The Aloha Chicken Project

[Deerfield Acres]

Forgot to make a correction: Taz was right -- I did get 1 1/2 doz of Laree's eggs! The rest are Sommer's.

My SSX & Buff Orps are 5 1/2 weeks old and the two New Hamps are about 4 1/2 weeks old. The New Hamps have feathered out much faster than the others and are growing super fast. Also, I'm really happy with the amount of white I'm seeing in the SSX. Yay!

ruriksson: so sorry to hear about your disappointing hatch.I'm on my first attempt at hatching and I can just imagine the disappointment of waiting 20 days for the chicks and then nothing. I hope you get some of the March 26th chicks. All of my current chicks were shipped and they have done really well. Hang in there!

 

[notinoz2007]

yes, i was crazy with my first hatch. there are so many different methods of incubation on the internet and i didnt know which one i should use so i tried them all at once, lol. i still had around a 50% hatch rate, which i consider good for a first time.
it will get easier (but not much LOL - its like being a nervous expectant parent i swear!!)

 

[MaBo]

Well, the chicks are 1 month old (yay!), and I'm finally posting 1 cruddy picture from my phone. (it happened that I started a new job, and I've been so super-busy ever since, that I have not had time to post)

A few interesting things of note...

- We had a very respectable hatch rate after weeding out the duds - 22 out of 28, I think it was. This is including some non-Aloha eggs. By themselves, the Aloha hatch-rate was excellent. I actually had eggs hatch that were 2 and even 3 weeks old.

- All hatched chicks are currently good and healthy... no signs of problems whatsoever.

- The coloring is surprising to me. I was expecting solid red and buff coloring (recessive mottling), but instead I am seeing all kinds of different things. I had 2 chipmunks, various dark ones, and even some that are starting to show white mottling on their feathers! What is going on? My one Aloha rooster (Xerxes, from Tamra) has always been the yard-bird, always outside the pen, and I have NEVER seen him mount anyone. BUT, my 4 Aloha hens do sometimes escape the pen, and thus I am wondering if maybe they were 'experiencing the full field of roosterage'... RIR, Buff Rock, AND Aloha. Or, is this just an adolescent coloring thing - and all these various colorings will eventually turn solid into adult-hood?

- My experiment with leg-bands made from drinking straws pretty much failed. They all fell off, and I totally lost track of who was who.


It's difficult to see any details in this pic. But at least you can see colors. I'll post some better pics soon (famous last words, LOL).

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Thanks, Tracy! The humidity is holding steady at 38% now (after I removed one of the plugs, DUH, and ran the dehumidifier in the room). Or is it because I've stopped breathing so hard all over the bator? Sheesh.

MaBo, loved the pic of your babies!

 

[runsw/scissors]

MaBo, your chicks look a LOT like mine do... amazing isn't it? Spots already. We should compare pictures, I had thought about photographing them every two weeks or so, but didn't want to hog the thread.

 

[alohachickens]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Okay, no higher than 40%, got it. 48 hrs before day 20, humidity to 80%, got it. Thank you so much for the reassurance!

Karen, they should be fine! It's more of an average. The humidity thing - it's mostly about making sure the eggs don't lose too much moisture over the entire course. I keep mine "about" 40 percent, but sometimes it dips as low as 20% for a day or two, and I'll kind of "overfill" to maybe 60% sometimes, but most of the time it's in the 40%-50%. (I try to keep it a little on the high end since we're in the desert and the air is so dry in general.)

Going up or down for a day here or there shouldn't be a big deal. But I do like the feeling of having eggs spread out in more than one 'bator, just because it makes me feel safer! LOL!

 

[MaBo]

runsw/scissors, I've not kept up with this thread the last month or two (wasn't getting BYC notification emails, and was also super busy), but I did go back and quickly glance at a few of your chick pics ... I'm curious for details about your hatch, i.e., qty, what you crossed, etc. I have 4 small Aloha hens (from my local Aloha partner Tamra, who got them from alohachickens). I thought I was out-crossing them my with my 2 big roo's, NHR/RIR and Buff Rock. I expected solid colors. But I'm wondering if my Aloha roo sneaked into the mix, which is unlikely but not impossible. Or perhaps my NHR/RIR roo has some other unknown genetics mixed in (He was, afterall, free off CraigsList).

This was my first hatch, so maybe I'll just call it 'experimental'. Next time I'll have real, secure pens setup for better control of things.

I'll post better pictures as soon as I have a few spare minutes.

MaBo, your chicks look a LOT like mine do... amazing isn't it? Spots already. We should compare pictures, I had thought about photographing them every two weeks or so, but didn't want to hog the thread.

 

[alohachickens]

Well, the chicks are 1 month old (yay!), and I'm finally posting 1 cruddy picture from my phone. (it happened that I started a new job, and I've been so super-busy ever since, that I have not had time to post)

A few interesting things of note...

- We had a very respectable hatch rate after weeding out the duds - 22 out of 28, I think it was. This is including some non-Aloha eggs. By themselves, the Aloha hatch-rate was excellent. I actually had eggs hatch that were 2 and even 3 weeks old.

- All hatched chicks are currently good and healthy... no signs of problems whatsoever.

- The coloring is surprising to me. I was expecting solid red and buff coloring (recessive mottling), but instead I am seeing all kinds of different things. I had 2 chipmunks, various dark ones, and even some that are starting to show white mottling on their feathers! What is going on? My one Aloha rooster (Xerxes, from Tamra) has always been the yard-bird, always outside the pen, and I have NEVER seen him mount anyone. BUT, my 4 Aloha hens do sometimes escape the pen, and thus I am wondering if maybe they were 'experiencing the full field of roosterage'... RIR, Buff Rock, AND Aloha. Or, is this just an adolescent coloring thing - and all these various colorings will eventually turn solid into adult-hood?

