The Beautiful Boys - Cinnamon

This rooster is one I'm keeping for several reasons, but the most noticeable one is his leg color! 

Cinnamon is not as flashy as some of the other roosters, but he does have nice yellow legs. His mottling is less pronounced than some of the other roosters.  He has small flecks on his chest, but not a lot of white all in all.  Size-wise, he's not too bad, bigger than Mocha and Butterscotch, but not as big as Flame. 

Is this Cinnamon's daddy?  I think so.

If I had to guess, I'd say his daddy was probably my NHR x Aloha rooster.  This "guess" is based on his age, his size, (a bit larger than a so-called "pure" Aloha like Butterscotch) and the bright red feather color, and big red comb.   This would make Cinnamon a half-brother to Cheeto and Flame, but all three of these roosters would be out of different mothers.

Overall his body looks a lot like the half NHR, half Aloha rooster, who had his own breeding pen here last season.  If I'm right, it would make him 25% New Hampshire Red, and 75% Aloha.  Should be a great cross with Sussex-bred hens.

Below, is a breeder pen that I set up last season.  This shows my NHR/Aloha rooster in with several hens.  Most of the hens were pure Aloha (small but colorful) except for the one bigger hen you see, who is half Aloha, half Sussex.  I suspect this bigger hen is the mom of "Flame".  I'm not sure which of these hens is Cinnamon's mom, though.

The Beautiful Boys - Mocha

My friend Laree made a comment about one of my hens.  She said she liked her, becuase if her brown could be described, it was a kind of "milk chocolate color".  I couldn't agree more!  Some of my hens are a very neat light brown color, with the mottling on top, that reminds you of cooca with marshmallows sprinkled on top.

Soft "cocoa brown" mottled hen.

Another soft brown mottled hen.

This color is something I do want to cultivate, which is why I held back a rooster this season that I thought might carry this shade, despite his smaller (typical Aloha) size.  While the boys tend to have more red tones than hens, if you look at the chest of this rooster, he's definately the "cooca brown" color.  I'd love to keep him to breed to some larger hens someday.

Split or "double" comb.

He has a very interesting split red comb.  A lot of Alohas have had strange shapes to their combs.  As more "outside" blood from New Hampshire Red, Sussex, and Buff Rock is brought in, probably the strange combs will eventually be bred out.  He is the only rooster I've kept with an odd comb shape this season.

Here Mocha (front) is seen with Butterscotch (back).  Compare the colors.

Mocha looks very similar to his daddy, the main Aloha rooster in my pen last year. 

Strangely, I never named this fellow:

Father to "Mocha" and "Butterscotch" and "Pumpkin"

(Their momma hens were of Aloha Stock)

The Beautiful Boys - Cheeto

While I've had wonderful success in reproducing brighter and bolder colors in my Aloha flock, I haven't had much luck in getting the size bigger.  The reason is simple - I have to add some bigger chickens into my flock.  Other breeds of chicken.  But, if you add outside chickens, you will lose the neat colors, at least for one generation.

Above: Cheeto's DAD - 1/2 NHR, 1/2 Aloha

I started with a New Hampshire Red, a purebred rooster who was bred to a large "Confetti" Aloha hen.  The result of this cross was a BIG RED ROOSTER that was half Aloha, half New Hampshire Red.  This is what he looked like.  (See Pic Above.)

The big yellow hen on the left was Cheeto's mom.

Then, I crossed that big red rooster with a Buff Rock Hen.  A Buff Rock is different from a Buff Orpington - a Buff Rock is even bigger.  These are some seriously huge chickens!  The result was several 1/2 Buff Rock, 1/4 NHR, 1/4 Aloha babies. 

Young Cheeto, and his brother.

Now, here's the problem - these chicks were only 25% Aloha, and 75% "big chicken" which means they have only a 25% chance of carrying the coloful, cool spots, and 75% chance of carrying nothing but regular boring solid chicken colors.  Hmmm.  Not good odds, but hey, I have to get the size up somehow.  The result of this cross was several GIANT bright golden-orange roosters with black tails.

Cheeto, all grown up.  Current "top dog" of the main breeding pen.

I held back a couple of these big gold rooster chicks, and one day, looking down at them, I saw a teeny tiny fleck of white on the feather of one gold rooster.  I pounced on him, and tagged his leg with a blue band.  It was one little white fleck, and no more.  Just on one feather.  Did it mean anything?

A longer tail would be nice, but THIS body size and shape is my goal.

