Cochin Bantams and Frizzle Cochin Bantams!!

[WestKnollAmy]

Wow! Thanks for all your replies and info. Cochins are one of my favorite breeds. I had a roo who was the absolute best ever! Sadly he took his job seriously and was on the losing end of a hawk attack. Saved his girls though. I sell eggs so first had to get my flick up to snuff on that end. Now I don't have much room, but tge space I have is reserved for cochins. I prefer the calico over the millie fleur, lol, as I said I'm not in it for show or breeding. Just am a crazy chicken lady who has her heart set on a couple of these calico beauties. If anyone has a couple females down the road that need a great home, please let me know. As much as I love them a $100 a girl is a bit steep for me as a nonbreeder, lol. My dream world would be female chicks. Straight run, I suppose, is more likely. Thanks for all the great info!!

I can say that as a breeder my girls are pretty well up there in price. I would love to have enough girls to sell only them and not have to sell roos with them but as it is I hatch out about 50% of both genders and most people prefer girls. Even selling trios makes it very hard for me to move the extra roos and often a lot of beautiful boys wind up on the dinner table.

 

[mindylee]

Here's a few of my calico/millie hens. I do believe the blue millie is a true millie (2nd to last pic) but here's a few examples. I have 19 total calicos/millies with 4 being roos.
What do ya guys think!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Not sure what you mean by true MF but she isn't as well colored as a MF should be. She is still showing black in her hackles and has some streaking in her coloring but she looks very pretty. All your birds are pretty colored.
I like the calicos!
The top 2 photos of the MF hens look like some very good material to breed from. With a good rooster you should get some offspring that look even more MF. Getting the white tips on each feather tip is hard.

 

[TeaChick]

Here's a few of my calico/millie hens. I do believe the blue millie is a true millie (2nd to last pic) but here's a few examples. I have 19 total calicos/millies with 4 being roos.
What do ya guys think!

They're all extremely beautiful!!!
I want a smooth roo and a hen or two.

Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[mindylee]

Here's 3 of my roos, They was sold to me as millies, But with the amount of white, I call them calicos. I have another roo that is better colored with no white in his wings and like him much better. I traded a ugly lil roo for him cause he was very mean. I get him home and he's so sweet. Must of hated his prev owner. LOL!

 

[TeaChick]

Here's 3 of my roos, They was sold to me as millies, But with the amount of white, I call them calicos. I have another roo that is better colored with no white in his wings and like him much better. I traded a ugly lil roo for him cause he was very mean. I get him home and he's so sweet. Must of hated his prev owner. LOL!

I'm interested in a roo with some color. You can PM me if you have any you don't want.

 

[CeeJ]

I understand bantam cochins are hard to sex. My hubby gifted me 25 bantam frizzle cochins for christmas! They will be arriving Jan 9th. At what age will I be able to sex them? I do not have room for 25 more chickens, especially roos, which I'm guessing most will be. I will want to keep 2 of each color hen and sell the rest. Any suggestions?

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Bantam Cochins are the easiest birds to tell gender on. At 2 weeks old the cockerels start showing a red comb and the pullets still have a small tan line for the comb.

 

[jajeanpierre]

I understand bantam cochins are hard to sex. My hubby gifted me 25 bantam frizzle cochins for christmas! They will be arriving Jan 9th. At what age will I be able to sex them? I do not have room for 25 more chickens, especially roos, which I'm guessing most will be. I will want to keep 2 of each color hen and sell the rest. Any suggestions?

They are easy to sex.

Before you sell any cockerels, think very carefully about where they are going. No one wants cockerels except to eat. Once in awhile, a breeder of outstanding birds will be able to rehome an unwanted cockerel to another fancier and knows the bird won't end up in a pot. People just don't keep cockerels as cute pets. They eat them, regardless of how often they say it will be a pet for their children. Since your birds are likely going into a pot, it might as well be your pot. Think seriously on this. There is a BYC forum specifically set up for weenies like me who have are far removed from processing a live animal into dinner.

People on the Silkie threads were aghast at my suggestion, claiming they make sure they sell them for $10 or $15 to avoid them being slaughtered. Do an internet search and you find processed Silkies sell for up to $40 apiece. Cochins aren't Silkies, but older chickens raised on good food taste so much richer than store-bought mush. I can see someone happily paying much more per pound, especially if they aren't in a position to raise their own meat birds or just don't want to.

I've also heard of people who just "set them free" to fend for themselves. The birds hang around for a few days, and then miraculously they are gone. They supposedly love their birds too much to slaughter and process them humanely, letting nature take care of the dirty work. In other words, allowing a hawk, a dog or a raccoon to rip their birds apart, birds they love too much to humanely dispatch.

You can often find a place that will professionally slaughter and process them for a fee. I wasn't so lucky, I ended up doing processing my unwanted Silkie cockerels myself. They were incredibly tasty, though. I had forgotten what chicken actually tasted like after eating grocery store mush for years. As an added bonus, I knew they had been raised kindly, had had a wonderful life, eaten healthy foods and run around my yard being chickens. They had a great life except for one bad day, and the bad part of that day was only a minute.

Sorry for the depressing discussion, but it is the reality of keeping chickens. For every pullet, there will be an unwanted cockerel.

 

[gimmie birdies]

yes I agree soo much- when people think they are buying a pullet from a hatchery because they don't want to hatch, because some may be males- at the hatchery 1/2 were male you just didn't buy that half.