The Aloha Chicken Project

[alohachickens]

I would be delighted to share roos and possibly ladies, of course eggs are no brainers!, with MaBo and Tam'ra... Depending on what I hatch perhaps send out chicks later; perhaps next year?

Anywho! I have some nice looking roos that I don't think I'll be able to use, if anyone wants to trade.

You should post photos of the extra roos here and also on any local boards! (In the "Where are you?" or state/region threads.) Just in case we can recruit another new Aloha fan?

18 Swedish Flower crosses, and counting!

The Swedish x Aloha crosses keep coming . . . most look like regular Alohas now that they are drying out. But some have white wing-tips! That's new!

One chick a MONSTER. Just huge! The most adorable, pudgy, fat-bellied puff ball you've ever seen. But unfortunately, looks really really dark in color. Sure hope it's a hen, we can still use a dark hen as a breeder if she is big enough and carries red colors behind her. (Which she surely does.) No doubt the dark color is from the Swedish lines.

Will post photos when this first group finishes. One is drying and two are trying to hatch out today. The rest of the eggs (about 15 eggs) could pop more chicks out at any time in the next week. I sure hope I get more! 25 or better usually gets me at least a couple of keeper peepers!

 

[runsw/scissors]

Well, this is one of the gentlemen:

I think he may have too much white.

What do any of you think?

 

[15littlem]

He would probably be too white for breeding, as white will become the dominant color in his breeding lines. He looks like a beautiful Aloha, but there is just too much white. If you really wanted to breed him, you would need to breed with a solid hen (Buff Orpington, RIR, Welsummer, Buff Rock) This might dilute his white enough so that those chicks could be used for breeding.

 

[alohachickens]

In the past I've culled roos with that much white, but I'm actually going to hang onto one with almost that much white (he's got a bit less white and a bit more color, but not too far off:



You can see the colored areas are really light. He's like a male version of a Ginger hen but with even more white. I really want more of the GInger color on a big chicken. His size and body type are terrible, though!

I may try and cross him with my two pure Buff Rock hens, (and maybe with some of the Aloha/Welsummer crosses if I can get any of those from Derek?) I'm also wondering what a rooster like that would do when crossed with a Sussex or Sussex/Aloha cross. Out of four Sussex/Aloha cross hens over here, only one hen has really "flashy" white - the rest just have small dots on a mostly dark background.

So I'll keep the little guy for a while, do at least one good test breeding and see what I get! I wonder if he'd increase the white speckling on the hens or if it would just be either/or. Like, would you get either chicks with excessive white, like Dad, or with too little white, like mom, or could the chicks "blend" the two traits and make a "just right" Aloha? HMMMM!!!

The questions only test-breeding can find out, ha ha ha! Oh, how I need more breeder pens so I can try all these combinations!

 

[alohachickens]

Here are pics of the Swedish x Aloha cross babies!

 

[alohachickens]

So, my best baby hen from this recent group of about 30 chicks I hatched, has passed. These are the ones that remain from that batch, to be retained for breeding:

Two small Ginger-hens. No improvement of size or type. Good color. Will simply be younger replacement hens, until I can get something better in this color with improved size and type. I especially like the color on the lighter of the two. Legs are now white/pink, versus gray legs on the adult Ginger hens from last generation.



Two orange/mille hens. One has white/pink legs:



This one has yellow legs and less black flecks:



This photo shows her YELLOW legs better:



Improved body type and better size, but will still be small overall. They may lose spotting if they are Cheeto's babies, but we don't know since so far I've only grown out his sons.

I also have two hatchery PURE BUFF ROCKS for breeding next season:

(Not an Aloha.)

Next, what I suspect is the brother of the lovely hen that I lost. He's gorgeous!



But his brother is also nice, just as good in body type, more red color but less white. He's seen behind the mostly-white rooster:



So from this batch, I have six hens that could be used in the program. Two pure Buff Rocks, two Ginger hens (one showing better color, one slightly darker) and two orange/mottled hens, with one showing yellow legs. I also have three potential roosters.

