The Aloha Chicken Project

[notinoz2007]

KarenS, no need to apologize - i need no mention, lol. i'm really glad to be able to deliver eggs. i've asked my aunt in KC if she wanted some alohas but she has so many other projects she isnt interested right now, and i really wanted to see if we could get alohas in the midwest! and now its happening and i am pleased to be a part of it, the thought just makes me

we expect to be in ks on the 10th, mid-day-ish. please pm me with your phone number that way i can keep you up to date, our service is a bit sketchy on the road but hopefully we'll be able to get you a more narrow time frame. also pick a spot to meet thats close to our route please, that way DH doesnt throw a huge hissy, lol. we take 54 to I-35. i look forward to meeting you

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Tazcat: That's awesome!!! Hope it works out okay! My husband is talking with me tonight about a cabinet incubator. I probably won't be able to get the hatcher but I'm pretty sure I'm about to score the combo setter/hatcher model!

I think the 6 degrees of separation has shrunk with the internet factor, don't you? Crazy how things work out online.

Laree & Alohachickens: Pretty sure I'm ordering that cabinet bator tonight! Plus, my little 48 place incubator! Bring on those eggs! I got my SSussex from Mt. Healthy hatchery. I got 5 SSX roosters from McMurray but they are by far the darkest colored SSX chicks I have. I haven't done the pictures yet, sorry, things are crazy with my musical kids coming and going around here. Hoping I will get to it tonight -- I'm out of batteries so I have to borrow DD's camera and have no idea where she keeps it. DD and her twin keep a perfect room, unlike our other 6 kids, so she'll know exactly where it is. Thankfully, no school activities tonight.

notinoz: You sound as excited as I am! I'll scope out an easy on/off spot to meet and get back to you. I won't keep your DH waiting. I hate to wait so am very sympathetic. I'll PM you when I have the location and give you my cell #.

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

Where did you order your Sussex from? Ours, in AZ, generally come from Privett Hatchery in NM. It's the closest commercial hatchery to Phoenix so most feed stores order their supply from that location. Their Sussex tend to be very dark with very small white dots. I check Craigslist periodically and sometimes find adult Sussex hens on there, but they rarely have any variation. I've heard Cackle and Ideal can show some more variation in their Sussex stock.

My Sussex are from Ideal and I got a some noticable variation. I can tell my 4 girls apart easily and they also happen to be the nicest chickens I have ever had... I highly recommend Ideal to anyone looking for SS. I ordered 10 striaght run and got only 2 like the dark ones you described, the rest were average or brighter. Of the girls, three look like your standard SS hens if you googled pics (the pullet I lost, Skull, and Bell), So does Twisty (my roo, named for his unique tail feathers) But Paprika has way more white on her than any of the others, and Cayanne has only tiny scattered dots, as did one of the roos I rehomed.

I definitely see Aloha traits that could make the Sussex better (mostly I just want more colors and to make them sturdier... those Alohas are hardy things, my SS not so much) but I feel I have really good birds to start from. If I could get their personalities to stick as well as their size and pattern, I would be thrilled.

 

[tazcat70]

Tazcat: That's awesome!!! Hope it works out okay! My husband is talking with me tonight about a cabinet incubator. I probably won't be able to get the hatcher but I'm pretty sure I'm about to score the combo setter/hatcher model!

I think the 6 degrees of separation has shrunk with the internet factor, don't you? Crazy how things work out online.

Great!!!! If you need my help, just let me know.

 

[alohachickens]

My Sussex are from Ideal and I got a some noticable variation. I can tell my 4 girls apart easily and they also happen to be the nicest chickens I have ever had... I highly recommend Ideal to anyone looking for SS. I ordered 10 striaght run and got only 2 like the dark ones you described, the rest were average or brighter. Of the girls, three look like your standard SS hens if you googled pics (the pullet I lost, Skull, and Bell), So does Twisty (my roo, named for his unique tail feathers) But Paprika has way more white on her than any of the others, and Cayanne has only tiny scattered dots, as did one of the roos I rehomed.

I definitely see Aloha traits that could make the Sussex better (mostly I just want more colors and to make them sturdier... those Alohas are hardy things, my SS not so much) but I feel I have really good birds to start from. If I could get their personalities to stick as well as their size and pattern, I would be thrilled.

I have heard WONDERFUL things about Sussex from Ideal. I can't tell my Privett Sussex apart at all. They're like clones. Ha ha!

Interesting to me that you've also noticed the Speckled Sussex needing to be a bit more "robust". My neighbors and I both had issues with Sussex not faring as well in our brutal environment. (I think Sussex prefer the gentle English countryside!) LOL! They are lovely birds, though.

This photo is kind of interesting. It shows a pure 100% Sussex (from Privett) in the background. A half-Sussex, half Aloha, and in the foreground is a "pure" Aloha hen - one of my "Ginger Girls".



Kind of fun to see both extremes and the in-between all in a row, huh? LOL!

 

[alohachickens]

KarenS -

I just snuck out to the coop and swapped roosters. Cheeto is now penned with my two boring Sussex hens, and I won't include any more eggs for you from that pen. Because your own Sussex crosses will probably be way better anyway! Since you'll be able to pick more colorful hens to cross with. I'll hatch those ones myself for big size-improving hens that carry Mottling. They'd be 88% "big chicken" and only 12% Aloha, but maybe they would be good girls to put in with teeny Butterscotch or something. LOL!

