The Aloha Chicken Project

[alohachickens]

Derek stopped by today to pick up more eggs and he's been hit HARD with predators lately! Going to run out there tomorrow with Stephen, and see if we can pick out some nice hens so we can split up the hatch - the more good ones we divide between all of our homes, the better off we'll be if an illness or predator hits any one of our homes. I wish we had even more homes for the good ones!

Will take lots of pics and keep y'all updated!

 

[alohachickens]

I took some photos of the three Cheeto sons that have lost their white. Here are the BABY PHOTOS:



The first had the MOST white as a youngster. Unfortunately, he was also the smallest. Keep in mind as you view these photos, all of these roos are the SAME AGE.

This is him today. He still has the most white - which is to say, NOT MUCH. Ha ha ha! Still the smallest, and the worst in body type. Looks like he'll be culled, which is why I wanted to document him before he goes.



Here are the other two. The one in the foreground clearly has the best Aloha body type. Stout, round, large comb.



Side view - FAULTS - Tail way too short, not nearly enough white!

But if crossed to Sussex/Aloha hens, with long tails and plenty of white, we may be able to fix these flaws in the next generation. He would bring yellow legs, redder color to both pure Sussex and to Aloha x Sussex crosses.

The other rooster is TALLER but not as "plump" looking:



Smaller comb. But look at the size of those yellow legs! I am wondering if he is just being slow to mature. So it looks like I may keep these two another month or so, to see if this second rooster, who offers lighter color and taller size, can grow into the type seen on his brother?

Or, do we just go with the brother? Because from a purely practical "farm sense" the stout rooster is the one that is most ready to eat today. Since the Aloha is supposed to be a dual purpose breed, an early maturing rooster is a good thing.

Oh, but if we're comparing them to Swedish, that's another story. The Swedish roosters were pretty slow to mature. My Swedish rooster finally "came of age" physically, but he still mentally does not act like a rooster should. And he's about 8 months old right now! He's not directing the females or "dancing" for them or anything. Or baiting them to come closer by discovering treats, ha ha. He's acting like a punk teenager at this point, so the smaller Aloha rooster is still dominant. The Swedish just charges after the hens with zero finesse. Anyway, it took FOREVER for him to stop looking so gangly and awkward, so on the flip side, having Alohas that are slower to mature would not make them any less practical than pure Swedish.

Here are current photos of my PURE Swedish rooster, who will be penned with small pure Aloha hens this fall. He's a total sweetie and lets me pick him up and cuddle him! Kind of clueless with the ladies, though. Ha ha! Isn't he pretty?


Swedish Roo that will be crossed with pure Aloha hens this fall

 

[alohachickens]

Just another note . . . if you look at the photos of the young rooster, I have the pic of rooster #2 right above an adult pure Swedish Flower. The body of rooster #2 is nearly identical in shape, height, and size to the Swedish below him. But he needs the larger comb and longer tail. The body frame, and legs, and overall "look" of the two are pretty similar, though.

The more stout, compact deep red rooster takes after the New Hampshire Red bloodlines in his pedigree. (They are 1/8 New Hampshire Red.) The comb and face on the red rooster is much more similar to the Swedish Flower rooster.

I still have the dad, Cheeto, so it will be possible to use him again this coming year, and try for better. I may cross Cheeto with the half-Swedish half-Aloha hen chicks in the future. (Resulting chicks from that cross would be 1/4 Buff Rock, 1/8 NHR, 1/4 Swedish, and a little less than half Aloha.)

This is photo of their dad, Cheeto:


Cheeto is 1/2 Buff Rock, 1/4 NHR, and 1/4 Aloha.

Cheeto's body type is very different from a pure Swedish Flower. The Alohas should lean a bit more to this round, plump body seen on our heritage dual-purpose American breeds. But Cheeto is pretty extreme! LOL! He's a chunk!

 

[alohachickens]

Photos of the half-Swedish Flower, half Aloha chicks!







There looks to be an actual big, yellow-legged Ginger Girl in there!!!!



She was really shy, though, so it was nearly impossible to get a good photo of her. Her personality is pure Aloha.



This one is so huge, I wonder if it's a pure Swedish? Geez, look at those giant legs. I did have the Swedish hen in there. However, this fall, I'll have the pure Swedish hen in a different pen. So this fall there won't be any confusion, there will only be half Swedish.

Here is the pure Swedish rooster that I kept, to cross with Alohas this fall:



The Swedish rooster will only be paired with small Aloha hens at first. Mostly the Confetti and Ginger hens. Hoping that Swedish Dad would bring size and yellow legs, but maybe Moms can give the chicks exciting new colors not seen in pure Swedish. That's the plan, anyway!

Lots more photos of the chicks on my Blog:

http://alohachickens.blogspot.com/

 

[Deerfield Acres]

LoVE the chick pics!

