Large Fowl Cochins

[Knetiknrga]

I would like to try my hand at showing. Tell me of you think I'd be crazy for doing this, but I have a "nice" pair of 15 month old large fowl blacks I could use to get my feet wet. Though I wouldn't expect they could be winners, they shouldn't be dq'd for any reason. They are built really nice, just a little lacking in size. It might be a good trial run for me to just go ahead and take them out for my own experience while i wait for my four more promising blacks to mature. Or do you think I should take heed of the saying, "you only have 1 chance to make a first impression"? My up and comers are built every bit as nice if not better plus the size is there. Should I just wait on them to grow up more before I try my first show?

What advice would you be willing to share with a newbie about conditioning/ training/ prepping for show?

And do you have any secrets to share on raising my 4 month old youngsters to their best show potential?

 

[Bo Garrett]

I'll take a bird with good type over a properly sized bird that has no type any day. Go ahead and show them, it will give you experience and prepare you for greater endeavors. Experience is the best teacher, remember to use proper terminology and ask lots of questions. Poultry shows are more about meeting people and making friends than they are about showing chickens and winning, get the first down and the other two will take care of themselves.

Bo

 

[Knetiknrga]

Thank you, Bo! Being new is intimidating. But I will always just be 'new' if I don't take steps to become more experienced. Right? The journey to learning more has been an eye opening adventure. Thanks for being willing to help new folks gain the knowledge they need to one day not be so 'new' anymore.

 

[Bo Garrett]

You are most welcome. The day we are not new is the day we are no longer breathing; when we claim to know it all we express our arrogance and not our knowledge. As I stated earlier, when you go to shows make friends with some long time breeders and glean all the knowledge you can from them without being irritating. Occasionally you will run into the "grump" but for the most part serious breeders are willing to share in their knowledge and their birds. I must also stress the use of proper poultry terminology, to use the terms; Roo, Girl, Peeps, etc..., will in most instances turn the switch to the off position on a serious poultry fancier.
Please feel free to continue to ask questions of me and I will try my best to answer them.

Blessings,


Bo

 

[Peculiar Chick]

I would like to know if you can tell if a bird is show quality by photo alone?

 

[Bo Garrett]

Not necessarily, photos are one dimensional and one must evaluate the bird from different views to evaluate the height, width, depth, feather quality, etc... You may get an idea from a photo but it is better to see the bird first hand.

 

[Peculiar Chick]

Thank you Bo, I have a show quality rooster and a hen that is from show quality stock and hatched a few chicks from them. I posted them for sale on a Cochin page and was jumped on by the administrators asking for pictures of parents, lineage etc. I promptly informed them that I did not have all information at that moment and would provide the following day (it was late evening) I did have a few pictures of the parents and posted those. I must say that I posted for sale locally only, and it was 3 different people not just 1. (These admins were NOT locally) Needless to say they were very rude saying I obviously do not know what I am doing, and no way was my rooster show quality, and they were in deplorable conditions, "a completely plucked bird shows no type" on and on and then deleted the entire thread with my post of chicks for sale. The very next day when I obtained the lineage, and where the rooster had won as well as parent accolades of the hen, again in my post advised local pick up only and that I would provide all information via PM to interested party. Again a person who was not local and who had commented on my post but kept her comments low key asked me via PM all info. I provided knowing she was not going to get them from me and as soon as I did she wanted me to ship all of my chicks to her... I told her sorry but I do not ship, well she turned nasty as well. I just did not respond anymore. I do not know everything there is to know about chickens and breeding this is my first year of actually hatching and breeding specific breeds. I have a very good friend 1 mile from me that we have been sharing information, chickens, and our love for our birds. We do this for our enjoyment and it really upset me to be treated like this. I have read your post and the information that you have shared and was very pleased to see how helpful and polite you are to people. I learn something everyday and never claim to know everything and it just infuriates me when people think they are the only ones who knows "everything" and you are "stupid" because you do not know what they "know".
Well I just wanted to share how your post have been informative as well as pleasant. I just know that I will always be learning. Thank you again Bo for being that light of knowledge. (By the way Garrett is my maiden name)

 

[Bo Garrett]

Thank you for the kind words of which I am not worthy. I have two deep rooted Commands that guide my life, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." "Love your neighbor as yourself" If people would apply these principles to their lives think how wonderful the world would be. Don't be disheartened by those who only respond with harshness, rudeness and selfish motives, it is hard to love others when one does not love one's self. Selling birds, chicks or eggs is a tough job, unless someone has gone through the trouble of gathering and packing eggs, getting birds sorted, culled and shipped or set up breeding pens, gathered eggs and hatched chicks to ship they have no idea what is required to get these tasks completed especially when one has a job that commands 10 to 12 hours a day! Because of that very issue I have stopped shipping any fowl or eggs unless the persons requesting are long time trusted customers. So many people do not understand the poultry fancy and think that lineage records are kept on poultry much like horses or dogs; this is not the case. It is difficult if not impossible to prove the lineage of one's poultry unless you receive a notarized affidavit from the breeder stating that his/her birds were sold to you.
There are far more good people in this fancy than bad, speak with kindness to all and only deal with those who deal likewise unto you.

Garrett is a good strong Irish name be proud that your ancestry has roots in the Emerald Isle!

I have been breeding, hatching, rearing and showing poultry most of my 46 years of life and I will never know everything there is to know about the fancy. I figure I'll know it all about a second after I breathe my last breath. The one thing I do know is that I like chickens, I love chicken people and one of the most enjoyable things to me is to be around both!

Peace and blessings to you,

Bo

 

[Bo Garrett]

A few years of intensive work hours and no time for chickens saw me lose most of my brown reds, save one hen, and from her I have restarted my flock and now have six hens and seven cockerels from 2016 and have managed to hatch about 30 this year. Since I had to use a black male the color genetics will be all over the place for the first couple of years and this year proves that with blacks, blues and brown reds being produced. The blues may turn out to be true lemon blues but at this point they are too young to have any color to indicate such. The cap color in the hens and the breast lacing in both are the hardest to get right, it takes a couple of years to get the breast lacing and several years to get hens with the right color on top of the skull. I like my birds with a rich orange/red color with the black parts being highlighted by a rich beetle green sheen. Brown Red, when colored and marked correctly, is one of the most stunning of color varieties and to have them in Large Cochins has always been a dream of mine.
Now if I can just get large brown cochins and large birchen cochins I would be in cochin heaven.

Blessings,

Bo

 

[Bo Garrett]

Setting up the breeding pens and the 2017 brown red projects actually in 2018 produced a large number of brown colored cochins which I am mating up this year to produce the long lost Brown Cochin described in the American Standard of Perfection. This variety was accepted in 1965 and within 20 years was no more. It has been a long road to get to the point where I actually have dark brown birds and now after 16 years I feel I have the foundation to revive this lost variety and re-introduce them to the show room once again. I figure I have at least three to five years left on them before I can show them with confidence but I can now see light at the end of the tunnel. I am also working with large blacks which I have bred for nearly 20 years and large whites. I began with large mottled cochins around 2008 by accident with a black male that was carrying the mottled gene and when bred back to his daughters produced a large number of mottled progeny which I am still working with today.
I hope everyone has a successful hatching season.

Blessings,

Bo