The Calico/Aloha/Mottled Naked Neck Thread

[draye]

Thought you guys might appreciate this. Picked this little lady up from the new batch of pullets my workplace got in yesterday. 8 weeks old pullet from hatchery lines. Never seen one like this come through before.

Very interesting. Know which hatchery?

 

[QueenMisha]

Very interesting. Know which hatchery?

Not off the top of my head but I'll ask my boss when I get to work today. I think it may have been either Ideal or Belt...

 

[alohachickens]

Very interesting. Know which hatchery?

Awesome! I know they do exist - saw an Ebay auction for black and white Mottled NN eggs a couple years ago.

 

[alohachickens]

So I raised about 20 NN Aloha chicks and these are the three I'm keeping to grow out. Why so few? Because I have also kept the best 4 adult hens, space is limited, and there is more demand for the "regular" feathered neck Alohas than the Turken types. So I was super selective and kept only the few with the most white AND the yellow legs that I love!

However I did pick out a flock of the "next best" and gave them to my friend in Tucson. She got ones that were awesome but maybe had pink legs or ones that were super big and had yellow legs but not quite as much white. She already has a few really nice hens. So looks like next Fall there will be a complete breeding flock of these in Tucson and I want to teach her how to ship eggs to people.

I gave some of these hens to Debi in Tucson:





I also gave her this cool rooster who had fascinating color but was too dark and had pink legs - not what I'm going for in Alohas so he went to her:



Thought he would provide nice contrast to the mostly lighter colored Mottled hens. Will keep y'all updated when they are mature. Don't think it will be until October - I think these guys were hatched in February? And the heat is going to render anything sterile so likely October before we could even think of shipping eggs to people. But maybe - someday this fall it could happen?

 

[alohachickens]

My own NN breeding flock next Fall would still include these older hens that I held back - assuming the summer heat doesn't kill them which sadly is something you have to consider in Phoenix.







And here again are the two new girls who of course will change a lot in the months to come:





And this would be their boyfriend who also carries Dun in place of Blue - and will change a lot as he matures!


So anyway - five hens and one boy. Plus whatever is going on next door with the chicks I gave my neighbor. Gave them a ton of babies but they tend to have heavy losses, so even though they got 30-40 spotted NN's the best we could hope for to survive the next 6 months? I'd be thrilled if she had 5-10 hens survive to next Fall. It's survival of the fittest there. Which is why I was so impressed with their NN hen who *started* this whole line because she didn't just survive the chicken-eating dogs and the stompy 3 stallions - she thrived! (It's total free range next door.)

 

[draye]

My own NN breeding flock next Fall would still include these older hens that I held back - assuming the summer heat doesn't kill them which sadly is something you have to consider in Phoenix. And here again are the two new girls who of course will change a lot in the months to come: And this would be their boyfriend who also carries Dun in place of Blue - and will change a lot as he matures! So anyway - five hens and one boy. Plus whatever is going on next door with the chicks I gave my neighbor. Gave them a ton of babies but they tend to have heavy losses, so even though they got 30-40 spotted NN's the best we could hope for to survive the next 6 months? I'd be thrilled if she had 5-10 hens survive to next Fall. It's survival of the fittest there. Which is why I was so impressed with their NN hen who *started* this whole line because she didn't just survive the chicken-eating dogs and the stompy 3 stallions - she thrived! (It's total free range next door.)

So I raised about 20 NN Aloha chicks and these are the three I'm keeping to grow out. Why so few? Because I have also kept the best 4 adult hens, space is limited, and there is more demand for the "regular" feathered neck Alohas than the Turken types. So I was super selective and kept only the few with the most white AND the yellow legs that I love! However I did pick out a flock of the "next best" and gave them to my friend in Tucson. She got ones that were awesome but maybe had pink legs or ones that were super big and had yellow legs but not quite as much white. She already has a few really nice hens. So looks like next Fall there will be a complete breeding flock of these in Tucson and I want to teach her how to ship eggs to people. I gave some of these hens to Debi in Tucson: I also gave her this cool rooster who had fascinating color but was too dark and had pink legs - not what I'm going for in Alohas so he went to her: Thought he would provide nice contrast to the mostly lighter colored Mottled hens. Will keep y'all updated when they are mature. Don't think it will be until October - I think these guys were hatched in February? And the heat is going to render anything sterile so likely October before we could even think of shipping eggs to people. But maybe - someday this fall it could happen?

Thanks for the update. You have a nice looking flock of NN there. The ones that went to Debi in Tucson aren't shabby either. I just went through my last hatch a few minutes ago. I got a little more selective on whT I'm keeping also. I'll post some icy urea on a little bit.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

So I raised about 20 NN Aloha chicks and these are the three I'm keeping to grow out. Why so few? Because I have also kept the best 4 adult hens, space is limited, and there is more demand for the "regular" feathered neck Alohas than the Turken types. So I was super selective and kept only the few with the most white AND the yellow legs that I love!

