Silver laced Cochin Bantams

[AndyCap]

Here's my little hen. Small in size compared to my other cochins

She looks nice. Do you have a side profile pic?

 

[ShysCreations]

Your hen in post 26 is a good one to start with definitely. She does have nice lacing! My hen isn't from a hatchery, maybe several generations ago. I'd ordered chicks from Ideal Hatchery so I could pick the best of the group to breed. I plan to use some Columbians to help in type and still maintain the silver gene. I understand though to have lacing, a bird must inherit the pattern gene from both parents. So my initial breeding to Columbians will likely yield incomplete lacing. It will be a loooooong plan.....

 

[cochins1088]

Your hen in post 26 is a good one to start with definitely. She does have nice lacing! My hen isn't from a hatchery, maybe several generations ago. I'd ordered chicks from Ideal Hatchery so I could pick the best of the group to breed. I plan to use some Columbians to help in type and still maintain the silver gene. I understand though to have lacing, a bird must inherit the pattern gene from both parents. So my initial breeding to Columbians will likely yield incomplete lacing. It will be a loooooong plan.....

How did your ideal hatchery chicks turn out? I was sucked into their "85 cent bantam sale" this spring and I ended up purchasing 55 cochin bantam chicks, but the quality was horrible. Much worse than I had expected. There were a couple that were decent, but overall the quality was very disappointing.

I was shocked when I heard that the hen in post 26 came from a hatchery. I will definitely try going through WELP hatchery next year in hopes of some more like her to start out with. I also plan to breed to a good typed Columbian hen to improve type, but I would like to run a few generations of just silver laced before hand.

 

[AndyCap]

Your hen in post 26 is a good one to start with definitely. She does have nice lacing! My hen isn't from a hatchery, maybe several generations ago. I'd ordered chicks from Ideal Hatchery so I could pick the best of the group to breed. I plan to use some Columbians to help in type and still maintain the silver gene. I understand though to have lacing, a bird must inherit the pattern gene from both parents. So my initial breeding to Columbians will likely yield incomplete lacing. It will be a loooooong plan.....

Your thoughts are correct, the components that are required for single lace are Pg Ml and Co. The f1 will give you poorly laced birds, breeding those back together should get you back to some birds with decent lacing. Getting the Pg and Ml pure again will give you the required lacing, as the f1s from your cross will be impure for those two genes.

 

[cochins1088]

I took a few pictures of mine just before dark. Please excuse the mud, it was raining all day and they seemed to enjoy it, haha.

Annabelle - 1 year old


Lucy - 6 months old


Lucy


Lacie - 6 months old



I tried to get a picture of my silver laced boy Rocky, but he wouldn't sit still. Every picture of him turned out blurry...

 

[cochins1088]

Oh, and here are the 3 that I hatched out on Easter Sunday. It's not a very good picture of them, but I really like them. The boy in front is Christopher and the 2 pullets following are named Angel and Gloria.

 

[ShysCreations]

How did your ideal hatchery chicks turn out?

They are still growing but will be long lean type. They just all feathered out and lost all chick down. I knew the poor shape is what I'd get from a hatchery but I'll retain the best to breed. I hoped to start somewhere. It worked when i began raising mille fleur cochins 5 yrs ago and last year type really improved. The laced will be additional challenge and time

 

[ShysCreations]

This is one of 2 cockerels hatched this summer. He's not of hatchery stock so should grow into better type. Not showing as much lacing as I'd like though. The lacing will be a challenge to improve. Unfortunately the one non hatchery hen I'd posted earlier died so will work with some hatchery pullets and columbians.

 

[ShysCreations]

I'm letting these 2 cockerels go and the hatchery pullet. She's just too long/lean though fair lacing on her breast. She's mossy in her tail.

 

[serendipityfarm]

Oh my goodness! Am I ever glad to have stumbled upon this thread. I have a bunch of MF Cochins & thought I'd also like to have some standard variety bantams to play with and maybe show. Little did I know... I guess I'm drawn to the more difficult varieties.