Mille Cochin Info

[KellyHM]

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That's not quite true. All of my breeding birds have been wheaten, and I believe that Mike's birds are all wheaten as well (I may be wrong aout that). Also, I think that Lynne is working to get her birds purified for partridge (eb).

However, it IS true that there's a lot of non-uniformity out there right now. That's one thing that will have to change before we can hope to get these guys APA recognized.

How would I be able to tell which base mine have? I don't know that much about chicken genetics, so I'm just going by how they look at this point.

ETA: And just out of curiosity, which base do the MF D'Uccles have?

 

[Msbear]

Kelly, you'll be able to tell when you hatch some chicks. Wheaten based have wheaten down (yellow) Partridge have brown down... I think

some shade of brown, anyway. My chicks vary from wheaten to buff to red to brown and some dark grays and even the occasional black. The mature birds I like the most hatched buf w/ red splotches, chipmunk and brown so Im leaning toward those. Im no expert so don't hold me accountable

 

[busterduck]

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Yea, eggbid is not always the best way to go but I get lucky sometimes. Good luck to you. I hope you do well

Josh,

You didn't get lucky. You deserved your bird being that high. He was exceptional. I know, I was the second highest bidder. RATS! Sucks coming in second. lol
Came back and forgot to bid again before the auction end.

He was just awesome. The breast on that cockrel was the closest MF pattern I have seen. Most fail to have the black; or, have too much black.
He will be an EGGSELENT start for someone who wants to ultimately attain a MFC. It is obvious you are on the correct course.

I would love to see pics of what you decided to keep.

 

[Msbear]

The bird Josh sold two weeks ago had no black and still brought almost $140. Maybe he just got lucky on that one

I think many folks are hungry for MF. Josh has nice birds, period. I've seen many not so nice still bring a fortune.

 

[amazondoc]

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Wry tail is like Scoliosis (sp?)

in a person. It is a deformity in the spine. Because the spine is crooked, the tail sticks out to one side. It is hereditary, so they shouldn't be used as breeders. However, as egg layers they are fine.

Right. Wry tail is when the tail is angled to the *side*, not when it sticks up too high.

I don't know whether it actually requires a spinal deformity, though.....It's a fairly common problem in Marans, and I have heard breeders say that it is due to a lack of muscle mass in the lower back. I dunno which is true!

 

[Msbear]

I thought it was when a few sparse feathers stick up past the rest of the tail feathers. I just googled images and wry tail is a much more severe condition than that... sorry. I feel like I lost my brain when I had my baby

I do remember lots of posts where folks had problems with that deformity but I've never seen it myself or pictures of it.

I wonder what causes a few stray feathers to stick up? and why does it affect males more than females? I guess the narrow rear-ended birds like d'uccle and rosecomb are meant to have high rising tail feathers. Wide-cushioned varieties may be suseptible to having this condition if they don't have enough meat on thier rear like Amazon said.. kinda making them an in between.

Many people do believe that the first mille fleur cochins did stem from d'uccle as buff columbian and wheaten are somewhat difficult to find. hmmm?

 

[amazondoc]

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Wheaten (EWh) is yellow. Partridge (eb) varies, but is generally gray or brown body with a brown forehead. Duckwing (e+) is chipmunk striped. Also keep in mind that a chick can be heterozygous at the E allele. Wheaten down is recessive to the other two, so if you have a plain yellow chick you know it isn't carrying the others -- but otherwise, you may get a combination of the down colors.

My chicks hatch either clear yellow, or ruddy yellow. Some of the clear yellow ones turn out to be those excessively dark cockerels, but none of the ruddy yellow ones do. Also, my main cockerel for the next generation (the one from Mike's eggs) was ruddy yellow. I don't know what that modifier is, but I think I'll try to encourage it.

I *think* mf d'Uccles are partridge (eb), but I can't swear to it.

 

[Msbear]

There is a post earlier on this thread where Lynne posted pics comparing her mfc chick to a d'uccle chick and they were extremely similar so I would assume mfd's are partridge based.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

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Do you mean dark red in the males or males with a lot of black?

It is hard for me to imagine a lot of black coming out on the yellow chicks but I can see the color coming in dark red.
Just trying to keep up with the notes so I can work out some of the genetics as I learn. You more experienced breeders are being such a great help to us newbies.
Thanks for any and all help!

 

[Coopa Cabana]

This is what the ABA Standard says about the down color of newly hatched chicks. It does specifiy, however, to remember that it is only a guideline, and that they can show wide variations at the chick stage as different strains of the same breed may have different ancestral makeup.

Mille Fleur - grayish white to creamy but darker brown from top of head to shoulders and backs. Breast and sides lighter. Bottom light.

Partridge - see Black Breasted Red.

Black Breasted Red - also applies to light brown as well as partridge. Different shades of brown ranging from almost black to light creamy. A broad dark band reaches from the top of the head to the tail, bordered on each side by two narrow lighter distinct stripes giving a chipmunk like effect to the top of the chick. A dark stripe running through the eye divides the face horizontally. Sides are lighter and gradually turn creamy toward breast and underside.

It doesn't mention the down color for wheaten or duck-wing.

Because we all have so many different background strains right now, and everyone is seeing so much variance as they mature and molt, it may be difficult to cull any bird too early except for bad type.