The Aloha Chicken Project

[alohachickens]

I have about thirty eggs in the incubator from my Aloha/wellsummer/Buff Orpington pen now and will be switching out the roo this week with one of my other lucky Roo's.
What roo from the picture above do you think i should put in with them next Sommer?

The roo you already have in there is probably the best one, he has the most white and the least black. If the light one with the yellow legs was ready, I'd say give him a shot, but looks like he has some growing to do still. Mocha would be decent if you need something fresh:

http://alohachickens.blogspot.com/2011/11/beautiful-boys-mocha.html

He's a little dark for the Welsummers - he won't lighten them up. But he'd be just fine with the Buff Orpingtons.

Derek, do you have a breeding pen that could be set up for the pure Sussex hens? I have these two really nice new pure Sussex hens, they need to be with Cinnamon. Cinnamon is perfect for the Sussex because he has yellow legs and is so very RED. But he lacks size, and he needs a lot more spots. These new "spottier" Sussex hens are PERFECT for him. All of the babies will look like pure Sussex, but you'll be able to hatch new colors out of them. Keep the hens with yellow legs only, and the ones with the most spots.

I see Cinnamon in there. This is Cinnamon:

http://alohachickens.blogspot.com/2011/11/beautiful-boys-cinnamon.html

Too small, not enough spots. Good comb, nice yellow legs.

I'm going to be done using the Sussex for a while, because we're shutting down for the season - this Friday, I'll set some eggs, and that will be our last hatch from most of the breeder pens. We'll do only some half Swedish Flower, half Aloha crosses in June, when the Swedish rooster matures.

Other than that, we'll be just growing out the new babies and culling the unwanted ones down. I could give the spotty Sussex hens to you first week of May, if you'd give me back some of their daughters this fall. (The babies, when grown, will likely look exactly like Sussex, but some will have yellow legs. Those are the ones to keep.)

These are the two pure Sussex hens from Meyer Hatchery that I thought would work great with Cinnamon:





My old Sussex were so "blegh" and dull. Big, but hardly any spots. I'm going to re-home them or give them to my neighbor to put with his Confetti Aloha roosters. These Meyer ones have much better spotting!

 

[alohachickens]

Derek -

OMG, I'm such a dork. Laree is currently looking for a new home for "Pumpkin". He's too awesome to cull but he really needs to be with BIG hens. I'd take him but I already have six roosters over here! LOL!



Notinoz was thinking of taking him as a temp, but he really does not have the size to improve her little Aloha hens. She needs something really huge. Laree has had him in with Sussex, but neither of us have any Buff Orps or Welsummers so he's never been tried with those!

Pumpkin is PERFECT for both the Wellsummer and the Buff Orps! I'd be happy to pick him up for you and have you get him from my place, but unfortunately, my chickens have that cold and sniffles thing going on still, and I don't want to infect Pumpkin or your chickens by taking him over here.

Would you be able to pick him up from Laree? She's kind of by the PV Mall area, off the 51. Please re-home Mocha, and replace him with Pumpkin.
Pumpkin is totally perfect for the Welsummer and Buff Orp hens. I totally want some of those chicks!

So will Laree, I'm sure!

You can PM her if you want from BYC - she's posted on here as "LareePQG"

She has a grouchy neighbor who has been complaining about her roosters, so she has to find a home for him ASAP. Now she has to be super-careful about keeping multiple roosters. (They crow less when there is just one.) Drop her a line or call me for her number so we can work this out.

 

[alohachickens]

Oh, hey! I finally got lucky and got picks of "Nui" and the PURE Swedish Flower hen, together! Check it out!











Told you guys she was BIG. And she isn't even fully grown yet!

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Welcome Derek! Loved the pics.

Sommer, that's a really beautiful, good sized SSX . I'm still waiting and waiting for spots to appear on my SSX wings. I'm desperately hoping I get something as pretty as your SSX. I love the even spotting all over. I've got tons of white around their heads and down their necks and tons of white on their breasts but some are really splotched, not spotted, if that makes any sense. I'm getting a bit anxious about the lack of spots at this age. They are 9 weeks old tomorrow. By 12 - 13 weeks I should definitely have more spotting, shouldn't I? Or am I getting anxious too soon. Some are good sized birds but certainly not the majority. I guess as long as I get 5 decent birds I'm still okay. I still have 43 total SSX, so surely I'll at least get close to what I'm looking for.

 

[AZ Game Birds]

I'll take Pumpkin if he is still available along with the Sussex hens. I think he would be awesome with both the Wellsummer and the Buff Orps! Sommer you are welcome to take any hen/roo I have for the project.

 

[alohachickens]

Sommer, that's a really beautiful, good sized SSX . I'm still waiting and waiting for spots to appear on my SSX wings. I'm desperately hoping I get something as pretty as your SSX. I love the even spotting all over.


I've got tons of white around their heads and down their necks and tons of white on their breasts but some are really splotched, not spotted, if that makes any sense. I'm getting a bit anxious about the lack of spots at this age. They are 9 weeks old tomorrow. By 12 - 13 weeks I should definitely have more spotting, shouldn't I? Or am I getting anxious too soon. Some are good sized birds but certainly not the majority. I guess as long as I get 5 decent birds I'm still okay. I still have 43 total SSX, so surely I'll at least get close to what I'm looking for.

Karen - the exciting thing about Nui, is she is only HALF Sussex, and HALF Aloha! She is the largest part-Aloha hen I've bred in years! That's why she is going to be so great!

Derek, Karen - keep this in mind when you start crossing Sussex with Alohas, the first generation all will look pretty much like crappy Sussex. Like this small hen:



Dad: Sussex rooster. Mom: Aloha hen. Probably "Karma" was her momma, from the looks of it. This is Karma:



Karma was the most colorful hen in the breeder pen with the pure Sussex rooster, and also this hen's body has some of her overall "look". (Compare tail shape and comb.)

