The Aloha Chicken Project

[alohachickens]

No, white... I'm not worried about leg color, though. (Sorry!)

It certainly doesn't have anything to do with performance, that's for sure. The reason I'm working towards yellow is that apparently it's the preferred color legs for American buyers. I guess in Europe and the UK, the pink legs are most popular. The bright yellow legs are very pretty and lend a little "pop" of color, though the fade out in the adult hens anyway, LOL.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Quote:
I got such a mix with my NNs from Ideal, and there's so much else to select for, that I just can't bring myself to select for leg color right now... (Esp. as this is solely in my backyard!!!)

Here's Mr. Tankity Tank Tank (I call him that when he stands by the fence to keep me company while I work on the lumber for his coop.)





- Ant Farm

 

[Kev]

Agreed, the AmeriFlowers have to be blue.

Just wait until you guys see more of the Dun color in the Alohas. I've got a lot of young stock here with the Dun, it will replace Blue in this project so we won't have to worry about "Splash".

I now have about 10 Dun + Mottled chicks growing out. Need to take more pics for y'all.

You have dun, cool! Never worked with dun so this is one gene I know nothing about. Would love dun effects pointed out on some birds?

 

[alohachickens]

I got such a mix with my NNs from Ideal, and there's so much else to select for, that I just can't bring myself to select for leg color right now... (Esp. as this is solely in my backyard!!!)

Here's Mr. Tankity Tank Tank (I call him that when he stands by the fence to keep me company while I work on the lumber for his coop.)





- Ant Farm

I see what you mean about the Sussex, and how much more white the hen in front has! Wow!

Tank is a pretty good looking rooster. And that color, you should have no problems putting the spots on top of that.

One of the things that I really like about the NN's is the larger comb. I've been having LOTS of issues trying to sex the baby Sussex. The boy Turkens - that's a totally different story, the combs stick out. That's why I'm going to always be trying to breed for and select the larger combs. It makes it so much easier to tell the gender at earlier ages.

Example, here are two of the Dun Sussex growouts:




Look at how tough it is to tell from the combs who is a boy or girl. SHEESH. And these are about four months old. The boy's combs are practically nonexistent. I find this is more of an issue in the Buff Sussex and Light Sussex than the Speckled Sussex. Hoping the Turken influence will help fix this issue, to make the boys have more pronounced combs and longer tails.

 

[alohachickens]

You have dun, cool! Never worked with dun so this is one gene I know nothing about. Would love dun effects pointed out on some birds?

Dun is a simple dominant. One copy makes a gray that's a bit more "brownish" in tone.

Double dose causes a color called "Khaki" which looking at pics, is exactly like it sounds? I mean, it's not buff - it really is the exact same color as Khaki pants!

I haven't got Khaki in my birds yet - though the Dun Light Sussex (Cinnamon Sussex) rooster is in with a Dun / Brown hen right now. It's by default. There is a hen of mine who appears solid tan with dun tail, but she's a Mottled carrier, out of my Dun Buff Sussex hen and a colorful Aloha rooster. She's a great well-formed hen. The problem is, she's an escape artist, and I can't contain her in the main coop, she flies out. So she's in the breeder pen - ALWAYS - even though I don't really need to hatch her chicks right now, I just literally don't know where else to keep her, the brat.

Anyway, because of that, we may see a few Khaki chicks hatch in the next month or two. Dun, like Blue, only affects black pigment. So, I think we'd see maybe a brown hen, with a tail and neck that would be lighter in color than the body?!?


On the hen above, you can see the faint gray speckling, and the gray tail feathers. If she carried two copies of Dun, the gray tail would be khaki and the spots would be white with cream (Khaki) shading, instead of white and gray (Dun) color. We may need to wait until next year to see that effect!

 

[alohachickens]

Here are pics of the results of the Dun Light Sussex (Cinnamon Sussex) rooster over my biggest and most-spotty Aloha hens.

Reminder: Here is the breeding pen of Dad and Moms:

(smaller hen was added later, she is not the parent of these chicks.)


(This hen WAS in the pen)

Hatched 21 chicks and only a handful showed any white spotting.

Today, most of the white has gone away (figures) but hoping it will show up stronger on the offspring of these chickens.

These "teenagers" are four months old and the two hens should be laying by May.




REALLY REALLY hope this boy looks less awkward as he matures - LOL.




Love his big strong body form but it looks like his head was borrowed from some much smaller chicken, ha ha!

This is where a larger comb would make him look much more "normal" - argh!

Crossing my fingers that month four is just his awkward age and he will grow out of this?

 

[HEChicken]

One of the things that I really like about the NN's is the larger comb. I've been having LOTS of issues trying to sex the baby Sussex. The boy Turkens - that's a totally different story, the combs stick out. That's why I'm going to always be trying to breed for and select the larger combs. It makes it so much easier to tell the gender at earlier ages.

Example, here are two of the Dun Sussex growouts:




Look at how tough it is to tell from the combs who is a boy or girl. SHEESH. And these are about four months old. The boy's combs are practically nonexistent. I find this is more of an issue in the Buff Sussex and Light Sussex than the Speckled Sussex. Hoping the Turken influence will help fix this issue, to make the boys have more pronounced combs and longer tails.

From the combs yes, but there is no mistaking that the top one is a pullet and the bottom a cockerel looking at other features. The feather coloring, legs (length and thickness) and stance on both are dead giveaways to their gender

 

[HEChicken]

Crossing my fingers that month four is just his awkward age and he will grow out of this?

Four months is an awful age. My guess is they will mature into nice-looking roosters in a few months from now.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Quote: Thanks - he's a fun goofball, gives me a little dance every day when I let him out. I STILL haven't quite got their tractor coop done (though I worked on it all day), and they are getting out so alarmingly often that I worry about them staying put in their new home. They may get some aviary netting or something over their paddock. One of the Speckled girls actually started a nest in some wet leaves under the oak tree...

I had read about that trouble with sexing Sussex, and I got these five at the feed store, hoping to get at least a few pullets and resigning myself to culling any boys. I was watching and watching and watching, and still couldn't tell which were boys and girls. I thought - this is so hard!!! Well, it's because they're all girls.

- Ant Farm

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Quote: I forgot to add that they are all getting whiter by the day, it seems - a third one is starting to look much more spotty, and the two spotty ones are even whiter. While it would be a nightmare for someone wanting birds to the Speckled Sussex SOP, it's perfect for my intentions. And they're so lovely poking around in the yard!

- Ant Farm