Cochin Thread!!!

[joanie_maine]

This is my partridge roo.

 

[cochinman2005]

Quote:
She shows some pretty good penciling in the breast. Centers of the hackle need to be solid instead of the multiple pencilings. I do like her base color, it's more the mahogany that you are looking for. She lacks depth to her body. Not much fluff, but also you see that alot with the rarer varieties. Matching her up to a good typed male will help the overall type. She's not horrible, just lacks the body fluff that is a desired Cochin characteristic.

I'm surprised to hear that... especially the part that she not horrible... she was from a hatchery...

I thought I knew better and was buying my laying hens and saw the tub with the cute little ones... and bought some... guess I lucked out

I would have guessed hatchery bird actually. The hatchery Partridge Cochins tend to be more tight feathered and lack the depth to their bodies.

 

[cochinman2005]

Quote:
Joanie,
Can't tell much about type from that photo, but he looks like he is fairly good in that department. I'll try to take some close up pictures of saddle and hackle feathers on the males to give you an idea of what to look for. Does he have a solid black breast or does he have a bit of red ticking in his breast? For show you want solid black, but some red ticking in the chest is good for producing better colored females.

Tom

 

[Shannonmeans]

Quote:
Joanie,
Can't tell much about type from that photo, but he looks like he is fairly good in that department. I'll try to take some close up pictures of saddle and hackle feathers on the males to give you an idea of what to look for. Does he have a solid black breast or does he have a bit of red ticking in his breast? For show you want solid black, but some red ticking in the chest is good for producing better colored females.

Tom

Cochinman, do you ever sell hatching eggs? I would love to get some if so. Maybe when it cools off in the fall. Maybe even more than one variety.

 

[cochinman2005]

Quote:
I use droppers like this one. You can get them at most pharmacy stores. They are glass and you can rewash them. I've got a couple I've had for a 2 or 3 years. Normally during breeding season, I pick a couple nights a week where I'll AI the birds. Since I have both Large Fowl and Bantam I usually AI Large Fowl on say Tuesday, Bantams on Wednesday, and then repeat on Friday and Saturday so that they are done twice a week.

http://kitkraft.biz/catalog/Glass_Eye_Dropper-p-1456.html

 

[cochinman2005]

Quote:
Joanie,
Can't tell much about type from that photo, but he looks like he is fairly good in that department. I'll try to take some close up pictures of saddle and hackle feathers on the males to give you an idea of what to look for. Does he have a solid black breast or does he have a bit of red ticking in his breast? For show you want solid black, but some red ticking in the chest is good for producing better colored females.

Tom

Cochinman, do you ever sell hatching eggs? I would love to get some if so. Maybe when it cools off in the fall. Maybe even more than one variety.

Normally I do not. And certainly not in the fall. I breed only in the spring. I keep the males in individual pens so wouldn't have any fertile eggs anyway, and most of my stuff is pretty much done laying for the year as far as bantams go. Contact me in the spring and if the timing is good and I've got some extra eggs I will consider selling eggs. Normally I sell adult birds only. So why not eggs? I raise several breeds, and at least a couple varieties in those breeds. I want to get in and out of breeding season as quickly as possible, so if I am saving a dozen eggs of variety X to put in the mail, that's a dozen eggs I didn't set for myself, and I try to keep to a goal as far as how many I hatch of the different breeds/varieties. I also want my chicks of each variety to be as close in age as possible so that I can run them together as they mature. Birds of the same color tend to do better than running multiple colors together (my experience), so having groups that are roughly the same age is key. And since I am working to improve my lines, if I am selling eggs, I may very well be sending an egg to someone that will hatch that one bird that I've been working to get for 5 years.
In the end, you'll wind up with a better start in a breed by getting adults from breeders anyway. Two reasons: 1) If the breeder has them around by the fall they've at least made the cut per his or her culling process, and 2) You get to see and select what your parent stock is.
I do ship, but I prefer to deliver to shows that I attend because that way you can see what you are getting before you buy it. Pictures are okay, but seeing and handling a bird is better.

 

[Shannonmeans]

Quote:
Cochinman, do you ever sell hatching eggs? I would love to get some if so. Maybe when it cools off in the fall. Maybe even more than one variety.

Normally I do not. And certainly not in the fall. I breed only in the spring. I keep the males in individual pens so wouldn't have any fertile eggs anyway, and most of my stuff is pretty much done laying for the year as far as bantams go. Contact me in the spring and if the timing is good and I've got some extra eggs I will consider selling eggs. Normally I sell adult birds only. So why not eggs? I raise several breeds, and at least a couple varieties in those breeds. I want to get in and out of breeding season as quickly as possible, so if I am saving a dozen eggs of variety X to put in the mail, that's a dozen eggs I didn't set for myself, and I try to keep to a goal as far as how many I hatch of the different breeds/varieties. I also want my chicks of each variety to be as close in age as possible so that I can run them together as they mature. Birds of the same color tend to do better than running multiple colors together (my experience), so having groups that are roughly the same age is key. And since I am working to improve my lines, if I am selling eggs, I may very well be sending an egg to someone that will hatch that one bird that I've been working to get for 5 years.
Thanks, but I live a long way away in Texas so I don't think I would be able to come to the same shows that you go to. Maybe when you decide who has to go you could email me some pictures and I could buy some adults then. Thanks again, Shannon
In the end, you'll wind up with a better start in a breed by getting adults from breeders anyway. Two reasons: 1) If the breeder has them around by the fall they've at least made the cut per his or her culling process, and 2) You get to see and select what your parent stock is.
I do ship, but I prefer to deliver to shows that I attend because that way you can see what you are getting before you buy it. Pictures are okay, but seeing and handling a bird is better.

 

[bgmama]

We have standard splash cochins that my daughter showed at two different county fairs, one in Junior Show, and the other in an Open show. We took a splash cock and one hen out of 5 she has here at home. At the Open Show the judge DQ a splash cock and hen that another exhibitor had that was related to ours. He said the feet need to be yellow. It just so happened as a fluke that both ours had yellow feet but they do have a somewhat bluish tinge on the shanks. Is this normal for splash? The judge said they need to eat corn. Ours do eat feed with corn! I came home and looked at our other hens and indeed they had blue tinged feet. I now have seprated the good color feet from the bad for the breeding pen. I just hatched out three chicks and one does have blue feet the other has yellow with blue shanks. Can anybody help? We will just eat the eggs from the blue foot hens and only breed the others. What is the standard of perfection? We are new to the chicken world should I say "addiction" so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[cochinman2005]

Leg and Shank color for Cochins is yellow, or dusky yellow depending upon the variety. Blacks tend to have dusky yellow shanks and feet, but should definitely have yellow bottoms to their feet.

The Standard of Perfection is the book published by the American Poultry Association that describes all the breeds and the varieties, identifies defects and disqualifications, and provides the shape and color descriptions for the ideal bird of that breed/variety, which would be the goal to strive for when breeding for exhibition or adherence to the standard. It is available from the APA. Just google American Poultry Association. They have an on-line store.

 

[joanie_maine]

Quote:
Joanie,
Can't tell much about type from that photo, but he looks like he is fairly good in that department. I'll try to take some close up pictures of saddle and hackle feathers on the males to give you an idea of what to look for. Does he have a solid black breast or does he have a bit of red ticking in his breast? For show you want solid black, but some red ticking in the chest is good for producing better colored females.

Tom

I put a better picture of him on my BYC page.