This heat has been the pits but we haven't lost even one bird so far. No relief in sight but I've got wading pools installed now that the birds will actually use, the misters are misting, the birds have plenty of shade and we've had a very nice breeze going, so that has helped immensely. Of course, this is Kansas. When do we not have a nice breeze or a gale blowing across the plains? We're not called the people of the southwind for nothing!

We are still icing their water twice a day also and that seems to keep them drinking and eating. I clipped wings yesterday in an attempt to keep all birds inside the electric fence. It was very cute watching them try out their shortened feathers. I wanted them to be able to move around more since it's so hot, so I've raised the breeder pens on bricks so they can come and go, if they need to. That's worked out great, but they're still really good flyers even with one side clipped. None of them are flying out of the fence anymore but they regularly show me they could very well make it to the top of the breeder pen. With the fence on, they're pretty reluctant to try to make it over now, so I think we're good. We put them back in their pens at night with the pens back down on the ground, so they're safe from any predators.

TOMORROW I go pick up my Swedish Flower hatching eggs!!!! I'm so excited. So, I had that little road trip already scheduled and now I got a message from another Kansan who has some lav orps for me to pick up too. So, that will be interesting. I sure hope I manage at least one pullet out of that bunch, I already have a cockerel who is about 4 weeks old.

 

[15littlem]

Here in Tennessee, we have had a severe drought for a couple weeks. People's cow and livestock ponds have dried up, crops have died, and food and water is hard to find. I have been watching my flock very carefully in case of starvation or dehydration. Keep your fingers crossed for rain!

 

[15littlem]

Also, how much would it cost to get some of your SFH X Aloha eggs shipped to Tennessee?

 

[runsw/scissors]

Eggs aren't generally shipped, due to problems hatching them... Normally day olds are shipped. Chime in anyone, if I'm mistaken! Right now due to the heat Sommer's hens aren't laying well, and mine aren't quite laying yet, (but they're getting close!

). So, you may have to wait a bit.

Hopefully your weather calms down and ya'll get the rain you so desperately need!

 

[alohachickens]

Eggs aren't generally shipped, due to problems hatching them... Normally day olds are shipped. Chime in anyone, if I'm mistaken! Right now due to the heat Sommer's hens aren't laying well, and mine aren't quite laying yet, (but they're getting close!

). So, you may have to wait a bit.

Hopefully your weather calms down and ya'll get the rain you so desperately need!

Yeah, that!

I've had horrible, horrible luck getting people started with eggs. One gal who lived only one state over in CA, I decided to give it one more shot this spring. Sent her 40+ eggs, and NOTHING hatched! Maybe I just do a lousy job packing them? If I try it again, I'm going to invest in these foam "egg shippers" that one outfit was selling online:

http://southernfarmhatchery.com/Egg-Shipping-Foam.php

See if those make any difference . . . . ???? Maybe the results are so dismal because I pack them really poorly?

But, the good news, is so far I've shipped two batches of Live chicks, and it all went GREAT! It was WAY easier than I thought! And out of two batches, ALL the babies arrived safe! YAY!

So that's the direction I'll be headed, really focusing on shipped babies. I think I'd only consider trying eggs again if someone FIRST sets up a starter pen of hens. Like, if someone orders 25 Speckled Sussex, NHR, Buff Rock, or gets going first with some Swedish Flower crosses, and gets a nice "base" of hens, then we'll try the foam shippers. That way, if they only hatch out two roosters out of 18 eggs (because isn't that the way it normally goes with shipped eggs? ha ha!) then they will still have a way to get started.

The problem with shipped eggs, was a few folks managed to hatch out two or four chicks, but that really wasn't enough of a selection to pick out the best and start an Aloha program. If our program was breeding 100% true, that might have worked, but right now only about half your chicks will be nice, so you need a nice batch to choose the best from!

Derek offered to loan me one of his (several) big cabinet incubators! That means starting this fall, I should be able to ship out at least one batch of Live baby chicks per week. Whoohooo!!!

In the meantime, I'm only getting two to four eggs per day (out of 15 adult hens) and we won't be able to ship (due to heat) probably until mid or late September? They like the night temps to be about 75 degrees. (Right now, we're pushing 90 overnight!) The good news is that in Phoenix, the Post Office ships out their Live animals always at night. Keeps them from getting overheated.

 

[alohachickens]

LoVE the chick pics!

This heat has been the pits but we haven't lost even one bird so far. No relief in sight but I've got wading pools installed now that the birds will actually use,

TOMORROW I go pick up my Swedish Flower hatching eggs!!!! I'm so excited.

That's awesome, Karen! Alohas are "built" for the heat, but like any chicken, if you don't provide them with the stuff they need to escape the heat, (total shade, good air flow and unlimited water) they will stroke and die. How did you convince them to actually use the wading pools?

WOW, I am SO EXCITED about your Swedish Flower eggs! And your stock out there in general, Karen. You are looking to have a kick-butt flock going in about one year. It will certainly rival what I have here, if everything goes well. All the "ingredients" are there . . . good Sussex, good other outcross breeds, and now Swedish too? Awesome!!!