I don't know how long it takes for a rooster's DNA to pass out of a hen, but we still have one week before I send eggs out to Kansas . . . so from here on out, it will be Butterscotch and Flame running with the "pure" Aloha hens. The babies from this cross will be tiny with zero size improvement but should be packed with color.

Sommer

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Great!!!! If you need my help, just let me know.

I would love the help -- PM'd you!

KarenS -

I just snuck out to the coop and swapped roosters. Cheeto is now penned with my two boring Sussex hens, and I won't include any more eggs for you from that pen. Because your own Sussex crosses will probably be way better anyway! Since you'll be able to pick more colorful hens to cross with. I'll hatch those ones myself for big size-improving hens that carry Mottling. They'd be 88% "big chicken" and only 12% Aloha, but maybe they would be good girls to put in with teeny Butterscotch or something. LOL!

I don't know how long it takes for a rooster's DNA to pass out of a hen, but we still have one week before I send eggs out to Kansas . . . so from here on out, it will be Butterscotch and Flame running with the "pure" Aloha hens. The babies from this cross will be tiny with zero size improvement but should be packed with color.

Sommer

Sounds great to me! Scored the cabinet incubator, so I'm all set.



Sorry everyone, no pics, yet. We moved all 100 birds last night to their new space. The naughty birds had flown over the enclosure and started making themselves at home with my scrapbooking stuff. Not bad enough they've dusted everything, now they want to poo on it all!

It took forever to get everything, plus the chicks moved, even with plenty of help! The kids told the chicks they hoped they were grateful for their new place since we had to go to so much trouble preparing it and then moving them.

I don't think the chicks took it much to heart but they do seem very happy with their new space. There is sand under the wood chips and they had a great time dust bathing and checking everything out. Fun, but exhausting!

 

[alohachickens]

KarenS -

I am really glad you scored the cabinet incubator! I have six dozen eggs saved for you and there's still a week to go. That doesn't count whatever Laree has saved.

Wow - you have 100 babies! That's a lot of chickies, ha ha ha. I've never had that many chicks at once, I think the most babies I ever had at one time was about 60. (Though I do smaller batches of them all the time.)

I was shocked last year at how many eggs my 18 hens laid last year. A dozen on an average day. With just two tabletop incubators (84 spaces) it filled the 'bators in one week. Then, I was SWIMMING in eggs for three weeks while I was waiting for chicks to hatch! LOL! I was so wishing for a cabinet incubator last spring. I'm glad you got one.

If a cabinet incubator holds about 300 eggs, and you wanted to do three rotating hatches of 100 eggs/chicks per week, and each hen laid about 5 eggs per week, you'd only need 20 hens to keep a cabinet incubator full all the time! Isn't that crazy? A big incubator like that sounds like such overkill, but it's surprising how fast you can fill it up, even with just an average backyard flock.

My "dream" chicken setup would probably be four breeding pens with maybe 4-6 hens in each pen, plus at least two grower pens for chicks of various ages. And of course a big cabinet incubator!

Anything more than that and it'd start to go from "hobby breeder" to "professional farmer" and I'm not ready for that, LOL.

 

[tazcat70]

KarenS -

I am really glad you scored the cabinet incubator! I have six dozen eggs saved for you and there's still a week to go. That doesn't count whatever Laree has saved.

Wow - you have 100 babies! That's a lot of chickies, ha ha ha. I've never had that many chicks at once, I think the most babies I ever had at one time was about 60. (Though I do smaller batches of them all the time.)

I was shocked last year at how many eggs my 18 hens laid last year. A dozen on an average day. With just two tabletop incubators (84 spaces) it filled the 'bators in one week. Then, I was SWIMMING in eggs for three weeks while I was waiting for chicks to hatch! LOL! I was so wishing for a cabinet incubator last spring. I'm glad you got one.

If a cabinet incubator holds about 300 eggs, and you wanted to do three rotating hatches of 100 eggs/chicks per week, and each hen laid about 5 eggs per week, you'd only need 20 hens to keep a cabinet incubator full all the time! Isn't that crazy? A big incubator like that sounds like such overkill, but it's surprising how fast you can fill it up, even with just an average backyard flock.

My "dream" chicken setup would probably be four breeding pens with maybe 4-6 hens in each pen, plus at least two grower pens for chicks of various ages. And of course a big cabinet incubator!

Anything more than that and it'd start to go from "hobby breeder" to "professional farmer" and I'm not ready for that, LOL.

You are correct. When I got mine, I thought there was NO WAY I would EVER have it full. Ummmmmm....was I ever wrong!!!

ETA: I am up to Jan 14, 2012.

 

[alohachickens]

I took some new photos of the chicks hatched from Cheeto's breeder pen. These are "for sure" all his chicks. Several show obvious color.

Others have small white Sussex-type dots. On the previous Buff chicks, these white spots have been disappearing when the chicks are about 3-4 months old.

Some chicks are dark buff with no trace of white at all. It's a pretty even split, about 1/3 really colorful, 1/3 have little spots, and 1/3 have no white.

Anyone want to guess genders? I'm seeing roos everywhere, LOL.

\\\