 
Was that one little white feather a sign that he actually does carry the gene for nifty colors?  Even though the odds were against it?

Look at the size difference between Cheeto and his colorful small hens.

Did it work?  Could he pass on color, thanks to his Aloha grandmother?

I think so.  These should be his first chicks!

The Beautiful Boys - Flame

In my last post, I mentioned that I've long suspected that the cool colors in my flock sprung from Game Fowl lines.  However, right from the start, aggression in my roosters has been extremely rare.  I have only had one magnificent but nasty-tempered rooster in all this time, and he was culled before he reached breeding age.  If any other proof was needed regarding the disposition of my roosters, the fact that I'm currently housing SIX roosters in the same pen together should tell all.  (The seventh rooster is in his own breeding pen.)

How did I end up with seven roosters this fall?  Well, I hatched out a LOT of chicks back in May and June last year.  Many were roosters.  Some of these turned out fabulous, and in the end, there were so many good ones I didn't have the heart to cull them all.

I've just highlighted the meek and beautiful "Butterscotch" in my last post, but I think several of the boys deserve their own posting, so here's a tribute to "Flame".

Flame is a new rooster hatched in May 2011.  He does not have his own breeding pen yet, but he's second in command in the current pen, and I did catch him mounting one of the hens when "Cheeto" wasn't looking.  Flame is seen as a real threat to Cheeto, with good reason.  For an Aloha rooster, he's a big boy! 

I suspect that Flame is probably about 1/4 Sussex, as I did have a half Sussex, half Aloha hen in the breeder pens last year.  That would explain his size, his pink legs, (same color as a Sussex) and his very even dots of mottling - in pattern he resembles a Sussex rooster.  However, where a Sussex rooster would be mahogany and black, Flame is a bright, vibrant RED. 

Right now, I don't have room for a seperate breeding pen for him.  However, a friend of the program stopped by the other day to pick up Aloha eggs to hatch out, and announced that he'll be working on building some breeder pens.  He has bought some Buff Orpington hens - about six yellow hens in all.  I think if the pen is built, and the hens are there, I'd better send Flame his way for a visit, as he'd make an excellent cross with Buff hens.  (Though if I had to pick, I'd place "Flame" in with pure New Hampshire Red hens, too, and then cross those back to Cheeto's future offspring.)

I can't wait to get chicks out of Flame and some larger hens.  Guess I'll have to be patient.  Will keep you all posted on what happens!

Pedigree:  I suspect "Flame" is 1/4 Sussex, 1/4 NHR, and 1/2 Aloha.  If I'm right, these would be his parents, although this is just a guess, since we don't have chicken DNA testing, ha ha.

Above:  Breeding pen last season.  Note the bigger hen standing in the bowl, she's half Sussex.

A better shot of the hen I think could be his mom?

Another pic of the rooster who I think is his dad.

The Mysterious Orange Color

Now, I've long suspected a link between the strange mottled colors in my chickens, and the "game fowl" chickens.  This is for several reasons.  First, mottled colors are found in fighting chickens, although they aren't historically bred for color.  They were bred for fighting.  But the mottled color exists in Games, and breeds very easily in Game Fowl. 

Second, proximity - my strange Banty was found in Southwest Phoenix, and I've seen many game stock bred chickens in the neighborhood.  Third, was type - while Oddball the Banty (who started this whole line) was a short, round, banty-type hen, her "kids" have grown into, lanky, game-type bodies. 

A funny thing happened this last spring, however, when I noticed a young rooster in a strange orange color.  Orange.  No other word for it.  It was too dark for buff, too light for red, and weirdest of all, where the tail feathers should have been black, they were darker, but it was this soft cocoa-brown color instead. 

My homebred rooster "Pumpkin" now owned by Laree.

Her Web site:  http://thealohahenway.webs.com/

Right after I spotted this young roo developing, I saw this ad on Craigslist, advertising a "Punkin Game Rooster" for $150, not five miles from my house!  What was a "punkin game" and why did it look so much like my rooster?

NOT my chicken - Advertised for sale near my home on Craigslist.

I soon found there is a line of Game chickens called "Pumpkin Hulsey" and I've also seen "Yellow Birchen" and "Ginger" listed as this color.  This web site has lots of info, and apparently, this color in Game Fowl has been spotted long ago in England, and also today in the Phillipines.  Here's a great web site with more info:

http://thefallcreekranch.com/gamefowl/index.html

At this point that "Pumpkin" the rooster appeared, we were getting into some serious linebreeding.  Linebreeding is a great way to pull out those recessive genes, and apparently, this new color was in there somewhere!

