The Aloha Chicken Project

[notinoz2007]

ahh, i cant stay out of the yard. too much work to do. but i did get some pictures finally. i had a little helper and i just couldnt resist getting my camera out.
this is him, i believe from pen 4, i expect him to lose some white, but who knows, he's about 8 weeks old.


this is petey. my strange little black and white that hatched from pen 4. the black is fading and a deep brown with light flecks is coming in. i believe she is going to be a pretty little hen, but dont know what she may offer the program.

and a cheeto baby hatched at the same time as pen 4. wonder what it will look like all grown up.


ok, now i have to show you my precious snickerdoodle. out of the 20-something alohas i hatched in december she is my favorite. i love everything about her, she's big, plump, great colors. i can even look past her pink legs. i am so glad i kept her and i plan to use her to help bring size to future generations. HOWEVER, she lays me a tiny egg. at first i thought her pullet eggs would get bigger but no such luck. i figure its "medium" according to grocery store standards. still, she's wonderful.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

notinoz,

your pretty birds!


I hate to follow that with bad news but here goes.

A stupid fox or some such thing went under my electric fence, got four birds and back out. It had to take the shock both ways! It must have been VERY hungry. Naturally, it got 3 Alohas, not the very best ones but it did take the biggest and smallest roo and one puffy cheeked hen. It got one of my most spotty speckled sussex hens, too. It's been so hot again that I couldn't stand the thought of shutting the coop doors at night, even though I have fans running inside. I had a breeder pen up on bricks so in case of an owl, the Alohas could escape. I saw tracks in the mud by the grounding stake that looked like smallish dog feet so that's why I thought it was a fox. It also dug up a chick that died recently, given to me from a friend and buried under a tree in the hen's yard. I have 14 ducks who share the big coop with all of my chickens, except the cornish, rocks, and one turkey. They were all in breeder pens. Tonight the Aloha hens and the best roos are in a breeder pen and all the other birds are in the coop with doors shut and fans on high. It just makes me sick. This is the very first time I didn't dash outside to check on them when the neighbor's dogs barked, which is almost every night. I made sure the fence was on and the current good and strong, so then I thought I would just prove to my neurotic self that I do not have to dash outside everytime the neighbor's dogs bark. I proved something, alright, but that wasn't it. Now, I want a LGD and am trying to figure out how to go about convincing DH we need another dependent. I'll need a miracle for that one. What a bummer.

 

[alohachickens]

Really interesting photos, Notinoz! I wonder if that top roo really is from Pen #4? That's very interesting if he is, because everything out of Pen 4 came out of PURE SUSSEX hens, and that top rooster does NOT look anything like a Sussex!

Part of the Pen 4 experiment was to take a light-mottled (but small) Aloha roo, cross him with big hens, and try to find out two things:

#1 - Do you get bigger chicks out of a big hen and small roo, than if you hatch out of small hens and big roo?

Notinoz, since you have some other chicks (the Cheeto chicks) that were hatched out of small hens x big rooster, you should be able to tell which works better. Maybe! We didn't have that many eggs hatch out of Pen 4 . . . so it may not be a large enough test group to get real answers.

#2 - If we cross a really light mottled rooster with pure Sussex hens, do any of the chicks end up lighter than a regular Sussex? Or do they stay dark?

So, if your top rooster is from Pen 4, the answer would be "yes, chicks out of Sussex can come out lighter, if you have a light enough rooster" - except, you have a nearly BLACK and white chick, which is probably a flukey weird throwback to the Exchequer leghorn way, way, way back in the Aloha lines! How bizarre.

Well, we may not get "real answers" at this point, without a larger test-group. But, still look like some awesome chicks! And I even like the dark one. Remember it's OK to have a few darker hens, she will have recessive light colors, and if you use a light enough rooster to pair with her, it will all be fine.

The half Aloha half Swedish are looking great over here. TONS OF WHITE. Will update with more pics soon!

Thanks for the photos, Notinoz. I'm really excited by this group!

ahh, i cant stay out of the yard. too much work to do. but i did get some pictures finally. i had a little helper and i just couldnt resist getting my camera out.
this is him, i believe from pen 4, i expect him to lose some white, but who knows, he's about 8 weeks old.


this is petey. my strange little black and white that hatched from pen 4. the black is fading and a deep brown with light flecks is coming in. i believe she is going to be a pretty little hen, but dont know what she may offer the program.

and a cheeto baby hatched at the same time as pen 4. wonder what it will look like all grown up.


ok, now i have to show you my precious snickerdoodle. out of the 20-something alohas i hatched in december she is my favorite. i love everything about her, she's big, plump, great colors. i can even look past her pink legs. i am so glad i kept her and i plan to use her to help bring size to future generations. HOWEVER, she lays me a tiny egg. at first i thought her pullet eggs would get bigger but no such luck. i figure its "medium" according to grocery store standards. still, she's wonderful.

