The Aloha Chicken Project

[alohachickens]

Ok guys I am proposing a offer, I am up in Canada but will be heading to Moses Lake Washington for the first week of April. I would love to bring eggs back and start up a major breeding colony of Alohas. I have 3 or 4 others who are interested in helping also. I can take as many eggs as are available at this time. Once the eggs hatch I will raise them at my farm and then divide them for the most trusted breeders. I will keep some and at leat one other breeder I trust will keep some. I currently only have one other project on the go but have tons of empty pens...

This sounds really fantastic! Crazy question - two, actually. One, can you bring live chicks across the border? Second, do you have a good mailing address (friend or whatever) in Washington where either eggs or live chicks could be sent? Let me know.

Rurikssn in L.A. can attest that I'm the worst egg-packer EVER so I haven't had much luck with shipped eggs, but I just found this web site is now carrying FOAM shippers! If folks want Aloha eggs shipped, if you'd spring for the (reuseable!!!) shipper, it would make my world a lot easier, ha ha ha. Their 12 x 12 shipper holds 36 eggs:

http://southernfarmhatchery.com/Egg-Shipping-Foam.php

I know I could fill one with that many eggs in a week, myself, and then perhaps between breeder pens at Laree's and Stephen's, we could probably fill the other one up with different stock? That's another idea.

Generally, we have not seen a lot of success with shipped eggs, because by the time the P.O. shakes them up, you don't get that many, then of the ones you DO get, there is a lot of variability. Here, I'll hatch out 25 Aloha chicks just to get five "good" ones for the program. You can see how if you only get five shipped eggs to hatch out of two dozen (which happens a lot in shipped eggs) it can take FOREVER to get enough base stock for any kind of real progress.

Since there were so few of these in existence, I found it was a horrible "waste" of eggs and looked into shipping live chicks - which worked way better for Tam'ra! All of the newborns survived the trip to Oregon via Express mail.

Don't know if the foam shippers could help the egg thing a bit?

NOTE for EVERYONE who is looking to join the project: I will be having eye surgery May 15th. I'll have to take two weeks off to recover. Going to stay at my parent's to stay away from the farm critters during this healing process. (When I had this surgery as an infant, I got a secondary infection that almost sent me to the hospital, so don't want to mess around with this. My boyfriend can feed the chickens, horse, and dogs for me until my eye seals up again!) I also (might) be out of town working right before that?

So looks like May is going to be totally shot for me, in terms of hatching out chicks for myself. However, the girls should continue to lay very well during this time. May will be a good month to hit me up for eggs. Though again, note that because of my really crappy packing skills I'd recommend going for a foam shipper, ha ha.

I will probably not be able to ship out live chicks in May because it starts to really heat up. The Post Office won't clear shipments when it gets too hot. Maybe, maybe the first week of May might be OK . . . but I think that's the week I might be out of town for work?

So we have to get as many live chicks shipped out as possible in March and April to new members. May and June can be "egg months". Ha ha ha.

 

[alohachickens]

Ok guys I am proposing a offer, I am up in Canada but will be heading to Moses Lake Washington for the first week of April. I would love to bring eggs back and start up a major breeding colony of Alohas. I have 3 or 4 others who are interested in helping also. I can take as many eggs as are available at this time. Once the eggs hatch I will raise them at my farm and then divide them for the most trusted breeders. I will keep some and at leat one other breeder I trust will keep some. I currently only have one other project on the go but have tons of empty pens...

One other note . . . I haven't tried to hatch out 50 chicks at once to ship, but it *might* be possible. This last batch of eggs - fertility on mine was really high! Last year, it was hard to start with 84 spaces and get 25 live chicks because I had to chuck about half the eggs, they were "blanks" because I had only one rooster with too many hens. But things this year look MUCH better.