However I did pick out a flock of the "next best" and gave them to my friend in Tucson. She got ones that were awesome but maybe had pink legs or ones that were super big and had yellow legs but not quite as much white. She already has a few really nice hens. So looks like next Fall there will be a complete breeding flock of these in Tucson and I want to teach her how to ship eggs to people.

I gave some of these hens to Debi in Tucson:





I also gave her this cool rooster who had fascinating color but was too dark and had pink legs - not what I'm going for in Alohas so he went to her:



Thought he would provide nice contrast to the mostly lighter colored Mottled hens. Will keep y'all updated when they are mature. Don't think it will be until October - I think these guys were hatched in February? And the heat is going to render anything sterile so likely October before we could even think of shipping eggs to people. But maybe - someday this fall it could happen?

I'm so glad you're keeping the Aloha NNs going as well (I know you weren't sure at first). My little ones won't sit still long enough for me to get good pics, but they look great to me, and look a lot like yours. Alas, there are 5 boys and 2 girls, and I probably have room for one boy MAX (maybe not even that). I have some hard choices ahead. It would be nice to know I could maybe get some more eggs from you next year if I needed to.

Since I really need to get my numbers of chickens down to something more manageable, I need to cut down on the number of families/breeding groups. That being said, option #1 is to keep a trio of Aloha NNs, including Rocky (the larger more SS looking boy that appears to have different parentage than Grace and Greta). The other boys look great, and I hate it, but I'm just not figuring out how to keep them... Option #2 (also seriously considering) is to only keep Grace and Greta, and cull all the boys. Then Grace and Greta would go live with Tank (the black tailed red NN boy who is with the spotty Speckled Sussex) - I would cull the not-as-spotty SS girls that I don't want to breed from, and Grace and Greta would then enter that little flock. That would "slow down" the Aloha NN progress (not keeping an Aloha NN rooster), but would mean I only need to maintain one flock for that project - and Tank is an EXCELLENT rooster. (I will also have at least four other flocks led by different roosters, at least for the next year or two, so this is something to consider.) I haven't had a lot of success keeping cockerels (solo or in groups) that don't have pullets of their own (though I suppose I could try again...)

- Ant Farm

 

[draye]

This is a cockerel that I'm keeping to raise up. He is by my Spangled Aloha rooster out of a Red NN hen. There were three so any of them could be mama.

Edit: handled this bird late yesterday afternoon showing him off. As I was putting him back into the brooder he flew out of my hand right smack into the wall. It nearly totally killed him. I checked him out this morning and he couldn't open his eyes, so I had to put him out of his misery. So I'll have to wait for a replacement later. 4/16/2016.
@alohachickens

Two pullets from the Aloha rooster. These two are out of one of two Barred NN hens in the run. I'm keeping these just because I want to see how the sex link pullets turn out, and because there were no pullets from the red hens. Ain't that something?

There were 4 cockerels from the Red Mottled NN rooster over the Mottled Partridge. Yes there was one that come out looking more Calico and three that were Mottled Partridge. All were fairly good so I decided to keep them all to watch and decide which will be the best one to keep. One of them I am undecided of a pullet or cockerel.

These two are Red Sexlink pullets from the Red Mottled NN out if a Silver NN. Keeping and hoping for at at least mottle carriers.

attention: I changed the picture I uploaded the wrong photo first time.
This hen is out of the Aloha eggs ( the Red one). She was the only one that survived from the Possum attacks. So she is obliviously a mottled carrier and also my Cinnamon rooster is too.

These three are from the Cinnamon rooster and the Red Aloha NN hen. There is one that is looking like it will be mottled.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

This is a cockerel that I'm keeping to raise up. He is by my Spangled Aloha rooster out of a Red NN hen. There were three so any of them could be mama.



Two pullets from the Aloha rooster. These two are out of one of two Barred NN hens in the run. I'm keeping these just because I want to see how the sex link pullets turn out, and because there were no pullets from the red hens. Ain't that something?


There were 4 cockerels from the Red Mottled NN rooster over the Mottled Partridge. Yes there was one that come out looking more Calico and three that were Mottled Partridge. All were fairly good so I decided to keep them all to watch and decide which will be the best one to keep. One of them I am undecided of a pullet or cockerel.



These two are Red Sexlink pullets from the Red Mottled NN out if a Silver NN. Keeping and hoping for at at least mottle carriers.


attention: I changed the picture I uploaded the wrong photo first time.
This hen is out of the Aloha eggs ( the Red one). She was the only one that survived from the Possum attacks. So she is obliviously a mottled carrier and also my Cinnamon rooster is too.



These three are from the Cinnamon rooster and the Red Aloha NN hen. There is one that is looking like it will be mottled.

Love your birds! (I know you have much more specific reasons for keeping the ones you are keeping, but I just totally love the variety!!!!)

- Ant Farm

 

[draye]

Love your birds! (I know you have much more specific reasons for keeping the ones you are keeping, but I just totally love the variety!!!!)



- Ant Farm 

Thanks.