The Return of Ginger

My original flock of Alohas was very, very small.  "Oddball" the banty hatched out a handful of chicks for me; but after that, she refused every rooster that I put her with.  I kept four of those chicks by Oddball, two hens, Kona and Ginger, and two roosters, Patch and Vanilla. 

That's the basis of all the Aloha stock around today.  No really.  That's it.  Four chickens.

Two of the original four Alohas - Ginger and Patchwork.

My favorite hen by far was Ginger.  This is Ginger, as a youngster, sitting with a young Patch.

This was Ginger.

She was always kind of gamey in type, and small.  But her color was more and more vibrant as she grew.  Unfortunately, there was one BAD thing Ginger inherited from her mom, "Oddball".  SHE HATED ROOSTERS.  She was hard to find in the yard, because there she would be, off in a corner by herself.  Away from the rooster.

I'd go out and collect the eggs, and there would often be two - one from Ginger, one from Kona.  But as time went on, only half the eggs were fertile.  The lighter eggs were always sterile.  Guess who laid the lighter eggs?  Yep.  Ginger.

I figured someday perhaps Ginger would "fall in love" with the right guy.  In the meantime, she was a total slacker.  I don't know if any of her eggs were ever fertile.  A few I wonder about.  One ended up with Laree and we have our suspicions, she has a resemblence to Ginger.  None of the others grew up to look remotely like her, however.

Sassafrass, a gift to Laree.  Was this Ginger's daughter?

But tragically, Ginger was lost fairly early in the program.  I was dosing the hens as a precaution; one hen had a swollen eye.  It could be simply something got into her eye and irritated it.  However, a swollen eye sometimes is a sign of a certain illness.  She showed no other sypmptoms, but I thought it would be a good idea to treat all the hens in with her.  Three hens, including Ginger, were isolated in a "sick pen".  Even though she had no signs of illness, I thought since they had been exposed, it would be best. 

I did the proper dosing, but it was a very hot day.  Maybe the hens drank too much of the medicated water, and overdosed.  I'd treated just the one with the same batch of medicine only a week before with no ill effects,but the temps had since climbed to 105 degrees.  This is the best theory I could come up with.  By the late afternoon, all three hens in that pen, including Ginger, were dead.  One had only that swollen eye, but otherwise was alert and healthy. The other two appeared perfectly healthy earlier that morning.

Thank goodness I had tons of chicks growing out to replace these hens.  But not a single one looked like Ginger.  Not until this spring, when I had a great surprise.  First one hen, then another, and then another!  Three little carbon-copies of Ginger!  What a wonderful thing to see. 

I am not really sure where they came from, and why I never saw any quite like Ginger until just this year.  There is one little suspicion . . . remember, at the top of this post, I showed you Ginger, with her brother Patch?

This is Ginger's brother Patch, all grown up.

Laree owned Patch.  Patch had a chick.  This chick wasn't much to look at, but because she came from a  slightly different bloodline, and I'd never used any of Patch's offspring in the program before, I put her in a breeding pen over here last spring, anyway:

Patch's daughter - this hen's mom is unknown Aloha stock.

She's the hen on the bottom right corner of this photo.

Small, gamey, plain, she wasn't much to look at.  But are these her chicks?  I wonder if this these hens are Patch's grandkids?  Related to Ginger, though her brother.  It would explain why I never saw something like Ginger until this last year, when I brought in two of Patch's daughters to use for breeding. Until affordable chicken DNA tests come out I'll never know, ha ha.  It's just a theory.

(PS - I have never used that medication again . . . )

The Sussex Influence

As I've been breeding my Aloha flock, in the first generations, I did almost everything I could in order to NOT bring in Speckled Sussex bloodlines.  Why not?  Bringing in Sussex seems OBVIOUS.  They have spots.  Alohas have spots.  Cross them together, and there you go.  Right???

