Which hatchery has the best Bantam Cochins?

This is my Birchen cochin Bantam from Ideal- He is quite a looker if do say so! Out of 50 I purchased I ended up keeping him (Randy). You can get a nice one, but may have to buy a lot before you do.

I orded from Cackle last year. 4 dif colors. Buffs were horrible. Small and shape was off a great deal. The blues and splash were awsome... couldn't be happier. Also ordered siver penciled, color in some were off but nice shape. They feathered out weird too. Some didn't grow more than wing feathers 4 the first 6 weeks.... maybe the silvr gene?

The Buffs and the self blues from Ideal were aweful- though most has super sweet personalities. The Blue & Black standard sized ones were super nice. I was considering trying Welp or Privett. (I hear Welp gets them from Privett?) I wonder how Strombergs, Meyers, or McMurray stock is..

poultrified said:

 The Buffs and the self blues from Ideal were aweful- though most has super sweet personalities. The Blue & Black standard sized ones were super nice. I was considering trying Welp or Privett. (I hear Welp gets them from Privett?) I wonder how Strombergs, Meyers, or McMurray stock is..

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I agree. We bought over 300 bantams from Ideal this year. The buff Cochin bantams we got were not very good. The self blues were very small and kind of runty. We were however very happy with the blacks and blues in the bantams and the black standard Cochins. The worst color we got was the red cochin bantams. For some reason the reds had no feathering on their feet. It was weird. Even the red Frizzles didn't have alot of feathering on their feet. The buff cochin roo we kept because he looked good when he was growing ended up having a lot of black feathers in his tail and on his wings. We are going to give him away and find a better roo from a breeder close by. The birchen bantam roo we have is a real beauty and so is the partridge we received. So as far as Ideal goes for pretty pets good: blues, blacks, birchen, partridge, and white. Bad: buff, self blue, the silver and golden laced we received were extremely sweet but they had messy lacing. This is my opinion. I hope it helps a little. I am no expert but I have ordered a lot of birds from them. They have a special right now for feathered footed bantams 25 @1.25 each. Good luck,

I just ordered white frizzles from Ideal. I always order, or buy from the local feed store that orders most from Ideal, more than what I want. I let them grow a bit and keep maybe 2 or 3.
I have only had 1 mille roo in the past that I purchased from a breeder and I hated him. He was one of the meanest chickens I have ever had..mean to other chickens. He constantly picked fights, chased the hens to peck and pull feathers out. I actually gave him away. I swore I would never buy another. This past summer my daughter, who is 27, and I went to the feed store and bought every chick that had feathered feet.....45 mixed feather footed bantams. I kept 3. 1 turned out to be a silver-laced bantam Cochin (I am hoping her lacing will clean up some when she molts this spring), and 2 white frizzles which I lost to hawks...one right in front of me! DH built a bantam pen for me and they no longer get out.
The frizzles...some were curly (with not enough feathers from the double frizzle gene). I let those go of course. I kept an OK roo....he was second best of the group and a really nice pullet.
I ordered eggs from 3 different breeders. A lot didn't hatch...the PO was responsible for that...quite a few were scrambled. I have a cute calico from one breeder and 8 from another of the breeders. I am looking at 3 maybe to keep. They are a month old. I have 1 partridge frizzle which is a cockerel. I am not sure about him by looking at his feathers. Some of the colors aren't even close to a standard color.
So...you can get worse chicks from a breeder than a hatchery.
Now waiting for 5 white bantam frizzle Cochins from Ideal.
Extra roos for for warmth in the box is fine...If they are one of the breeds I have, there might be a good roo in there!
I expect to cull from these and sell the ones I don't want in a couple of months if not sooner.

So, I guess I will buy again in the future from Ideal and not from The Poultry Hatchery or and maybe not from Cackle. Cackle comes 2nd overall in MHO.
I have not purchased from any other hatcheries.

Ideal is my go-to hatchery. Cochin Bantams: the mottled and buff females are real small and have no cushion form in their tail feathering, they're pointed. The reds have little to no leg feathering. The gold-laced are real nice, but the lacing is really messy. The birchens are beautiful, nice form, super fluffy, and have the best leg feathering I've seen. It takes over a year before they grow into their real shape, so you gotta be patient.

McMurray's Partridge bantams are beautiful, nice form and perfect feather pattern.