Cochin breeding, genetics, and showing

[cochinman2005]

Quote:
If your original hens have decent penciling I'd use them over the male you got from Jamie. You may want to try that same male over the best typed bird with poor color to see if you get some decent birds that way. I do recall the barring vs. penciling. When I had the Partridge bantams, some of the cockerels would carry female looking feathers in their wing bars and shoulders. That would be a male I'd look at to be a candidate for breeding females. Another common practice for breeding females would be to use a male with a bit of red ticking in the breast. He'll throw poorly colored males, but should throw some decently marked females. In your males look for evenness of color from head to saddle as far as the mahogany base goes. I always make sure to keep at least one back up male for breeding season. You don't want to run into a situation where something happens to the one you had your breeding program focused on.

Tom

 

[FairLeaBantams]

What happens when you breed a black (rooster) to a partridge (hen)? What about a blue rooster w/partridge hen?

 

[FairLeaBantams]

What happens if a black rooster is bred to a partridge hen, or a Blue rooster is bred to a partridge hen?

 

[just2rosey]

Quote:
Nope, I didn't think you were making disparaging remarks at all. She does have pretty good penciling, just too light in the ground color. you can still breed for feather mass and not AI. you'll just have to pluck some feathers around the vent on both the males and females. Fertility won't be quite as good as AI, but you should get fertile eggs. My birds can still breed even though I AI. I use AI to get in and out of breeding season quickly. I don't like stretching it out any longer than I have to because I wind up with too large a range of ages in the chicks, which causes problems when trying to pen them later on.

Right now I have 100% fertility with the breeding pair I pictured, without AI or plucking. which pleases me. In my unschooled opinion I think the pullet has pretty good type and decent penciling. I also think the male is weak behind so to speak, he isn't round enough. He was young when purchased him, and hasn't fluffed up as much as I had hoped. Is this a good assessment of my pair? Is the male to light in the hackle color like I suspect? I am trying to train my eye, so please feel free to critic my birds, I won't get offended, it is the only way to learn. I went to the VPBA show in November, but I had the only two partridge cochins, so I couldn't compare mine with others, which would really help train my eye. I just love this color, it is so beautiful!! I fall more in love with these guys everyday!! I can see my self really enjoying working on this color. I wish Ameraucana's came in partridge.

 

[lilcrow]

Quote:
If your original hens have decent penciling I'd use them over the male you got from Jamie. You may want to try that same male over the best typed bird with poor color to see if you get some decent birds that way. I do recall the barring vs. penciling. When I had the Partridge bantams, some of the cockerels would carry female looking feathers in their wing bars and shoulders. That would be a male I'd look at to be a candidate for breeding females. Another common practice for breeding females would be to use a male with a bit of red ticking in the breast. He'll throw poorly colored males, but should throw some decently marked females. In your males look for evenness of color from head to saddle as far as the mahogany base goes. I always make sure to keep at least one back up male for breeding season. You don't want to run into a situation where something happens to the one you had your breeding program focused on.

Tom

Thanks for your very helpful information. I just got a new camera and I think I got some good pictures today of both the good and the bad coloring on my original birds and some of this years pullets. As soon as I can figure out how to down load them I'll post some for your - or others critique.

 

[thecochincoop]

Quote:
black on partridge will give you black with gold leakage and the blue will give you 50/50 black and blue with gold leakage

 

[lilcrow]

OK, here are some pictures I took this afternoon. This is the hen I like for type, but her color is all wrong. You can see why I like her..........look at that face.

These pics show the barring up close

 

[DreadElliot]

Quote:
Very

What is she? Brown-Red?
You might want to post this on "the Cochin Thread."

Yes she is Brown-Red. Yes, I posted in the wrong place.

 

[cochinman2005]

Quote:
I would breed her to that male from Jamie. She is penciled, it's just so heavy that it appears barred in some sections. She does have very nice type, and I'd hatch as many as you can from her and then be really strict on culling.

 

[cochinman2005]

Quote:
Nope, I didn't think you were making disparaging remarks at all. She does have pretty good penciling, just too light in the ground color. you can still breed for feather mass and not AI. you'll just have to pluck some feathers around the vent on both the males and females. Fertility won't be quite as good as AI, but you should get fertile eggs. My birds can still breed even though I AI. I use AI to get in and out of breeding season quickly. I don't like stretching it out any longer than I have to because I wind up with too large a range of ages in the chicks, which causes problems when trying to pen them later on.

Right now I have 100% fertility with the breeding pair I pictured, without AI or plucking. which pleases me. In my unschooled opinion I think the pullet has pretty good type and decent penciling. I also think the male is weak behind so to speak, he isn't round enough. He was young when purchased him, and hasn't fluffed up as much as I had hoped. Is this a good assessment of my pair? Is the male to light in the hackle color like I suspect? I am trying to train my eye, so please feel free to critic my birds, I won't get offended, it is the only way to learn. I went to the VPBA show in November, but I had the only two partridge cochins, so I couldn't compare mine with others, which would really help train my eye. I just love this color, it is so beautiful!! I fall more in love with these guys everyday!! I can see my self really enjoying working on this color. I wish Ameraucana's came in partridge.

The pullet is fairly well marked and has pretty good ground color. I didn't get to look at them at our show. the male is shallow chested and doesn't have enough depth to his body in the keel. He sort of looks like a wedge and drops off under his tail too much. Unfortunately there aren't a whole bunch of bantam Partridge Cochins out there.