I was going to set a batch to hatch out for possible shipping on March 27th. If we were going to try mailing out live chicks to you, we'd either have to wait one week to set them (new ship date would be ship on Monday April 2nd or Tuesday April 3rd) or you'd have to find a willing chick-sitter to care for them for a week. (Probably hard to do while traveling, ha ha.) Guessing eggs will probably be easier? Hmmm!

 

[VI KING RANCH]

Let me look into it but I think it would be a ton easier to get eggs over, I will just bring empty egg cartons and transfer the eggs into them and tell border patrol I am going *camping*.

 

[alohachickens]

Let me look into it but I think it would be a ton easier to get eggs over, I will just bring empty egg cartons and transfer the eggs into them and tell border patrol I am going *camping*.

Yes, eggs are easier, but I would have to send a LOT of them for you to get a good enough number to hatch - enough to start a breeding program up there, I mean.

The egg shipping foams, looks like one set would be $11.30 to me postage paid, or $17 for two. (The foams are just $4.95 each but shipping added to that . . . )

I emailed them to see if my small/medium eggs would fit in one Banty/Pheasant size foam, which holds 49 eggs, or if we'd need to use the Chicken/Duck size that holds 36. Either way, you'll need a ton of eggs, as many as can be spared. If you wanted a serious start at this, I'd say 10 dozen would not be out of line. If even half of those hatched, it would be a success, and then you have culling, you'd be LUCKY to end up with a starter flock of 10 after all that.

But that would probably draw a lot of attention, taking that many over the border all at once, ha ha ha.

Camping, eh? They would going to think you are eating a LOT of omelets. Ha ha. But maybe two 36 packs?

 

[notinoz2007]

I can also spare some eggs. I will be setting on 3/5 but the girls are laying like mad right now so I should have extras! I'm getting about 10 eggs a day and my two 'bators can only fit 84. I've got six dozen sitting on my counter already!

Quote:
ooh, thats awfully tempting! my incubator is empty right now.. but i have no time, thank goodness.

 

[VI KING RANCH]

Yes, eggs are easier, but I would have to send a LOT of them for you to get a good enough number to hatch - enough to start a breeding program up there, I mean.

The egg shipping foams, looks like one set would be $11.30 to me postage paid, or $17 for two. (The foams are just $4.95 each but shipping added to that . . . )

I emailed them to see if my small/medium eggs would fit in one Banty/Pheasant size foam, which holds 49 eggs, or if we'd need to use the Chicken/Duck size that holds 36. Either way, you'll need a ton of eggs, as many as can be spared. If you wanted a serious start at this, I'd say 10 dozen would not be out of line. If even half of those hatched, it would be a success, and then you have culling, you'd be LUCKY to end up with a starter flock of 10 after all that.

But that would probably draw a lot of attention, taking that many over the border all at once, ha ha ha.

Camping, eh? They would going to think you are eating a LOT of omelets. Ha ha. But maybe two 36 packs?

I am willing to take the risk if you are. If you are I will try to order the cartons this week or so. Pm me or email me at [email protected] with your address and I will have them shipped to you. How much do you think the shipping of 72 eggs would be? I know if I shipped 72 eggs in Canada it would be hundreds!

 

[Munkeesmama]

How much would 2 dozen eggs be to corona, ca 92880?

 

[LarryPQ]

Last time I checked, it was still legal to ship to and from Canada, since it is a geographical border.

 

[VI KING RANCH]

Last time I checked, it was still legal to ship to and from Canada, since it is a geographical border.

But it's a big hassle and a huge expense! I looked at getting 6 KO shamo eggs from a breeder in the states and shipping and border fees would have been ove $300! Way easier to drive eggs across. I have a friend who does it once or twice a year to keep his stock "fresh"

 

[LarryPQ]

But it's a big hassle and a huge expense! I looked at getting 6 KO shamo eggs from a breeder in the states and shipping and border fees would have been ove $300! Way easier to drive eggs across. I have a friend who does it once or twice a year to keep his stock "fresh"

That's what I mean...you shouldn't need to hide anything while crossing the border. Put the eggs in a cooler under some sandwiches and don't mention them.