Large Fowl Cochin Thread - Page 40

Mystic,
be very very patient with teh columbian pattern, it is slow to finish. Some pointers though for very clean backed females you will often want males that are lacking or very finely shafted in the saddle feather, for good colored males you will often a little dirty backed hen.
Are the birds you have the result of using Light Brahma or Wyandotte or something else for color and pattern introduction?

this is the roo I got from ralph he said had the columbian gene; mom is a white cochin hen ...excuse the dirt- he's in the yard.  he does have some black in his wings, but virtually non existant in his hackles, so I was pleasantly surprised that the pullet AND cockerel had so much in them.   I believe he is about 5 years old, Ralph had bred him to buffs trying for bc's for lf mille's start.  We got nothing from him last year, and only 3 year - these 2 and a pure white

Was that Buff and white and teh result was an accident? or was this an intentional process to get to the Columbian pattern? Unfortunately there are not many if any good Silver Penciled LF wich when crossed with Dom. White will produce a suedo columbian, so will Barred and Dom. White it just takes longer. I would like to know what was used in the bird if you know. If not thats Ok too. There are soo many ways to get to columbian but the male above appears to be leaking gold, or brown.

It will be a Single combed offspring from this guy that we use for this project once we find the right white to work with.

he's not leaking .. he was out in the rain and he is dirty.... he is yellowing from age and the sun   he is not a young bird.  He is white except for black on his wings and tail.  I actually posted so you could see his type.

Ralph believed in staying within the breed as much as possible and had been working on this for a number of years, sadly, he has disconnected himself from everyone in the poultry world, so there is no way to ask, although, Tom Roebuck and Jammie Matts and one other person whose name escapes me knew portions of this as he relied on birds from them for much of this project.....

It is often a shame when folks have to abandon a project like this. I am glad to see someone was able to pick it up. I understand teh problem of keeping white clean it can be a real chore, and is the primary reason we seldom show a white bird anymore.

Hi everyone!  Was wondering what age do you begin showing your cochins?

I like mine to be around 10 months old before I show. They are very slow to fully mature.

I figured it would be a bit longer for this breed.  They are late to mature as you say.  Thanks!