Cochin

! have (had) 5 bantams and several mixed. My pure breed girls are the sweetest, friendliest little things you'd ever want to meet. They come to my whistle and then give "submission" and want to be picked up. They are lovable, cuddly and a hoot to watch. They started laying at 5 months and haven't missed a beat EXCEPT when they want to go broody, and go broody they do! I've learned all kinds of tricks to keep them from brooding. Sometimes the tricks work, sometimes they don't. Their eggs aren't large, but that's ok with me. They lay so much, that I just use 2 when 1 large is called for.
I had one Roo who was so fun. When he wanted food for the girls, he would come up to me picking up grass or sticks and throwing them down and just talk to me, letting me know FOOD IS NEEDED NOW!
He was also VERY protective of the flock and that's why I lost him. A fox attacked the flock and while the other ROO was gathering the girls and making them HIDE, Big Red was holding off the fox. Although just a bantam, he did his duty. I ran out as soon as I could, but he was already so severely injured that I knew he wouldn't make it. We all cried like babies, and we still miss him even though it's been almost a year.
All in all, they are the sweetest, most loving little creatures a person could own. They do make great pets and kids love to cuddle them. Outside their frequent broodiness, I see no down side to these gentle little creatures!
My grandson wanted me to write their names...Sally, Georgia, Molly, Maxine, Norie Jean, Big Red...

I have several Cochins, and by far they are my favorites!

As a gardener, I love my bantam cochins. I used to keep large fowl breeds, until getting a few of these on the recommendation from other gardeners. I wish I started out with this breed instead of large breeds. Before getting our first chickens, I had read a few books that claimed all bantams laid tiny eggs and pretty infrequently. My experience with Bantam Cochins has never been consistent with that. Maybe cochins from breeders are different, but I got my assorted varieties from Ideal Poultry who probably keep as productive of stock as possible in order to sell more chicks. My girls lay 4 to 5 eggs a week, plenty of eggs for our family of 4. Their eggs are between small to medium.

They make fabulous backyard chickens for small urban backyards. Our Cochins don't mind if they stay in the coop and run area all day, but they do enjoying free ranging when I am out in the garden with them. They are very friendly and seem to enjoy human attention. My kids like them especially well and like that they are easy for them to handle. When the Cochins are in our garden, they seem to do much less damage that our large breeds used to. It must be the shorter feathered feet. The make far less mess from scratching and munching.

They are also very quiet which is nice if you live close to neighbors. This is the quietest breed I have kept out of Barred Rock, Buff Orpington, Leghorn, Black Australorp, Easter Egger, and Sussex.

Bantam Cochins are my favorite chickens.
They are people friendly, don't fly off, are talkative and motivated, THE best broody hens I ever owned! My balls of fluff have incubated & hatched their own, turkey, peafowl and Ducks eggs for me! They incubate, brood and raise all their hatches for as long as the babies want them to mother them. The odd species they raise do not think they are chickens. They eventually wander away from their fluffy mama and live as their species intended.

My large fowl Cochins are, by far, my favorite breed. They are always the first to greet me and hop up in my lap for a pet. My rooster is a quiet, gentle giant. I would recommend Cochins to first time chicken keepers and those with children because they are so easy going. They are quite slow to grow though, their only drawback in my opinion.

I love Cochins, they are a great chicken! Very calm and docile, friendly, lay a good sized egg and they sure are cute and fluffy. They do very good in cold weather in their coop (-30 celcius at times), even though they have a heat lamp it is never used.

Very sweet natured and cuddly. Lay teeny tiny little eggs and hatch teeny tiny lil baby chooks. Rooster is glorious to look at and loves a cuddle. Not gluttonous and are quite selective in their eating habits. A great pleasure to share space with.

My cochins are excellent mothers and setters!

I have 3 - 1 Blue, 1 Splash and 1 Gold Laced the most beautiful hens I have, I put 2 in the local Fall Fair and they were a hit.

My first cochin was a plain little red girl, and she was the bomb. She raised three broods of chicks each year, and she'd come up when we called her name to get petted. Cochins make the best pet chickens, because they're so personable and sweet. They're calm around children and aren't flightly. They're just overall awesome chicks. I will be getting a couple more some day. :]

Beautiful chickens, just love watching them with all their fluff and feathers. Very sweet and gentle.

I've only had one of these. I wanted a big beautiful blue roo and found a handsome cockerel on CL. He was so sweet until he hit around 8 mos. He then came at me and the kids repeatedly despite all my efforts to break him of it. He ended up going to a free range flock home. I had always been told how docile this breed was so I was disappointed to say the least. I'd like to have a couple of hens some day though. I still think they're one of the prettiest birds out there.

I currently have 6 purebred cochins (all bantam) and one of those is frizzled. They are the quietest and calmest of my birds (except my Dominique hen) and the funnest to be around. I love the way they waddle when they run! If you are looking for production, however, they are not the breed to pursue: I find that pullets wait until 6+ months to begin laying, lay a small-medium egg, go broody a lot, and lay very sporadically in the winter, even with lights to supplement daylight. But, if you have kids, they are the breed to have as they make the perfect pet! They also seem to eat less than many other breeds. But my experience has been that they molt longer...I have a hen who is going on 2 months since her last egg and she still looks scraggly. Also they can be hard to breed because of the massive feathering on their, err....lady parts. Still worth it to have at least a few in your flock just to watch their antics and hug them!

Cochins are definately my absolute favorite breed! They are extremely friendly and make great pets, especially for kids. Mine come running when they see me, even the ones that weren't hand raised from chicks.

Theyre the cutest chicks, have lots of different color varieties and are very popular. I rarely hear anyone speak badly of them

I have two White Cochins that are now 9 months old. They are the sweetest most affectionate calm girls I have ever had. They were great chicks growing up and are great girls now! Princess went broody at 7 months. I would not let her sit, and I could not break her! finally after 8 weeks she gave up.

They do not seem to fight back when the rest of my flock are 'hen pecking' either. There is just no agression at all in these girls.

I love my Mille Fleur bantam Cochins. They are sweet and inquisitive and make just about zero ruckus. They are also beautiful. No problems with them so far. Out of all my birds, these are my favorite.

Cochins are the sweetest, most docile birds I own. Even the rooster and as chicks, they loved to be cuddled and loved attention. Great bird and beautiful too!

Big beautiful birds that come in any color in the rainbow. Huge balls of fluff that childeren and adults seem drawn to. Very friendly to humans, I have never met an aggressive Cochin and I have raised them for over 20 years. There may be one out there but I haven't seen it. The only con is that they arent the best layers. Love these birds!

I have Cochins and Cochin mixes in my backyard flock. They lay well every day without fail and started laying early. They are talkative and love to follow people around and just talk at them. Not an aggressive bone in their body. Even my rooster who is about 11 pounds is a push over and will let the little hens and smaller rooster push him around. They do go broody and love to sit on the eggs. My only solution for that since it's below zero is to pick up the eggs twice a day and that keeps her laying rather than sitting on the eggs.

My only gripe with these birds is that they are so smart they can find a way to get out of any enclosure I put them in. Even with wire on top and an enclosed coop they will find a way to get out and free range if that's what they want to do even if I'm not ready to let them yet. I have found them in the horse pasture under the car and all over the yard. It's totally fine but if they get out before laying their eggs then they will lay them all over the place. They are easy to catch though when I go out they run right up to me so no problem there, but be ready for an Easter egg hunt lol.