The Aloha Chicken Project

[alohachickens]

Oh, and the answer to the obvious question, why call them Aloha Chickens if they're being bred in AZ?

Well, "American Flower Chickens" would be more correct, but that's kind of boring.

Imagine chickens wearing these:

Dress your Buff Orpington in something like that. That's kind of the goal, ha ha.

 

[Farmerboy16]

They look awfully nice, and very tempting too. Will Coronation/light Sussex work, for that is the only color of Sussex I have, also have pure Buff Orps.

 

[alohachickens]

Quote:
I wouldn't recommend the Coronation/Light Susex, but the pure Buff Orps should work great!

 

[alohachickens]

FYI: I have a "Project Helper" out here, named Derek. He isn't on BYC yet. (I keep trying to get him to check it out, LOL.) He has a big incubator, the 300-egg kind, and says he'd be happy to help me hatch out chicks this spring. (Last year, they were selling great on Craigslist, but my two little foam incubators couldn't keep up with demand for live chicks.) Anyway, it should be a lot easier for me to provide newborn chicks for shipping lives this spring, with his help. Probably will be a lot of half-Alohas in there, because Derek has bought 12 Buff Orps and is setting up a breeding pen with those and Aloha roosters. Plus I have two pure Sussex hens my pen. Chicks would be a mix of small Aloha stock and bigger outcrosses. The bigger outcrosses probably wouldn't have spots and would be boring to look at, but would carry spots. You'd probably get a few little ones with amazing color but they would all be smaller and more gamey in type.

Kind of a motley bunch, the chicks would need to be sorted out and improved upon the next generation, but if someone in a far-flung locale is interested in getting involved, live chicks would be available.

To a serious project member, chicks will only be $1 each, but you'd have to spring for Express shipping if you live more than just a couple states away . . . I'm kind of scared to use Priority to ship them really far? So it may cost as much as $70 for a box full of them, if you live in the upper Midwest, Florida, East Coast, far South, etc. Which would include the box, express shipping, and the actual chicks themselves, ha ha. Because I'm selling them just at cost and it's a lot of hassle to ship, I need only really commited folks to apply. (Folks that have a safe predator-free coop set up, and are willing to mess with keeping roos and hatching chicks for at least a year or two.)

Shipping eggs, on the other hand, is no big deal. But usually folks haven't had enough of them hatch on the other end, to really get a good start on a program. Tamra culled pretty heavily to get her stock figured out, which is the best way to go! (Better to have me ship you 25 chicks and pick the very best 5-10 to get started.) A lot of times folks with shipped eggs got maybe five or so chicks, and then something would happen to them, and it never would get off the ground, so it ended up just being a waste of eggs in the end. I think live chicks are actually more affordable all things considered . . .

 

[RareBreedFancier]

Pity you can't ship me any live chicks, I'd love some!

There are so many beautiful birds on this thread and the old one, I was catching up this morning. I'd still like to do something similar out here but I have to get my mobile paddock pens built first. Silly roos are crowing from 3:30 - 4am now (heading into summer here) and DH doesn't approve of having roos close to the house.

I was awful tempted to bring home a big Speckled Sussex roo from the auction I took my spare roos too. Didn't think going to the auction to sell roos only to bring different ones home would make me popular though!

Can't wait to see how the young Alohas look all grown up. I just love surprise chickens!

 

[MaBo]

Thought I'd chime in here on the new thread... I'm an aspiring Aloha project helper here on the West coast. I'm working with another local BYC member (Tam'ra), who provided me with 4 hens and 1 roo from the batch she received as chicks last spring from alohachickens. I hope to help improve size, coloring, and egg qualities of the Alohas. For that purpose, for out-crossing I have 2 non-Aloha hens of nice size, coloring, and egg qualities, and 2 nice large roosters... 1 NHR/RIR, and 1 Buff Rock. I will be setting up 3 breeding pens... 1 with Aloha roo over non-Aloha hens, 1 with NHR roo over Aloha hens, and 1 with Buff Rock roo over Aloha hens. Progress on acquiring the necessary 'genetics' has been faster than progress on setting up the necessary 'infrastructure'

, but I hope to be ready to start incubating sometime in December.

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

I took a bunch of new pics yesterday. The weather was bright but overcast- perfect light for chicken pictures! No sunglare or shadows in the way at all so I got some good ones, I think. My friends tease that I take more pics of my chickens than I do of anything else...I try to explain that there are very good, logical reasons for the obscene ammount of chicken pictures, but I know I am a crazy chicken lady, why fight it?
When I get a chance to post the pics I am thinking of doing a before and after with some of them. Just the ones I have good early pictures of. I think it would be good to show everyone how much they change as they grow up. It really is astonishing how different they all look from the pics taken just 2 months ago!
I am hoping to upload pics tonight, but we'll see how that goes. I got everyone in at least 2 or 3 pics, though Easter and Puffy have gone camera shy on me. I got a few good group shots and even a few with BOTH roosters in one pic for comparison. That rarely happens as one of them (Hastur, formerly Nameless) is 2nd in command just under my Speckeled Sussex and the other (poor, timid Easter) is the bottom rooster out of the 5 free ranging boys.
I know, I know... I just need ot post the pics!
I will as soon as I can.

 

[MaBo]

On the old "Orange Mottled" thread, alohachickens linked to an eBay listing for the colored plastic spiral leg bands. alohachickens, how are those working? I see from the pics and comments on your new blog that they might have the potential to poke the birds' legs? I wonder, could the ends could be clipped flat instead of at an angle (pointed) ? Alternatively, I found eBay listing for colored latex-rubber bands , which look interesting. There are also the colored and numbered bandettes, which seem to run about $6 for 25 (numbered) from various online suppliers. In all cases, I think the bands will require up-sizing once or twice over the course of the bird's growth. Any opinions or experience as to the best type of band?

 

[RioLindoAz]

alohachickens

 

[MaBo]

Looking forward to those pics, Tam'ra!

Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex :

I took a bunch of new pics yesterday. ......​