Breeding question on bantam cochins

[tiki244]

I have some new cochins to add into my flock. The new ones have very nice tails, but their combs are not quite right. The old cochins are very good, but their tails arent quite high enough. Otherwise they are good quality show birds. My question is,,,,,,,,Would it be better to have the male with the good tail over the hens from the old stock. Or would it be better to have the hens with the good tails matched to the roo from the original stock. Or doesnt it matter which? Thanks

 

[tiki244]

I will try this one more time and see if anyone has any suggestions

 

[Goose and Fig]

I breed mine more for color and temperment- but they are not for show. I read somewhere that tha APA has a book/list of breed standards. If you want to acheive that quality I'd find it. I'm going to look for it to for future references. Love those cochin banty babies!

 

[tiki244]

They are sweetys thats for sure. I was reading this forum and I heard the hen passes on type more than the rooster. Hmmmmmm Anyone else hear this?

 

[Goose and Fig]

I hatched 2 bators full of black cochin roo (banty) x white cochin hen (banty). All the chicks were black with some white wing tips- they might be mottled/penciled? It's hard to tell yet who they take after-besides color. I only kept one chick- can't wait to see how she turns out!

 

[tiki244]

I know,,,they are so cute as babies, yet I want to see how they turn out as adults. All my blacks have white wing tips when they are young, then feather out all black as the moult into adult feathers. Could be the next generation might show something different.

 

[Bo Garrett]

Type is not a sex-linked trait thus you need a male and a female of good type to produce chicks of consistent good type. Understand that two excellent birds may never produce an excellent chick but if the two parents are very good the chances increase that the chicks will be as well. Heritability of some traits is higher than others in all species but it has been 20 years since I had any genetics courses and they were not focused on poultry unfortunately. I will go so far as to let you know that you do not want cochins with a high tail setting. The ABA and APA standards require cochins to have a low tail carriage and for the feathers to be short and broad, covered by the tail coverts and lesser sickle feathers, in other words if you can't see a cochin's tail feathers it is a good thing. The cushion, however should be very full and wide, the cushion are the feathers on the back of the bird which should rise up from the base of the hackle (neck) feathers and be at a height level with the eye of the bird. In cochins roundness is the ideal and lack of roundness, which is type, is frowned upon severely. Use the best females and the best males based on the standard description in your breeding program and they should produce some chicks of equal quality.

Bo

 

[The Wolf Queen]

Im no expert but I would say breed both original hens to a new roo and the other way around then only out of the new generation only breed the ones with good combs and tails. Im not sure if you know this but it wont hurt to breed family to family for a few generations. Then if that works, later on look around for new birds that are show quality and then introduce those lines to your line and see what happens.

 

[Goose and Fig]

you do not want cochins with a high tail setting

Cool- looks like I might have done SOMETHING right with my first few hatches!​

 

[tiki244]

Thanks guys. Some good advice here. I am not so familiar with the correct terms in describing the parts of the bird, but I am getting a better picture now. I will mark each bird according to family line so as not to get them mixed up. These are good cochins to start with. I think I should post some pictures to see what people think of them, their tails/cushions and combs and bodies. Again thanks alot.