I gifted "Pumpkin" to my friend Laree, where he will be used as her new flock leader. 

"Pumpkin" in his new home at Laree's place. 

And, I was blessed with yet another new boy to keep here, who I have now named "Butterscotch".

"Butterscotch" my second mottled roo in this color.

Note he is lighter in color, and has more white in his tail.

Depsite the fact that this color appears to come from "fighting" bird lines, I've found that strangely, both Pumpkin and Butterscotch have been the meekest, mildest, lowest in the pecking order roosters of the whole bunch.  Go figure! 

Check out his tail feathers - all that same reddish cocoa color.  Not a fleck of black anywhere.

Enjoy the pics.  Note that Butterscotch has a lot of growing up to do still, it will be several months before he fully matures, and even at maturity, he will be a small rooster.  I plan on penning him with some larger hens, to compensate for his lack of size. 

I definately want to cultivate this color, though I suspect it is a recessive color, and may be tough to reproduce reliably at first.  However, all birds with this color will be kept for the program.

What is the "Confetti" Color?

I first spotted "Oddball" the Banty hen, next door, early Spring 2009.  She was mixed in a pen of chickens that belonged to my neighbors, and was the only one.  What attracted my attention was her color, which looked very similar to a few photos of the Swedish Flower Hens pictured on the amazing chicken breeds web site, www.feathersite.com - which you guys should all check out by the way, it's awesome!

Here's the "Feathersite" photo that even got me to notice the oddball hen next door.  This picture was borrowed from Feathersite.com for whom I'll always be grateful to, because without this site, I wouldn't have known such a breed existed, or know what to look for to try and re-create it:

Blommehons/Swedish Flower Hens from Sweden

Above:  Photo from Feathersite.com showing Swedish Spotted Hens

Today I now have chickens that look very similar to the ones seen on that page, at least in color. There is still a lot of work to be done in terms of body size, leg color, and overall type. However, check out this pullet that is growing up here and look at how much she resembles (in color) the Feathersite photos:

Above:  NO SWEDISH FLOWER HEN BLOODLINES - All American!

Until this chicken was born, I thought the exteme amount of white on the "Confetti" chickens was related to barring.  (Barring is stripes on the feathers.)  But, this new girl, who I may call "Streaky" has no barring. 

The neatest thing about the "Confetti" color, is how strongly it reproduces itself.  I've raised many chickens in this color now.  What else I like about it, is how different it is from Speckled Sussex and Mottled Java, the current American mottled colors.  If you had to decribe those breeds, you would call them "a dark chicken with white spots" whereas Confetti chickens might be called "a light chicken with dark spots".

I am not really sure what gene or genes are causing this color, but I am very pleased at how easy it has been to reproduce in generation after generation.  As I go into 2012, the goal will be to get the Confetti color onto a true "big chicken" body type.  We want to keep the color, and ONLY the color, and basically transfer that color onto a body type of a Sussex, Orpington, or other large dual-purpose breed. 

I am hoping the fact that this color has been easy to work with so far, will mean in a year or so, we'll have the color on a true "big chicken" body type.  Right now, the Alohas have been small in size, with a tendency towards a "gamey" or thinner and lanky body.  The goal is big, fat, round, bodies, while keeping these same bright colors.

My First Post! Aloha!

I'll make this short and sweet.  What is this blog about?

A few years ago, I decided that I wanted some Swedish Flower Hens, or "Blommehons" as they are called over there.  Only problem was, this rare breed was NOT in the United States.  To import them would have cost thousands of dollars.  What to do?  Create my own, of course!

I wasn't having much luck, until I found the strangest little hen in my neighbor's flock next door.   Her feathers were in a unique color that I now call "Confetti".  Her bloodlines helped create lots of unique colors in my flock.  Finding her was the key to the program today.  I have no idea what her background was, or where she came from origially.

She was tiny in size, but BIG in color!

To see the detailed story of the last few years, check out my old website.  I've run out of room there, hence this blog.  But the web site tells the whole tale:

http://alohachickens.webs.com/

Now the Swedish Flower Hen has been imported to the United States, thanks to Greenfire Farms!  But, a funny thing happened on the way to copying an overseas breed . . . I've started to create something totally new. 

This is the tale of one gal in a suburban backyard creating her own breed, by luck and by feel, with just a basic understanding of genetics.  Follow along and see how it goes!

Below:  The strange little tiny hen that started it all . . . . Oddball!