So, when you cross Alohas with Sussex, you're probably going to be pretty let down with the chicks that first generation! The Sussex genes are really strong. But don't worry, the babies out of these chicks will look much more colorful, as long as you cross them with something lighter and more colorful.

Karen - don't stress the pure Sussex looking boring at this point. It will take a while for the color to develop. You'll have to wait until they are about four months to really see what is going on. Tons of white and splotches are just fine! That sounds promising! Here, let me see if I can find some pure Sussex chick photos for you:



Okay, the ABOVE photo shows Cheeto with some PURE SUSSEX - crappy hatchery hens, that turned out big but not a lot of white.

Here they were as chicks:



This is one of the crappy Sussex hens today - NOT the new ones from Meyers, these are the ones sold in Phoenix feed stores:


Karen, if yours show any more white than this, they will turn out great!

I am happy with the size on these, but I want to see a LOT more white. These are kind of . . . meh. So glad that Stephen found those Meyer ones for us to use. These hens will be sold or re-homed now and replaced with the Meyer Sussex, who are not quite as big, but are a lot flashier.

 

[notinoz2007]

derek, so glad to see pics from your flock

sommer, as of today we have 23 out of 32 eggs hatched, and tomorrow is their official "hatch day" anyway. we might get a few more but i'm not expecting it - i could not hear any more peeping. so 72% hatch rate from an almost 99% fertility. i'm very pleased and the class is ecstatic!! will you have any eggs for me this friday from stevens new pen? i'll try to get around to your side of town if possible.

everyone - i want to offer snow to anyone here. he's my smaller roo but so handsome. probably not good for the project, but is a quiet and friendly chicken. that will leave me with king, who i am not committed to keeping, but will until something better comes along. if only we could all have cheeto size roosters with spots!!

also, i think one of my chicks (non-aloha variety) has a cold but i've never had that experience before. she looks like her nose is crusted over and she has a bad smell around her beak - i know this because she LOVES to nuzzle. is that a stuffy nose? how do i fix her before my other chicks develop symptoms. so far she's been here 11 days and no one else is sick. thanks for any tips.

 

[alohachickens]

Hi Notinoz! Wow, 23 chickies is still pretty decent!

I didn't hear from Stephen yesterday, so I'll call him about heading up there tomorrow to pick up eggs. So it looks like late Friday afternoon or the weekend would work for picking up eggs from me. I'd love to drive over and visit with you, see the babies, but I'm getting ready to leave town for two weeks, so if you were able to drop by here it would be great. I have like a MILLION things to do before I leave. I promise next time I'll bring eggs to you - and come check out what you have over there! Would be neat to see your babies in person.

We are going to set eggs from Stephen's breeder pens 1, 2, and 3, and also eggs from Cheeto's breeder pen. I'm skipping Flame's pen this round, because it's so mixed up right now. You will get the eggs from Pen 4, which is this guy with the Sussex hens:



Stephen LOVED the idea of breaking up the hatches in a more "controlled" way. I sure hope to do a lot more small, controlled hatches like this in the future.

Notinoz - Whenever you are game for it next season, let me know! I got one colored hen-chick from Cheeto's 13 babies, and now she's gone, argh. So it would take lots and lots of hatches, at that rate, to get a breeder pen of his colorful daughters. But what a really NICE pen it would be! Maybe if you're loaning the 'bator as a teaching tool next year, we can try it.

I don't know what to say about the sniffles thing. I had my first ones ever show that just recently, too. Mine aren't that bad, it's just a sneeze now and then, but it's weird because I've NEVER had any of my chickens get a cold before, and I've had chickens for six years now. I wonder if something is kind of going around? Laree gave me some meds that worked GREAT on the chicks, but I didn't have enough from her to treat everyone, which I really need to do now that the adults caught it. But the symptoms have been fairly mild, so I've been hoping they would just get better on their own if I gave it some time.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

notinoz, Congrats on your new chickies! There's just nothing like hatching, is there?

I had a bird with the sniffles and used Vet Rx with great success. It's kind of like a mentholatum for chickens. You just do your best to tip the bird back a ways so you can get a bit up the nostrils. Then put a few drops in the water (it's oily) so it gets on the beak when the whole group drinks. I only did the up-the-beak thing once and the rest of the time I just put a bit on my finger and rubbed it up the beak. I treated directly for only 3 days and then felt she was improved enough. I treated the water for 10 days just to be sure. She didn't have a lot of discharge, though, just was sneezing. Might be worth a try.

Sommer, okay I'm breathing a sigh of relief over my SSX now. I have tons more white than those already so I just need to be patient until the spots come in up top. I forgot Nui was 1/2 Aloha -- that's just an amazing size! That's just awesome!

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

A bunch of my chickens seem to have a cold too. This isn't the first time I have heard sneezes going around. I often get that in the early spring for some reason.

But I am a tad worried. No one LOOKS sick, but one of my pure sussex keeled over dead a few days ago. No signs of anything wrong. I found her in a nest box while gathering eggs. No crusty stuff on her beak, no lumpy egg-bound abdomen, no wounds. And she was fine the day before. That is the second sussex hen to mysteriously expire on me. While i know sometimes it just happens, I have not had any other unexplained deaths in other breeds.

Sadly, Cayanne was one of the sweetest chickens I have ever had. I was fond of her, and so were the kids. I am trying to stay optimistic and remind myself that the three I still have were the brightest and spottiest. Cayanne was darker than her sisters and had smaller spots. I didn't want to cull her because I liked her so much, but now I am left with the very best.

I really just hope that no one else dies on me!