rooster really is to be that spotty?

I actually checked and I don't quite have enough in my Paypal account right now to bid! I'll have other stuff for sale soon so I should by next week.

If anyone else wants to nab them - please do!

 

[alohachickens]

I just relisted 3 items on Ebay that hadn't sold so if one goes in the next week I'll have enough to bid on the next one. LOL!

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

OMG, @Kev ! (And anyone else, of course...) Someone from My Pet Chicken just posted some "teenager" pics of the Ameri-flowers - to me, several look like they have lavender - they look like porcelains!

post #7317

- Ant Farm

 

[draye]

OMG, @Kev
 ! (And anyone else, of course...) Someone from My Pet Chicken just posted some "teenager" pics of the Ameri-flowers - to me, several look like they have lavender - they look like porcelains!

post #7317

- Ant Farm

Cute crests, I think the next generation would look cooler especially if bred to am Aloha rooster.