 

[alohachickens]

ahh, i cant stay out of the yard. too much work to do. but i did get some pictures finally. i had a little helper and i just couldnt resist getting my camera out.
this is him, i believe from pen 4, i expect him to lose some white, but who knows, he's about 8 weeks old.

Just noticed the YELLOW LEGS! Liking this one more and more! Hope it keeps the white . . . . !!!!

 

[alohachickens]

notinoz,

your pretty birds!


I hate to follow that with bad news but here goes.

A stupid fox or some such thing went under my electric fence, got four birds and back out. It had to take the shock both ways! It must have been VERY hungry. Naturally, it got 3 Alohas, not the very best ones but it did take the biggest and smallest roo and one puffy cheeked hen. It got one of my most spotty speckled sussex hens, too.

ARGH! Don't you hate this???

It could have been way, way worse, however - so all things considered this is manageable. Let's just hope he doesn't come back for too much more.

Thank goodness I don't have to worry about most predators here, but my boyfriend's dog is bad if I don't keep a firm check on her. And like you, I hate seeing them cooped up in this heat! So I have been letting them free-range in the yard. The dog has been good for a really long time, so we went to a barbecue a few weeks ago at my family's house, and I forgot to shut the doggy door. Usually when I'm gone, I shut that just in case she gets any "ideas" while I'm gone. Came home to find a dead rooster in the yard. It was not the best rooster ever or anything, but it was one that I was going to grow out. Naturally, she couldn't kill any of the five cull roosters that I desperately need to get out of here!

But it could have been worse . . . the last two times my boyfriends' dog ate a chick, they were HENS. His dog usually only targets the youngsters, because they are so much more "flighty" than the adults and their quick movements spark something in her brain. The mature Alohas have learned that sudden movements attract predator attention. They will very slowly back away from her, and then they either duck under the horse trailer where she can't reach them, or they will fly up on an object where she can't reach them, and she quickly gives up. They never linger near his dog, even when she is resting. SMART birds, the Alohas!

Since I work from home, my boyfriend's dog knows I'm keeping an eye on her all day, but I still don't trust her at all when I leave! Unlike my Mini Aussies, who I highly recommend to keep watch over anyone's flock. The Aussies have been 100% trustworthy, even around chicks. My female has even helped "herd" escaped chicks back into my hands when they flap out of the brooder! LOL! (But, truth be told, the girl Aussie also is a reformed egg-thief .. . . crafty little doggie! She will now stay out of the coop, but eggs laid in the yard are fair game, she eats them shells and all, ha ha.) Neither Aussie has ever killed a chicken, adult or chick.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

I'm thinking about trying to convince DH to get a Great Pyr to guard my birdies. If a hungry fox will go under an electric fence to get my birds, then it's not all that useful. Maybe an electric fence and a Great Pyr together would do the trick, although, I'll have a heck of a time convincing DH of that.

 

[runsw/scissors]

Today I finally sorted the Roosters, and moved the culls into a separate pen. I just about drove myself barking mad trying to decide who to keep and who to cull.

So, here are the photos of the keepers and one of the culls.

^^^^^^^ is a cull. One of the smaller ones with pink/grey legs

 

[runsw/scissors]

Here are some of the keepers (by the way it was an even 4 to 4 in terms of who to keep and who was culled.)

So, here are the keepers!

Lovely size and a nice temperament.

Another

I adore this boy!

 

[runsw/scissors]

Her are some more



Only thing this guy is lacking is yellow legs

 

[alohachickens]

Runswscissors -

Interesting rooster pics! Top-top "keeper roo" looks very Sussex-ish, but wow, what a lovely amount of spotting on him! Way more than a "normal" Sussex. Nice long tail. Slightly lighter than Sussex. Not outrageously unique or anything, but certainly a well spotted rooster with a lot to offer.

Two in the middle . . . the third one down, with the most white, that is perched on the roost with one leg up, he's the most unique in terms of not being at all like a Sussex rooster, or even like a Swedish flower, so that's awesome! That's the unusual color that if we can get to full-size, would make people ask, "What breed IS that?"

Very bottom guy . . . must be out of Cheeto? I see a bit of vibrant yellow leg, which is great, but look at that sad little stubby tail! Poor Buff Rocks and NHR's! They totally lack the long tails. But, he does show a good bit of white for a Cheeto kid. I see speckles all over his chest. Not a TON of white . . . but it's there. The bottom roo could be used to give yellow legs to Sussex hens while keeping their size and spotting. Hopefully the Sussex blood would help overcome the stubby tails!