The Aloha Chicken Project

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

I found out it takes me at least 2 hours to download 200 pictures, then sort them, then choose the best, then choose the best of those, then upload them. Hopefully they're worth the effort! It was tough to narrow it down, but I think this shows of the color and pattern pretty well.

Here are the six Alohas I have left after culling, sharing, and unfortunate disappearances. The first pic after each name was taken this weekend, the others are old ones for comparison so you can see how much they have changed.

Digit is the smallest and brightest of my four ladies.

Puffy is the lightest colored, but she has beautiful dark eyes. She's also quite photogenic for being so camera shy!

Flecks is pretty good sized, but she's the homeliest one I kept. She's got a sassy personality and never backs down.

Goldy is the most unique. Anyone who works with feathers would want her she is just so pretty.

Here's Flecks, Goldy, and Digit together. Puffy, unfortunately, didn't want to pose with her sisters.

Easter the very timid is the lowest rooster on the pecking order, and thus was hard to get in any really good pics.

Hastur, formerly Nameless, was strutting around soaking up the attention. He photographs quite well.

Easter and Hastur posed for a pic together(ish) so we can see them side by side. Easter (right) is the lighter one, Hastur (Left)is more red.
And Rufus, the Barred Rock is in the lower right corner.

And, though they are not Alohas, here are my Sussex rooster with a Buff Orpington hen who will be adding their genetics to the mix this spring.

 

[draye]

Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex :

I found out it takes me at least 2 hours to download 200 pictures, then sort them, then choose the best, then choose the best of those, then upload them. Hopefully they're worth the effort! It was tough to narrow it down, but I think this shows of the color and pattern pretty well.

Here are the six Alohas I have left after culling, sharing, and unfortunate disappearances. The first pic after each name was taken this weekend, the others are old ones for comparison so you can see how much they have changed.

Digit is the smallest and brightest of my four ladies.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29884_img_1729.jpghttps://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29884_alohas_028.jpghttps://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29884_digit_1027.jpg
Puffy is the lightest colored, but she has beautiful dark eyes. She's also quite photogenic for being so camera shy!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29884_img_1747.jpghttps://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29884_alohas_122.jpghttps://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29884_puffy_1161.jpg
Flecks is pretty good sized, but she's the homeliest one I kept. She's got a sassy personality and never backs down.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29884_img_1777.jpghttps://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29884_alohas_024.jpghttps://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29884_flecks_1191.jpg
Goldy is the most unique. Anyone who works with feathers would want her she is just so pretty.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29884_img_1818.jpghttps://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29884_alohas_046.jpghttps://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29884_goldy_a_1223.jpghttps://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29884_goldy_b_1223.jpg
Here's Flecks, Goldy, and Digit together. Puffy, unfortunately, didn't want to pose with her sisters.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29884_img_1814.jpg
Easter the very timid is the lowest rooster on the pecking order, and thus was hard to get in any really good pics.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29884_img_1835.jpghttps://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29884_img_0720.jpg
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29884_alohas_082.jpghttps://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29884_easter_1562.jpg
Hastur, formerly Nameless, was strutting around soaking up the attention. He photographs quite well.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29884_img_1803.jpghttps://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29884_img_0783.jpg
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29884_img_0727.jpg
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29884_nameless_149.jpg
Easter and Hastur posed for a pic together(ish) so we can see them side by side. Easter (right) is the lighter one, Hastur (Left)is more red.
And Rufus, the Barred Rock is in the lower right corner.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29884_img_1773.jpg https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29884_nameless_and_easter.jpg
And, though they are not Alohas, here are my Sussex rooster with a Buff Orpington hen who will be adding their genetics to the mix this spring.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29884_img_1714.jpg

All are veryy pretty. Thanks for the pics.

I really like Easter. Those puffy cheeks really get me, I love them.
Hastur is nice looking too.​

 

[MaBo]

GREAT pics, Tam'ra! They are all looking beautiful. Hard to choose a fav', but I definitely like Digits (of course she's the smallest!)

Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex :

I found out it takes me at least 2 hours to download 200 pictures, then sort them, then choose the best, then choose the best of those, then upload them. Hopefully they're worth the effort! It was tough to narrow it down, but I think this shows of the color and pattern pretty well.

Here are the six Alohas I have left after culling, sharing, and unfortunate disappearances. The first pic after each name was taken this weekend, the others are old ones for comparison so you can see how much they have changed.​

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

Yeah, she's a cutie. I love Goldy's pattern so much I just want to pick her up and hug her (oh, believe me she'd hate it!) even though I know she isn't quite what we want. But I would be happy to have more like her in size, color, and temperment. She and Flecks are nice big girls and both of them stay in the yard they belong in, unlike my littler ladies. Even more than making roosters worth eating, I want bigger size to keep those hens on the ground!

 

[MaBo]

Yep, I've clipped all the Aloha hens (multiple times!) and they still occasionally 'teleport' out (and back in). Oh, and bigger size doesn't seem to stop 'Yardy' (Xerxes)... I've given up trying to keep him in... BUT, I will be victorious once I get my enclosed breeding pens built!

 

[alohachickens]

Wow, I think they all turned out great! And the Buff Orp and Speckled Sussex lines are really going to add some heft and substance to them in a jiffy.

My summer hatchlings are all starting to lay now. Getting streaked pullet eggs every few days. Suddenly went from three eggs per day up to six or eight!

Unfortunately, I'll be traveling for all of January, which is going to get in the way of my hatching stuff out until Feb. But, I did hatch out a Thanksgiving batch of 22 chicks! And the four "surprise" chicks that a hen hatched out all on her own in October are doing well. So that's 26 new Aloha babies down here.

Laree is going to set some Aloha chicks for the New Year's Hatch from "Pumpkin" that crazy cool orange-mottled rooster, over several hens including Speckled Sussex! Those Sussex crosses should have great size improvement. I'll also give her some of my eggs, I have to switch out breeder pens soon, so I will probably give her eggs by the Sussex roo over some big, solid yellow, half-Aloha hens. It's going to be tricky here with not enough breeder pens, to get all the exact crosses that I want.

My plan is to fill the small breeder pen with a select roo over maybe five hens, and hatch those eggs to keep. Then I'd switch out to a new group of hens with a different rooster. Meanwhile, it will be a big mess in the main pen, with various roosters running with all sorts of colorful hens. Since my roosters are all mature now, I see different ones randomly cornering different hens. For a long time, only two were getting any "action" at all, but now FIVE are fully grown and sneaking off behind the henhouse when they get out of view of the head 'roo . . . LOL. So the main pen will have a colorful mix of chicks, and I'll probably hatch out and sell those, while holding back batches from each month's "select breeder pen" to raise up. And switch out every six weeks. ARGH. That's going to be hard to keep track of this spring! LOL!

So I'll make sure I give Laree some eggs from the Sussex roo's pen, before I break that pen up.

Next group, I am going to put Cheeto in with the biggest, most beautiful, Sussex-cross hens! Those will be some big, quality bodied chickens, regardless of whether they inherit spots or just carry the genes for them. I'll keep ALL the hens in that batch! Those should be really nice.

 

[notinoz2007]

long story made short:
my incubator wasnt expecting eggs this soon so when i got home today i turned it on to warm it up. the eggs sat on the counter under our microwave light while i went to my bff's going away party. when we got home we adjusted the temp to 100*f and the humidity to 50. we put in 42 of the 46 eggs that you gave us and the temp dropped (since the eggs were cool and the lid was off i am assuming) but it is steadily rising to where it needs to be. i candled the 4 we didnt have room for, to make sure i chose the right ones to leave out and am satisfied since those had very porous shells with lots of not good looking speckles.
i am so nervous, i try not to be but i just cant help it, lol.
i may not post daily, but i will definitely be updating you on my progress, it was great to meet you. thanks so much!!