- My experiment with leg-bands made from drinking straws pretty much failed. They all fell off, and I totally lost track of who was who.


It's difficult to see any details in this pic. But at least you can see colors. I'll post some better pics soon (famous last words, LOL).

Hey, MaBo -

I hesitated to post anything like this on here, because I want to stress that ***NOT A CHICKEN EXPERT*** - ha ha ha! So please please please take this with a SERIOUS grain of salt.

OK, the "mottled" gene seen in Speckled Sussex is a Recessive gene. When you cross a Sussex to a not-mottled solid bird, all babies will be solid. (Though perhaps one tiny hint of white may pop up somewhere?)

However, early on in the project, I used a half Exchequer Leghorn, half Sussex rooster. Now, when I ordered the Exchequers, the hatchery described them as "colored due to the Pied gene". Of course, I was like "Huh, what the heck is the Pied gene?" But oh well, they have spots, so whatever . . . .

I am kind of wondering if there is a secondary color gene (pied?) that works differently, because it seemed to me early on that the Exchequer crosses showed a lot more color that shouldn't have been there. And they look very different from Speckled Sussex as chicks, too. Exchequer chicks look like teeny penguins, black on top and white on the underside.

So I have NO IDEA if there is a second color gene - Sussex Mottling and Exchequer Pied. Or if the "pied" color on the Exchequer Leghorns is just the same Mottling gone crazy? And while we know for sure Sussex type mottling is recessive, what about this Exchequer "Pied" color? Is it any different?

Unfortunately, with Exchequer Leghorns being so rare, it's not like we have seen a bunch of Exchequers crossed with Rhode Island Reds (or whatever breeds) before.

Sooooo .. . . . the only way to test this, would be to have two dedicated breeder coops, and only have Aloha roos over solid hens, and Aloha hens with a solid rooster, and hatch the chicks. See if any of the adults showed white. I would not rule out some hidden "surprises".

 

[alohachickens]

MaBo, your chicks look a LOT like mine do... amazing isn't it? Spots already. We should compare pictures, I had thought about photographing them every two weeks or so, but didn't want to hog the thread.

This would be fun to see more pics! Feel free to post them. The fun thing is if you think yours look like MaBo, well, actually MaBo is taking last year's "base Aloha stock" (BEFORE Cheeto and Flame were involved!) and out-crossing to bigger breeds.

What Runswscissors got from me, was this year's newest stock that reflects a dash of New Hampshire Red and Buff Rock that was added in after I shipped out Tamra's chicks.

Cheeto is 75% "outside" blood and Flame is 25% "outside" blood. And, Stephen had some of his chicks mixed in with the stock I sent to Runswscissors. Stephen has Cheeto's full brother, plus a full Sussex rooster, both over colorful small hens.

Basically, Tam'ra and MaBo got the "tiny colorful base stock" and are adding their OWN brand new "Big Chicken Mix" to them. Which means that swapping your chicks with the ones shown by MaBo would work out great for everyone. There is a common thread between the groups, but they are starting to branch out. Mixing the stock from all of you guys together should make a great blend of new and old genes.

 

[MaBo]

Hey alohachickens, thanks for that info...that's interesting! I actually think it's kinda fun that there's some 'unknown' in all this. I'm having lots of fun, and I am really looking forward to having at least 2 good breeding pens to do exactly as you say.... Aloha roo over solid hens, and solid roo over Aloha hens. This will be the next big step for us southern-Oregon Aloha fanatics. Tamra has been doing some great brainstorming about the plan of attack, so hopefully we'll be kicking things into gear very soon, depending on spring giving us some decent weather! It's looking like another late one this year, just like last. Mid March already, and yet it has snowed on the valley floor at least 3 times in the last 2 weeks! The hardy Aloha chicks handle it no problem, of course!

BTW, I'm curious as to what type of chick feed others here are using? (grower? home-made? medicated or non-medicated?) I have used the non-medicated grower without any issue. I caved and bought the cheapo Purina grower the other day because it was on sale, but usually I buy the locally-made organic grower.

Hey, MaBo -

I hesitated to post anything like this on here, because I want to stress that ***NOT A CHICKEN EXPERT*** - ha ha ha! So please please please take this with a SERIOUS grain of salt.

OK, the "mottled" gene seen in Speckled Sussex is a Recessive gene. When you cross a Sussex to a not-mottled solid bird, all babies will be solid. (Though perhaps one tiny hint of white may pop up somewhere?)

However, early on in the project, I used a half Exchequer Leghorn, half Sussex rooster. Now, when I ordered the Exchequers, the hatchery described them as "colored due to the Pied gene". Of course, I was like "Huh, what the heck is the Pied gene?" But oh well, they have spots, so whatever . . . .

I am kind of wondering if there is a secondary color gene (pied?) that works differently, because it seemed to me early on that the Exchequer crosses showed a lot more color that shouldn't have been there. And they look very different from Speckled Sussex as chicks, too. Exchequer chicks look like teeny penguins, black on top and white on the underside.

So I have NO IDEA if there is a second color gene - Sussex Mottling and Exchequer Pied. Or if the "pied" color on the Exchequer Leghorns is just the same Mottling gone crazy? And while we know for sure Sussex type mottling is recessive, what about this Exchequer "Pied" color? Is it any different?

Unfortunately, with Exchequer Leghorns being so rare, it's not like we have seen a bunch of Exchequers crossed with Rhode Island Reds (or whatever breeds) before.

Sooooo .. . . . the only way to test this, would be to have two dedicated breeder coops, and only have Aloha roos over solid hens, and Aloha hens with a solid rooster, and hatch the chicks. See if any of the adults showed white. I would not rule out some hidden "surprises".