Breeding silkied Cochin bantams to the Standard

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Up first, my blue pen hatches!

The 'keeper' 19.5 week olds from my Easter hatch, the ones hatched from my selected birds versus the others that were hatched from cull hens.

The pullet is shaping up really nicely! She has good fluff and width for her age and she's starting to round out nicely. Wing set leaves a bit to be desired and there's some slip there, though she may be growing feathers in still so that could be something that corrects over time. Overall, I really like her!

This first cockerel I really liked, but he's developed a sprig on the back of his comb which is a disqualification. Darn.

Closer look at the back of his comb. I believe that indentation along the side is what's called a thumb mark?

Easter cockerel number 2 doesn't have a great comb, either, but no DQs that I've noticed and he's developed a nicely shaped head and good bulk to him. He definitely needs time to fill out, though!

I don't really have many notes on the rest of these guys as they're still a bit young, but here are the blue bander 14-ish week olds:

The 12-ish week olds:

This little guy appears to have developed a duck foot, a shame because I really like his shade of blue

And the youngest blue banders, the 8 week olds. This cockerel is I think the only Black I hatched out of the blue coop other than the cull pullet posted before.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Green banders up next! These guys are also a bit on the younger side, so I've made note of defects and such, but not much to say about them, either.

The 13-ish week olds:

I can't decide if this cockerel is developing duck foot as well or what, his hind toes kind of don't spread well from his inner toes when he walks and stands. So this guy may end up a cull:

Liking how this girl poses already:

The 12-week-olds hatched by my Splash hen, Opal. That girl hatched 5 chicks and all 5 are pullets, can you believe that?!

This little lady unfortunately might be developing a wry tail, I haven't decided for sure if that's what I'm seeing

And the 10-ish week olds. That poor cockerel still has such a naked booty

 

[Egg Snatcher]

If you don’t mind explaining, what is duck foot?

 

[Egg Snatcher]

And beautiful grow outs!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Lastly, the red banders! I only hatched one batch from my red coop, so these babes are all around 12 and a half weeks old, also a bit young for much of anything notes wise.

I took really poor notes on these guys when they hatched and didn't take very many pictures of them when they were in the brooder, so I don't remember how many were Blue and how many were Black, but I thiiink there were 3 Blues and 2 Blacks? I believe these are my two Blacks:

These three I'm confident are Blues:

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

If you don’t mind explaining, what is duck foot?

Duck foot is when the hind toe points forward like this when the bird is standing naturally:

It's a disqualification according to the ABA (probably according to the APA as well, but I only have the ABA standard to reference). It's also a recessive gene as I understand it, which means it's a pain in the butt to get rid of, too

 

[Egg Snatcher]

Duck foot is when the hind toe points forward like this when the bird is standing naturally:



It's a disqualification according to the ABA (probably according to the APA as well, but I only have the ABA standard to reference). It's also a recessive gene as I understand it, which means it's a pain in the butt to get rid of, too

Oh ok.

Yeah recessive genes are a PAIN!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

For sure!

At least, unwanted ones are! We love the recessive silkie-feather gene here, of course

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

@pipdzipdnreadytogo Your birds are so adorable! Cochin Bantams would be one of the breeds I would breed to the standard if I had space and time. I have heard their appearance is hard to get correct though, is that true? I am assuming because of the specific body posture, round tail, and backward-pointing feathered feet they have to possess.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I'm not sure I can answer you on that, to be honest. This is only my second year of pairing and hatching from my own birds, after all! The shape does seem a bit tricky on them, only because there are so many factors involved in getting it just right. The size and shape of the cushion and tail, how the tail meets the body, the depth of the chest to disguise the legs, the feathering of the legs and feet, the shape of the back, how the neck arches, the shape of the head and beak, the width and roundness of the bird from various angles, the depth of their fluff, etc. I have heard that it can take many, many years of work to start a line and get it up to show quality. But, I imagine that's the case with any breed, really!

If there's anything I've definitely learned from the past two years, it's that properly breeding chickens toward a standard in general takes a lot more hard work than you'd expect looking at it from the surface, requires a ton of investment into hatching out a whole lot of chicks and growing them out long enough to assess them and keep back the best, and as a result gives you so many tough calls on which birds to keep and which birds to cut out of your program, some of which can be heartbreaking if you allow yourself to grow too attached to your grow outs too soon. Seeing the results of that hard work, watching each generation improve even a little bit on the last, along with my personal dedication to preserving this variety that I simply adore, is rewarding enough to make it all worthwhile to me. But the level of dedication and investment it takes is something you should keep in mind before you get into breeding toward the standard, and be ready for if you do.