The Aloha Chicken Project

[alohachickens]

Thanks so much for the input Sommer! Great idea using different hatcheries as well.

Chicken shopping will have to wait until I get paid next month.

Hey Runsw/scissors -

If you do get a chance to order any chicks, please check with Ideal and see if they can ship that far north?

A long time ago, I saw pics on BYC of someone's flock of pure Sussex they had ordered from Ideal. A few of them looked like amazing candidates for the Aloha program. Tons of white. Of course that was back in 2009 that the person took that photo, but eh, it was still a shred of hope?

I checked the Ideal web site, however, and it says the Sussex are "sold out until July". And then it says they only ship Sussex from Feb-July? But it does not say "Sold Out Until 2013" like it does on some of the other breeds. So maybe they have one more week in July to sell and ship Sussex? Don't know, I haven't called them yet!

All I know is, just as we can't ship chicks out of Phoenix right now, we also can't have them shipped in during this heat. So, if you have a shot at ordering some new chicks, it would be really cool if you would consider Ideal. (I'd recommend either all Sussex and pick out the most spotty. Or a split order of 5 NHR, 5 Buff Rock, and 15 Sussex, so you could pick out the best maybe 3-4 Sussex hens with the most white to use in the Aloha program.) The less-white Sussex hens could be sold on your local Craigslist or whatever.

You wouldn't need all 5 Buff Rocks, or all 5 NHR, either. Probably just 2-3 of each of those? But the minimum order from hatcheries is usually 5 of each breed! (So even if you wanted just one hen of five different breeds, you'd still have to order 25 chicks.)

Anyway, keep Ideal in mind if you can order chicks this month. Otherwise I'll go with Cackle in MO if they will ship Sussex in the fall, because another BYC'er told me they had some from Cackle that showed a lot of white. If neither will ship in the fall, I guess I'll be stuck waiting until next Feb! Argh.

I really want to try this thing where you raise a big batch of Sussex and pick out the most spotty ones from several hatcheries. I know for sure the extra "less-spotty" hens would sell in a flash in my neighborhood, so no worries there!

All I know is it's going to be really, really tough to find some "overly spotted" Sussex by picking through random hatchery chicks . . . unless we get lucky and find a BYC'er who has an exceptionally spotty flock or something???

 

[Deerfield Acres]

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!!!

Thanks Sommer! I am really excited about my birds too! This fall I will be hatching the first of my crosses from the SX/BO/LO/BR/NH and Alohas. Then, once the Swedish Flowers mature, well, it's just so exciting to think about!

I put two separate wading pools in two different areas of the electric fenced area that is in almost complete shade. The big birds tend to congregate at one end and the Alohas at the other, thus, two separate pools. I'll have to take some pics tomorrow so you can see what I mean but we used bricks to make steps up to the edge of the pool and the edge rests on bricks so it doesn't flex when they land on it. Then, we covered the bottom of the wading pool with bricks and wedged a log in there to make it maybe look more interesting for chickens. None of the chickens liked the plastic bottom but with the bricks in there they feel much more inclined to go ahead and step in. The water comes just over the bricks by a couple inches at most and then I threw in some very small elm twigs with leaves on them that they like to eat. Success! I'm so thrilled to have enticed them at last. I have a cobra mister nearby each pool but not misting over the water because that was just too scary for them. They enjoy the misters during the worst of the afternoon heat. They love the ice in their waterers also. They come running when they see the cups of ice being carried out in one of those plastic storage cube things.

I had a great 4th, running all over the state collecting hatching eggs (the Swedish Flowers) and some really large English-type lav orp chicks from a different bloodline to go with the one lone lav roo I already have. I seriously left at 10 a.m. and got home right before 8 p.m. this evening. I sold and delivered my excess sussex, and gave away my excess buff orps and red stars today, so I subtracted birds by 14 or 15. But then, the lady who got those birds gave me some Welsummer chicks and a couple seramas for the kids, and then I picked up 4 lav orps, so I actually came out lighter by only 8 or 9 birds, until you figure in the 14 hatching eggs. Chicken math is fascinating. Anyway, the lovely lady who gave me the Welsummers thinks they are all males so we'll see. It will be interesting to see how they turn out, they're only about a week old. DH cooked out with the kids and they swam all day and wore themselves out. We were going to have a night swim and watch fireworks from the pool but the kids decided they were too tired. I desperately needed a break from being mom and DH was so kind to take over while I indulged my obsession. I'll have eggs in the bator tomorrow! It was a great 4th for a crazy chicken lady!

Happy 4th everybody!

 

[15littlem]

Have you ever thought of adding Langshans into the mix? You might need to breed the Feathered feet out, but that might give you the size that you need.

 

[alohachickens]

Have you ever thought of adding Langshans into the mix? You might need to breed the Feathered feet out, but that might give you the size that you need.

Lovely large birds, but the black color will completely dominate. You'd end up with very large, black and white mottled chickens within a couple of generations. In other words, when crossed with Alohas, you'd quickly end up with what looks like Mottled Javas. LOL!