Well, there was some Sussex in the first cross to Oddball, and some "other stuff" in there too, but the problem is, if you bring in too much of any one breed, it will simply begin to take over.

This is a purebred Speckled Sussex hen.

Trust me on this - if you breed one dog (like a poodle) to another dog (like a doberman) the first generation will look pretty much like a confused mess.  However, take those babies and cross them back to either side - a poodle OR a doberman - and very quickly, the next generation will look like one side of the family or another.  Do that another time and most likely, you won't be able to tell the pups from purebreds except for an occasional odd trait popping up - your only clue that something else is hidden back there.   

So, it's important that when I create Alohas, for every "dash of Sussex" that I add an equal "dash of New Hampshire Red" or whatnot.  Otherwise, what you'll get (if you use too much Sussex) is pretty much, what looks like a poorly-bred flock of Speckled Sussex!  Which is totally NOT the point, ha ha. 

This last season was the first time we saw a dash of Sussex brought back into the program.  The hen used was this one, who is 50% Speckled Sussex, and looks pretty much like a "pure" Sussex.  Except, something is kind of "off" about her?  It's like you can't quite put your finger on it . . . . but it's there.

Half Sussex hen, owned by Laree.  Loaned to me last season for breeding.

Okay, so her mom was a Sussex, and her dad was a "first generation" Aloha, which makes her  pretty special.  That's right, this hen's grandma is none other than Oddball the Banty.  Her dad is Patch, Oddball's own son, pictured here.

Of course I was super excited to see the result.  NOW - take everything I say from here on out with a grain of salt, because there is no chicken DNA testing available to me.  However, I had a theory.  The theory was, if I took this half Aloha hen, Patch's half-Sussex daughter, and I bred her to something NOT SUSSEX, then the result would be a baby radically different from a Sussex.  I think these are her daughters.  You tell me if you think it worked, ha ha:

What a difference a generation makes!  Only 1/4 Sussex, now.

If I'm right, this would be the breeding pen, showing the dad, a half Aloha, half New Hampshire Red. 

These young hens do not have the "chipmunk cheek" feathering of some Aloha hens, the faces look more like a NHR or Sussex.  The spots are more evenly arranged, like a Sussex, and not as "messy" in placement as a pure Aloha.

Note this hen has the even spots of a Sussex, but the yellow legs of a NHR.  The NHR/Aloha roo was the only rooster in my pen last year to have yellow legs.  No other roosters or Aloha hens in my pens had yellow legs last year.

In short, this young hen looks nothing like a purebred Speckled Sussex.  Which is exactly what I want!

Now for the exciting stuff - what will happen this year?  Check out this new hen, she also is supected to be only half Speckled Sussex.  Like the half Sussex hen of Laree's, the differences between this hen and a pure Sussex are subtle.  Her color a bit brighter, her spots a bit more vibrant, and unfortunately, her size is a bit smaller. 

Almost a Sussex - but not quite?  Note lighter color from pure Sussex on top of post.

Right now, she is in with Cheeto.  As she crosses with other roosters, we'll see how the chicks turn out.  Hopefully, they will be a radical departure from Sussex in each generation, and we'll cross back and forth.

(Slightly redder base color, small size, big spangles - but pretty much looks Sussex.)

As long as I keep them 50% Sussex or less, and keep plenty of NHR, Buff Rock, and Aloha in there, hopefully we'll get the size up, and create new and radically different colors.  What we don't want is to end up creating something that just looks like a poorly-bred mongrel Speckled Sussex.  LOL!!!!

Left:  Hen that is suspected to be only half Sussex.  Right:  Pure Sussex hen.

This year, I will have two purebred Speckled Sussex hens in the flock.  Right now they are with Cheeto, but they will later be rotated in with Butterscotch and Cinnamon as well.  Some of their babies will probably look pretty much like purebred Sussex, but these 50% Sussex hens will be kept and be used to increase size in the next generation.  It is hoped that in the next generation, I'll be able to pull out more radically different colors. 

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.