The Aloha Chicken Project

[Deerfield Acres]

Here is my first Swedish Flower. It hatched just yesterday, the only one of 13 pullet eggs. All the other eggs were infertile. The young lady from whom I bought the eggs said she wasn't yet sure on fertility and if there was any problem she would replace eggs for me. We've decided to wait until end of August or beginning of September. When I candled at 10 days and realized there was only one fertile egg, I snagged a handful of my own pullet eggs and put them in so this little one will have a bit of company in about 7 days or so. Fortunately, one of the eggs was from an EE that I loved dearly and lost to the heat. I am so hoping it will hatch. I had 2 Speck Sussex/Buff Orp eggs but I checked them last night and they were infertile as well. :-( Oh well.

But, how cute is this little one?

 

[runsw/scissors]

I have EGGS!! WooHoo!!!!

The girls are a layin'. I am so happy, can you tell?!

They are different colours. One looks pink and the other is a dark cream colour. I am soooo pleased!!

That is one cute chick Karen!

 

[Deerfield Acres]

I have EGGS!! WooHoo!!!!

The girls are a layin'. I am so happy, can you tell?!

They are different colours. One looks pink and the other is a dark cream colour. I am soooo pleased!!

That is one cute chick Karen!

WOW! That's just too awesome! CoNgRaTs!!!!!

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Here are updated pics of my Aloha boys; Ricky, Rigsby, Wu Shock, Beckham, Jaguar, and Backup Stan.

Ricky





Rigsby


Wu Shock

Beckham (spots are fading and he's darkening)

Jaguar

Backup Stan (looks much bigger in the photo than he is)

 

[knjinnm]

Here are updated pics of my Aloha boys; Ricky, Rigsby, Wu Shock, Beckham, Jaguar, and Backup Stan.

Ricky








Ricky is my pick. Six points on his comb looks great.

Since the switch-over I was not receiving postings so I re-registered. I missed any discussion concerning wattle size, tail and foot coloring. Does Ricky meet the standards?
Thanks,
Joe in 87008

Quote:

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Tails should be full and plumey, waddles should be large and in proportion to the large single comb, and legs should be yellow.

Do keep in mind that Ricky is only 16 weeks old and not a fully mature rooster. I'm not too worried about his waddles at this point because he may just be a bit slower to mature. It is also possible that he will maintain small waddles due to early Ameraucana or EE(?) influence, time will tell. His major strengths are his size and wild coloring. He isn't round at this point but will no doubt fill out more as time goes by. His weaknesses are puffy cheeks and white legs. So, he's not perfect but he is very beautiful and paired with New Hamps he should be able to produce some chicks without puff cheeks and with yellow legs of a very respectable size. The wild color will probably disappear in the first generation but should reappear when bred back to an Aloha/Swedish cross. He will also be very nice paired with some Sussex hens and then those offspring bred with Aloha/Swedish or Swedish to put the yellow legs in and puffy cheeks out. At any rate, I am very proud of this cockerel. He's a lovely bird.

I gave the bird named Beckham his name because he is really, really close to being a perfect Aloha, typewise. He is bigger than he appears in the pic, had lots of white spots when younger so carries lots of spots and would pass those on and has beautiful yellow legs. Beckham crossed with really spotty Sussex hens should yield some heavily spotted, nicely colored, yellow legged and beautifully rounded birds that lay well. I will also breed him to my Buff Orp. I lost my Buff Rock hen to a fox attack and am so bummed about that. Beckham is really my best cockerel for type and since he carries nice color he edges Ricky out just a bit.

Rigsby and Wu Shock are both incredibly beautiful birds but Rigsby is on the smaller side. Wu Shock, named for the Wichita State University Shockers mascot (i.e., shock of wheat) is a great size, has beautiful yellow legs, but he is barred and that's something we have to be very careful not to breed with a hen that is also barred or we could end up with dominate barring in the chicks. Rigsby is also barred so these two guys are beautiful but not as strong candidates for breeding.

Then Jaguar and Backup Stan. Jaguar has just beautiful coloring and I couldn't bear to part with him. He is smaller than all of the above cockerels but he is stunning to look at. He is also a very nice cockerel temperament wise. Backup Stan is backup for Beckham but is also smaller and has less color. These two are the least desirable of my cockerels but I'm keeping them just in case some crazy thing happens and my others disappear. I will no doubt cross Jaguar with my bantams because the kids love this cockerel and want some bantam chicks. Who knows, I may start some bantam Alohas?

Alohachickens, correct me where I'm wrong.

By the way all, we had 111 degrees today. I've lost a couple birds to heat but not any of the Alohas.

 

[notinoz2007]

pen 4 test group update - - - i can tell you that the size is going to be a bonus here, i know this because i can no longer tell my chicks apart, at 3-4 weeks difference. the pen 4 guys are growing faster, almost to the point of getting bigger than the random alohas i have. probably in 2 weeks i will know for sure if they are indeed going to be bigger. i didnt have leg bands pen 4 - and i wish i did. they are all housed together since i travel and its easier on my friends who chicken sit.. anyways. i have a few updated pics.






the top pic is a ginger hen, the other 2 are spotted cockerels. in my pen you can almost tell which ones will be roosters cuz they are spottier and prettier. poor hens... so brown, lol.
in other news, i recently traded for one of my previously culled aloha hens! it was wise to cull her because she was just brown, but she turned out amazingly large so i brought her back to improve size. any word on those SF roosters???

 

[Deerfield Acres]

notinoz, that's a really good sized hen. That's so exciting!

Mine are coming up on 18 weeks and some of the NH/AL crosses are bigger than the one Red Star hen I kept. One of them is so big I have trouble telling it apart from my two full NH hens with it's bright red comb. It has white legs and that's the only way I can identify it quickly. I'll try to get some pics of the girls today or tomorrow.

The Alohas are now fully integrated in with my Sussex flock. They sleep altogether in the hen house at night. Right now, we're experiencing a cold front -- temps are only in the 90's and it's actually really cool in the mornings. Crazy weather this year. Hope we have an early fall. It's cloudy and we can hear thunder but haven't gotten any rain. The drought here is pretty awful. We've had AZ temps most of the summer and it has made us very grateful we have a pool.

Once I realized my Swedish was going to be an only chick, I threw a few eggs in the bator so it would have some company and I could check fertility of my roos. I'm happy to say that I've hatched one full Sussex and one other SX/EE mixed chick from the SX roo.

 

[alohachickens]

the top pic is a ginger hen, the other 2 are spotted cockerels. in my pen you can almost tell which ones will be roosters cuz they are spottier and prettier. poor hens... so brown, lol.
in other news, i recently traded for one of my previously culled aloha hens! it was wise to cull her because she was just brown, but she turned out amazingly large so i brought her back to improve size. any word on those SF roosters???

This one is looking good! So much white! Such yellow legs!

 

[alohachickens]

Ricky and Rigsby are my favorites so far.

But Wu Shock and Beckam do have some nice yellow legs . . . I wonder which of the two will have the best size and body type when they fill out??? Both look equally nice at this point!

Here are updated pics of my Aloha boys; Ricky, Rigsby, Wu Shock, Beckham, Jaguar, and Backup Stan.

Ricky





Rigsby


Wu Shock

Beckham (spots are fading and he's darkening)