The Aloha Chicken Project

[alohachickens]

Okay, here's a couple of fun pics. These are "solid" Alohas that that show color - in the most minimal way!

Check out this hen - Cheeto's daughter! Looks solid - but see the one tiny white spot on her tail? If bred to something with spots, like a pure Sussex rooster, she should throw a TON of spotted chicks! What a lovely hen, she should make some great mottled chicks this fall.



Below: And here is another! Hope it is a hen, but too early to tell. See the ONE little white feather?



That is the sort of tiny spot of white that I found on Cheeto when he was about four months old. It was under his folded wing. I never found it again, but it gave me a clue that his babies would probably show spotting, even though the odds were only 25% that he carried the gene.

For anyone starting their own program using Sussex crosses to start, keep an eye out for little clues like this. I crossed an Ameraucana hen with a 1/2 Sussex, 1/2 Exchequer Leghorn rooster, and got a solid gray hen with one little white wing feather. Aside from that one feather, she was solid all over. When crossed back to an Aloha rooster, "Vanilla" she gave me the most fabulous big blue and white mottled hens! Super colorful. So the random small white feather seems to be a very good sign.

 

[alohachickens]

Here are Cheeto's sons that are starting to experience the "color fade" thing. Drat! But I still love this guy, he's absolutely ginormous. He still gets a chance to breed this fall. I think he would be a fabulous cross with pure Sussex hens, or half Sussex hens.

His size - at just over three months, he's almost as big in body mass as Flame, though not as tall yet. But he has about three more months of growing left to do! And yes, his spots are fading, but he still has a lot more white than the "one random spot" hens shown above! So I do want to try some test hatching with him this fall. Much milder than Cheeto in temperament. Super friendly.

Lots of photos of him below:




(that's Flame crowing in the background - you can see how big this baby rooster is already.)


Even though he's Cheeto's son, I notice he gets along very well with Flame, and runs right up to him.


This photo just cracked me up when another chicken peeked into the frame!


This kind of shows the spotting on his legs, chest, and belly.

 

[alohachickens]

Here's the other favorite, Cheeto's most colorful son. A bit smaller and darker than the orange-spotty rooster.


Side by side comparison - note smaller size but better color and more tail.


He is still showing quite a bit of white.


Another photo of the two boys together.


Hey! Stop hogging the pictures!


That's more like it.

 

[alohachickens]

The third brother - also smaller, and not as much white. Very red, though. His best feature may end up being a longer tail? Look at the feather sticking way out there already!





I'm not sure what the advantage would be to keeping him over the more colorful guy of the same size . . . but I'm going to grow out this trio of boys for a couple of months, anyway, just to see how they all turn out. Maybe he will surprise us all.

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

Those are some great looking birds! I want baby chickens!!!

I finally got the last piece I needed to build my incubator... but I may be hatching soon even without it!

I have 16 eggs under cranky broodies who decided it was time to hatch. Of course in all this chaos who knows what they're actually sitting on (I still have EEs and Wyandottes with my 'project' birds) So I will have to wait for them to grow up to find out if they are Alohas. Once they hatch. I am so impatient!

Over half my flock is buffs, sussex, and alohas, (including all three dominant roos) so I am sure to get some Aloha crosses out of my broodies, as long as they hatch something. I haven't had the best luck with broodies. It should be obvious who isn't the right mix, but even if it isn't an intentional cross, I will be looking to keep any big spotted chicks. I am eager to replace my ornry Aloha roosters. Scrawny boys are beating the ****** out of my big fluffy rooster and even chasing off my older hens. Some sussex ought to mellow that out, I hope. I adore the hens, though.

Digit is still doing well, but still not yet well enough for me to ask her to compete with the others. She's my smallest chicken, and with her injury I just feel safer with her in a rabbit hutch with lots of food and water and no bossy hens or enthusiastic roosters to prevent her from healing.

 

[alohachickens]

Derek just stopped by to pick up almost five dozen more eggs from me. Some of these eggs might be the Swedish/Aloha crosses. The Swedish have been the only roosters in there for the last two weeks. Derek was heading up after this, to Stephen's, to pick up more eggs from him, too. Derek reports that he's hatched out about 200 more Aloha chicks! WOW! Looks like he might end up being the largest Aloha breeder in this state, if all goes well. I asked him to take more photos and post some on here when he has time!