 

[notinoz2007]

we had a little bit of a hang up last night. it took us 5 hours to get the temp in the bator to stabilize, at one point it was 109, i was terrified. finally by 4am DH was satisfied that it would stay at 100 so went to bed. holding all day today at 100 degrees and 54% humidity. hope i'm doing this right

 

[alohachickens]

Notinoz -

Without the fan, it's common for the temps to fluctuate wildly (especially at first!) and for the darn thing to be kind of "sensitive". I have two 'bators with fans; they tend to hold their temps really well! I also have a junky old still-air model that I got for $25 on Craigslist. I use that cheap one for a hatcher, so all the chick goo doesn't mess up my "clean" incubators, and that lets me keep the two fan models TOTALLY filled when I'm seriously hatching.

ANYWAY - the still air model gives me FITS! It shoots up, then you adjust, and it drops way down. Argh! Once ALL the eggs are the right temp, though, that's really going to help keep it stable.

Personally, I think eggs are pretty tough and I bet they'll be just fine. (Remember it gets to 109 out here, yet SOMEHOW I've had hens hatch out eggs in that heat?) You'll find out for sure in about a week when you go to candle them. I usually candle around ten days - but go ahead and grab a few at a week to check it out! I can't stand it, so I'll candle a few at a week, until I see the "spider" that means, yep, something's growing. Then I can relax for a few more days.

At ten days, you'll be able to see things really well. That's when you will candle ALL the eggs and toss out any "blanks" that aren't developing. Don't be surprised if you get a lot of "blanks" as I did last batch. I don't have enough individual breeding pens right now, so fertility might be less than ideal on these eggs. Oh, and don't forget, if you toss out ten eggs, your 'bator temp will drop again, because there is less "mass" holding the temps firm. So keep an eye out for that, right after you candle and remove the infertile ones.

You didn't do anything "wrong" so don't stress! The fans make the temps way more stable and the still-air ones can sometimes jump around a lot until they finally settle down. I just checked Craigslist Phoenix, they actually had a fan model on there for $50 a couple of weeks ago, but looks like the ad's gone now. Keep an eye on there, I got my first fan one for $50 WITH TURNER and it worked so awesome!!! (The fan models don't come up on Craigslist often, but they do every now and then.)

Anyway, my friend Kathleen has hatched out chicks for years with a cheap still air model and no turner, and she's had awesome hatch rates. The fan ones are easier to keep a steady temp, but the still air ones will work fine. Just remember to make your adjustments ridiculously tiny and wait it out. Like, if the temp drops to 96, turn it up just a little bit and check back in 30 minutes, because my still air model will spaz out and shoot from 96 up to 103 at the drop of a hat. Drives me nuts!!! So I turn the dial just a teeny hair at a time.

Makes me so glad I bought my "Genesis" model that has a pre-set temp, you just plug it in and it sets itself. Ha! Cost a bundle but probably one of the better $200 I've spent for all the stress and fretting it's saved me, LOL.

I can't wait to see how your hatch turns out, but even if something happens, my girls are suddenly laying up a storm. I collected nine eggs yesterday! That's AWESOME for this time of year! Derek contacted me, and he'll be coming by mid-week to pick up eggs to put in his incubator, and I'll then be shuffling more to Laree. We're going to have an Aloha baby boom in a few weeks! Woot!!!

Oh - and a newer project member, Stephen, has his flock now grown and laying, too! I'm going up there this coming week to help him set up breeder pens. Will post pics of his Alohas on the blog! He has a big old giant incubator that someone gave him, but he has to get it working still . . . . if he does, he'll be able to hatch out tons of chicks 'cause he's on 10 acres and no one minds roosters out there.

 

[notinoz2007]

thanks for the encouragement. its just nice to talk to someone who has done it before.

we did tweak the temp slowly that first night, which is why it took hours and hours to get the temp right but since then its been steady at 100. i'm very excited to meet these chicks. i dont even know if i'll be able to wait 10 days to candle!
what do you do about the temp change during candling? i have 42 eggs to candle and i dont know how long they can have the lid off the incubator. i know naturally the momma hen would take a break now and then but for how long will they be safe without heat? its 70 degrees in my house and i think they'll get cold rather fast.
any info is good info!
thanks