The dark colors are extremely dominant and hard to breed out. Bright Red is hard to get, and light buff, even harder! Early on I used some Exchequer Leghorns, which are black and white, and out of every 20 or so chicks that were black and white, I'd get one that was a little lighter - and it was more like a dark brown and white color. LOL!

That's why we've been looking at the larger buff or red breeds. Welsummer have a good body type, and their tails are very long, though even their dark color is going to be a serious challenge to overcome. Though maybe crossed with NHR and Buff Rock lines, hopefully we can lighten them up over time???

 

[alohachickens]

Thanks Sommer! I am really excited about my birds too! This fall I will be hatching the first of my crosses from the SX/BO/LO/BR/NH and Alohas. Then, once the Swedish Flowers mature, well, it's just so exciting to think about!
.

I had a great 4th, running all over the state collecting hatching eggs (the Swedish Flowers) and some really large English-type lav orp chicks from a different bloodline to go with the one lone lav roo I already have. I seriously left at 10 a.m. and got home right before 8 p.m. this evening. I sold and delivered my excess sussex, and gave away my excess buff orps and red stars today, so I subtracted birds by 14 or 15. But then, the lady who got those birds gave me some Welsummer chicks and a couple seramas for the kids, and then I picked up 4 lav orps, so I actually came out lighter by only 8 or 9 birds, until you figure in the 14 hatching eggs. Chicken math is fascinating. Anyway, the lovely lady who gave me the Welsummers thinks they are all males so we'll see. It will be interesting to see how they turn out, they're only about a week old.

Happy 4th everybody!

All kinds of fun stuff!

Oh, and chicken math - that is interesting, huh? Just wait until you start hatching! LOL!

I'm still struggling with too many roosters over here. I see potential in several. Looks like I'll be keeping the Swedish roo in the main pen, and I may try penning Flame (the dominant Aloha) in the side pen with four younger potential roosters. Hopefully, with no hens in there, they will get along?

Generally Flame is a sweetie, but I've never tortured him by sticking him in a bachelor's pen! LOL! But, I have three sons of Cheeto. Two had spots that faded out. One never had white at all, but looks like he may end up being just HUGE with yellow legs. If this third boy turns out bigger than the other two Cheeto chicks, I may use him with colorful small hens to improve body type. But he'd have to be the biggest and he'd have to grow a decent tail. If I let a "solid" rooster stay in the flock, he better have a LOT to offer the program. The only way to know for sure if he will be "the best" is to grow him out, too! Plus I have a very spotty but smaller roo in there, too. So that's four new roos that need to be grown out, plus Flame.

My boyfriend has agreed to help me re-design the pens this fall. I have to come up with money for materials, though. If it works, however, instead of one giant pen and one smaller pen, I'd have four equal breeder pens that could house up to 12 chickens each. Two or three would be full-time breeder pens, the others would be used for raising chicks or housing excess stock. (Like extra roosters to swap out in the pens periodically.)

 

[alohachickens]

I just went out to the pen to look at the big "solid" boy of Cheeto's. Not only is his tail looking decent, I think I see a spot of white on a wing feather! That means he would "for sure" be a carrier of the Mottled gene, even if he doesn't really show it. He could work well with pure Sussex for making basically Sussex with yellow legs and zero size reduction.

Or, because he does not have any Swedish blood, he could work well with the half-Swedish chicks show lots of white spotting, but inherited the pink legs. He could keep size up while adding yellow legs. His type really does look awesome so far. Will have to see how he develops! I'll take a photo next time I get new pics of the half-Swedish chicks.

I want to take pics of the Swedish chicks again, as soon as their heads feather out. Should be about a week at this point!

 

[15littlem]

Ever thought of crossing a Pumpkin Hulsey with your Aloha's to get a great tail, great body, and great coloration? It even has yellow legs!

 

[runsw/scissors]

We have been having temps in the 80's to low 90's here, it is summer after all

, and the alohas have sailed through our hot afternoons with flying colours! I am really impressed! My other flock has been showing some signs of heat stress, whereas these colourful birds have done remarkably well!

The males have begun to seduce the ladies with ummm, persistent determination, shall we say? The girls are beginning to pink up in the face rather nicely. Maybe soon I will start seeing eggs, hopefully in another month or so.

 

[alohachickens]

Can't wait to see your flock start laying soon!!!

 

[notinoz2007]

we spent the weekend down in tucson and to make things easier for our chicken sitters i had them all in one pen. fortunately they get along great so there were no issues. i have all different ages, with pen 4 chicks being the youngest/smallest. 5 days later i come home and everyone looks the same!! the same size, the same color - that can be explained by the misters being left on too long and the run turning into a big muddy mess. they all look like mud, lol. but wow, i had no idea those babies would sprout up. so now, with the run drying out and the chicks preening the mud off i just have to spend some time and get the pen 4 guys figured out. i already found 3, and have 3 more to go, LOL. amazing.
i have been wanting to get pictures for you sommer, but probably wont any time soon. this heat wave is making me sick, i barely had time to feed the flock before i had to lay down from nausea. i'm just glad i'm home and can care for them as only i know how. now if only the weather would cooperate...