I have hatched out 30+ chicks and took those up to Stephen's right before I went out of town. In the 'bator right now, are about 30 more fertile eggs. Set that up before I left, and had my boyfriend 'bator-sit for me while I was gone. So Stephen and I should end up with about 50 more chicks total, before the heat kicks in and my girls stop laying - plus the 30 or so chicks pictured above (from the Runswithscissors batch) to choose this fall's breeding stock from.

In about a week, I'll start collecting eggs for our final hatch - which will be the Swedish Flower roosters with Aloha hens! Those would hatch out in June. Then, it will be time to take a break for the rest of June, July, August, and most of September and let everyone grow out.

 

[alohachickens]

Those are some great looking birds! I want baby chickens!!!

I finally got the last piece I needed to build my incubator... but I may be hatching soon even without it!

I have 16 eggs under cranky broodies who decided it was time to hatch. Of course in all this chaos who knows what they're actually sitting on (I still have EEs and Wyandottes with my 'project' birds) So I will have to wait for them to grow up to find out if they are Alohas. Once they hatch. I am so impatient!.

Are you still planning on hatching out more Aloha crosses this summer? How did the other chicks hatch out - MaBo's chickies? Does he have an incubator to use? Has he done any more hatching since then? I know you guys were kind of waiting for the weather to perk up some . . . has it?

 

[alohachickens]

It's funny that my SSX seem to be the opposite of yours. I have several males that have plenty of spots all over, while the hens are only just beginning to spot up and they are more conservatively spotted at this point. Maybe that is going to change soon since they are only now spotting up. If it will stop raining tomorrow, I'll take some pics of my favorite SSX cockerels and hens and see what you think about them. I'm feeling pretty confident that I have a few really good SSX to choose from for the program.

I'm eager to see photos of your SSX males. Sounds like you may end up having the best-spotted Sussex of all of us. Those chicks will be a great boon! Hopefully we can get some eggs going both ways in the future, if Notinoz is willing as she visits family back and forth. We sure could use a dash of color on our Sussex crosses out here, it seems all the pure Sussex I've seen here in AZ have been kind of "blah".

But I do remember an Ebay auction about a year and a half ago, this person listed eggs by her pure Sussex, and OMG - even the ROOSTERS were covered in spots! I have never seen anything like it. Can you believe my 'bator was totally full, too? ARRRGH! How I would have loved to have picked up some of those! She was located in Missouri - maybe you got your stock from the same hatchery or something?

I saved a photo from the Ebay auction but I can't ever seem to find it on my computer . . . LOL.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Just so you know, if notinoz makes another trip here in June/July, I'll be ready for eggs again. Otherwise, I would be really serious about buying some of the last hatch chicks, please, if they haven't already been completely spoken for and if it won't be too hot there to ship at that time. Eggs or chicks -- not picky!

Way to go Derek! I know you're busy with that many chicks but would LOVE to see some pics.

I can't wait till mine get big enough to give me some hatching eggs. DH and I have started on the breeder pens now that we've got the SSX, et al, in the coop inside the electric fence. It's great to see them on grass. The Alohas are still in the brooder inside my craft room but it's time to get serious about moving them in another week or so. DH is taking off this Thurs and Fri and we're going to knock out a few breeder coops w/runs that will be tractored inside electric fencing. I'm thinking 6 breeder pens will be a good number to shoot for and then the coop will be used for the family layers and kid's bantams.

In my group of Buff Orps, I have one with yellow legs instead of white. Could this possibly be a Buff Rock? Either way, it sure was a happy little accident for me.

Loved the pics!

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Whoa, I was writing as you posted! I'll get some pics after I run pick up the girls from school! I'm so psyched about your birds because I've got some with similar coloring and size going. Missouri would probably be Cackle Hatchery. Mine came from McMurray and Mt. Healthy. Drats -- I'd seen some photos of Cackle's and thought they weren't white enough! You just never know. Gotta run -- I'll grab some pics when I get back.