Tomorrow we'll be going to Derek's and at that point I'm sure I will find lots of other interesting stuff! With about 250 chicks to choose from, could find even better stock over there. So the breeding pen for next year is still very much up in the air! Plus, Stephen is still growing out 50-60 Aloha chicks of his own, plus add the 20 half-Swedish chicks to the mix and who knows how it will shake out for the fall's breeding pens???

Wow, I just did the math, and between Derek, Stephen, and I, we will be picking out the best Alohas from about 350 total chicks raised this year.

I'm guessing that between all of us, we'll be keeping maybe the top 50-60 birds and culling the rest.

 

[alohachickens]

Here is an update on Cheeto's kids:



The three roosters are so different! All are losing white rapidly. The biggest by far is still a gangly mess. Has the shortest tail but the best height and vibrant yellow legs. He's tall but not thick:



Smallest has the most color still and bright yellow legs, but is not going to be much of a size improvement, I think?

Third is showing the best body type, in terms of being more "round" or compact:



He also shows a nice tail. Of course I couldn't get all the traits I wanted in one rooster, ha ha. I wish the tall one had the most white plus the longest tail, but that's not how it worked!

Cheeto's daughters are looking OK. They are good round type, (not gamey) but so far, they really are not showing a huge size improvement. Not like "Nui" the half-Sussex hen who is HUGE compared to her sisters. Thus far, the Cheeto kids are not a total bust, but kind of hit or miss. He is not the "slam dunk" size/type improver that I'd hoped he would be.

However, here is one of his sons that I gave away! He now lives next door and is maybe 8 months old? He was an awkward mess, for the longest time, but he's starting to fill out. Now he looks kind of promising! It may be the Buff Rock lines are somewhat slow to mature. (The Swedish roosters also have been slow to mature.)

Here he is:





His size: Larger than Flash, my head Aloha rooster. Flash is on the tall end for an Aloha because Flash is 1/4 NHR. But still smaller than a pure Swedish Flower rooster.

I would love to cross him with my pure Swedish Flower hen, however. Or even Swedish/Aloha cross hens might work. Could that finally get us full-size BIG Confetti colored Aloha hens, I wonder???

The problem: Heat is on, and my hens are barely laying. Most days I'm getting only two eggs from about 14 hens now. It's too risky to even hatch chicks unless I can keep them in Stephen's cooled aviary or something. And that's IF there were even enough eggs to hatch? So, this rooster, and my Swedish hen, must both survive the brutal AZ summer and make it until September when I could borrow him back from the neighbor and set up a breeding pen. Keep your fingers crossed . . . . three months to go . . . .

 

[draye]

Quote: I'd definiately borrow him back to get some babies. He's a very handsome rooster. Shame you got rid of him, but sometimes you never know.

 

[runsw/scissors]

OMG! He is stunning... I can really sympathise tho, since inevitably I give away the of the bunch.

 

[alohachickens]

I'd definiately borrow him back to get some babies. He's a very handsome rooster. Shame you got rid of him, but sometimes you never know.

I only culled him because with this color, it can go dominant when bred to another one of his color, so he would have to be kept away from my Confetti hens. Otherwise 25% of the offspring would be dominant for Barring. Since I didn't want to get rid of my Confetti hens and you can only cross one Barred with a non-barred, I put him next door! I'd love to either borrow him back or give the neighbor more non-barred hens that would work well with him . . .

This neighbor has done a great job of keeping these chickens so far, but in the last week some have started to escape his yard . . . this is not one of the "wanderers" thank goodness, so far. Actually, the home owner has been gone, but he has trainers work with his horses. When he gets back I'm going to ask if he'll let me cull the other roosters and just keep this guy, as I suspect part of the "wandering" is because there are only three hens but about six roosters over there! If we culled down to just this guy and some hens, they would probably stay over there.