Cochin bantam chick development

[BarbuDeWatermaelLover]

Hi Cochin lovers! I've gotten an incubator a while ago and decided to hatch some cochin chicks. While they are growing up, I keep on searching for pictures of cochin chicks to try and find out what color and gender they are. I thought to myself, why not create a thread where others can find my chicks developing? I am sure there are lots of chick parents who are curious about their little chicken's development too and would like to compare theirs to mine. I have found only 2 threads doing what I am about to do. I will include chatgtp's prediction too to see how accurate it is.

So... I went to the farmer and got 10 eggs. He said: "you've gotten eggs from brown, grey and other hens"
On day 4 of incubation, one grey chick hatched! Noone had told me the eggs were in different stages.
The second chick hatched on day 19. The rest of them hatched on day 21. I have now 7 chicks.

 

[ChickenChick46]

I can't wait to see your little ones! I have cochins as well. Just 2 at the moment, both are red. Anne is almost 8 weeks old, and my baby is 2 weeks. I'm happy to share pictures if you like.

These are all my first chickens, so I don't have experience with other breeds and their temperaments, but Anne is the sweetest thing! You'll love bantam cochins. I'm happy to help with colors too, if you need it, that is. I'll do the best I can, lol.

 

[BarbuDeWatermaelLover]

I didn't get pictures of them all right after their birth, but we'll talk about each chick individually.

Grey: at birth you could see tiny spikes on the comb. It was small and laying down on his tiny head. Was born on day 4.

Dark brown: Pretty patridge pattern, no visible spikes on the comb. One eye isn't able to open fully. This chick was born 2 days before the other 5.

Light brown with stripes: no visible spikes on comb. Was born with leg issues but I fixed it in two days.

Light brown without stripes: no visible spikes on comb.
Blonde with brown neck: no visible spikes on comb
Blonde (Éclair): visible spikes on comb
Black: visible spikes on comb

 

[BarbuDeWatermaelLover]

When they were a few days old, I took more pictures. Here they are 4-6 days old.

The blonde and brown ones are getting white and brown feathers. The comb "spikes" that were there got a little bigger. The chick light brown without stripes now has those spikes too. I am bad at wing sexing, and I don't think it's possible with these guys but I tried, haven't gotten any wiser though.

 

[BarbuDeWatermaelLover]

Now we have the - 2 weeks old - pictures:

Grey: I think it's going to be a lavender chicken, which I love! Calm and loving chick, loves to be on my arm. Me and chatgtp say cockerel.

Dark brown: I think it's patridge? But chatgtp gives me patridge as well as mille fleur. This one still doesn't show any comb. He does peck back when Éclair starts a fight. He is pretty active, a wild child. Screams when I pick him up. Me and chatgtp say Pullet.

Light brown with stripes (handi file name): here chatgtp says it's mille fleur or patridge pullet, I think mille fleur pullet. Still no comb. Truely calm and submissive chick, but does get scared easily.

Light brown without stripes: comb spikes and mille fleur pattern? He is medium active and submissive, screams less when picked up. I really wouldn't be able to guess the gender, chatgtp thinks cockerel.

Blonde with brown spot on neck (looking at the right side on the pic): now has brown feathers with white tips and black details. I don't know what it's going to become, maybe buff? Chatgtp thinks it's buff columbian pullet. It's a calm one and likes to sit on branches. Has no comb still, so I say pullet too.

Eclair (fully white long neck) has pretty white and dark brown feathers. Comb more visible than the others, stands upright and fights a lot with my grey baby. He is really dominant and jumps on the others from miles away. Pecks at me when picked up. I say cockerel, chatgtp too.

Black: Visible comb got bigger. Has black and white feathers on his feet and wings. I think he is a black chicken. Chatgtp thinks black motted cockerel. I think it's a cockerel although he is behaving like a female chick would. Occasionally he fights with Éclair.

I know it's way too early to say anything about gender, but I'd love to see how much of it I guessed right, and how much chatgtp got right.

 

[BarbuDeWatermaelLover]

I can't wait to see your little ones! I have cochins as well. Just 2 at the moment, both are red. Anne is almost 8 weeks old, and my baby is 2 weeks. I'm happy to share pictures if you like.

These are all my first chickens, so I don't have experience with other breeds and their temperaments, but Anne is the sweetest thing! You'll love bantam cochins. I'm happy to help with colors too, if you need it, that is. I'll do the best I can, lol.

I would love to see them! I've lost my cochin Poppy in June, she was 8 years old. I love their calm presence in the flock so I wanted some more and using the incubator was a good excercise to start breeding my beloved Barbu de Watermael. I would love help with colors too!

 

[BarbuDeWatermaelLover]

Right now they are 2.5 weeks old and the grey one is 5 weeks old. I will attach his pictures of week 4 and 5 as well. Grey one got wattles and a bigger pink comb at 3.5 weeks. I think it's a cockerel. The others have a comb that's still pale at 2.5 weeks.

The IMG images: the different types of combs I see (spikes vs no spikes)

chick 1 = grey
chick 2 = dark brown
chick 3 = eclair
chick 4 = blonde with brown neck
chick 5 = light brown no stripes
chick 6 = black
chick 7 = light brown with stripes

 

[ChickenChick46]

I would love to see them! I've lost my cochin Poppy in June, she was 8 years old. I love their calm presence in the flock so I wanted some more and using the incubator was a good excercise to start breeding my beloved Barbu de Watermael. I would love help with colors too!

The first 2 pictures are the baby, and Anne is in the last picture with her flock mates. My little cockerel is a Self Blue d'Uccle. Your little one with the comb looks similar to how mine did at the same age, minus the muffs and beard. He's so cute!

I've got 2 other d'Uccles as well, and tomorrow I'm getting 4 more that are 8 weeks old. They'll be my project, once I get this genetics thing figured out a bit more, lol.

 

[BarbuDeWatermaelLover]

The first 2 pictures are the baby, and Anne is in the last picture with her flock mates. My little cockerel is a Self Blue d'Uccle. Your little one with the comb looks similar to how mine did at the same age, minus the muffs and beard. He's so cute!

I've got 2 other d'Uccles as well, and tomorrow I'm getting 4 more that are 8 weeks old. They'll be my project, once I get this genetics thing figured out a bit more, lol.

Oh they are beautiful! I need to get genetics figured out too, I don't know where to find any info on my rare breed though. I'll have to ask my chickens breeder.

 

[ChickenChick46]

Oh they are beautiful! I need to get genetics figured out too, I don't know where to find any info on my rare breed though. I'll have to ask my chickens breeder.

It's difficult to understand it all. The genetics of d'Uccles go far more in-depth than I imagined.