Cochin Thread!!!

[mystonedgarden]

Shouldn't your self-blues have slate legs?

I thought slate legs in cochins was a DQ and yellow was preffered....? idk im still learning, ill look up the standard and maybe someone with more experience will chime in.

 

[lilcrow]

Ok, thank you. I have a question. I just want to pretty much get cochins and breed for fun and experiment with colors. So, if I DID breed together colors that a breeder was doing for quality wouldn't, would it make the chicken be un-healthier?. In other words, breeding colors together that would otherwise be unacceptable, it wont have any affect on the birds health will it?

No unless you start experimenting with Frizzles. I don't recommend them until you've done a LOT of footwork to educate yourself on the genetics.

 

[lilcrow]

I agree with lilcrow. Self blues are technically blue, I will be breeding my self blue to some black hens and a blue hen to improve type. This will only result in splits but Ill eventually get some SB hopefully. I got lucky all of my hens have yellow feet, unlike my SB who has willow legs. Once again a great example that when possible, start with quality stock from reputable breeders. I will work with what I have. It's easier to find decent blacks than finding a SB COCHIN in my area.

I'm not certain here, but I believe you may have misunderstood me, or I wasn't very clear. Self-blue is actually NOT a Blue. {Sigh....} This gets so complicated to try and explain, but I'll give it another shot and try to be more clear. Blue Cochins are blue due to a gene called Andalusian. The Andalusian gene produces offspring that are either Blue, Black or Splash which is known as not "breeding true." I won't get into all the percentages of breeding within this variety as that is a story for another day. I will say that Blues are characterized by having (preferably) a medium shade of blue in the body, the head is nearly black and this black or very dark shade of blue extends down to the shoulders. Ideally each feather is laced or at least gives that appearance (again a discussion for another day). Self-blue is a product of the lavender gene and breeds true. Meaning if you breed SB to SB you will get SB. If you introduce a Blue that is genetically an Andalusian blue, well.............I don't know what you'd get, but either side of that - those breeding for Blues and those breeding for Self Blue now have a genetic conundrum. The SB is contaminated with the confusion of the Andalusian gene (blue-black-splash) and vice versa. Since the lavender gene acts as a diluting gene, breeding SB to Black is the only effective and genetically proper way to bring in the needed improvements that are sure to be necessary when working with this variety. mystonegarden is absolutely correct that her first generation or f1 will be phenotypically (outward looks) black, but will be genetically split (carry the recessive gene for lavender). If the f1's are bred together, which would most likely be the best cross so as to capitalize on the benefits contributed by the black, then there will be SB offspring from this mating. A breeder may need to repeat this Black/Self-Blue cross in the future as needed. I hope this will clear rather than muddy the water further. If not I'll keep trying, maybe by finding some links to better, more professional information on the subject.

 

[Sylviaanne]

In general yes, the “Chipmunk” like patterning on chick down(fluff) feathers shows that the bird is on an Eb or e+ base, although it may be split on that base and have any other patterns mixed in. I can show you a huge variety of chick down feathers that can be created through various combinations with partridge, I did a lot of test breeding to try and figure out what genes my birds were carrying and learnt a lot in the process.

As with a lot of things related to chickens, it is difficult to predict a hard and fast rule. For example me saying that the eye stripe is definitive is because it is for me and my birds, because I know what genes my birds are carrying. But that did involve hatching over 100 chicks from test breeding and breeding back to the parents.

A lot of the birds I hatched looked partridge when they were very young. And that is a sign of the base genes I was talking about earlier. They grew up into all sorts of variations on partridge though. So it isn’t a hard and fast prediction that you will have a flawless partridge. Only time will tell that.

Partridge birds look best after first or even second moult between 12 months to a 24 months. So it is a difficult variety to breed(like a lot of patterned varieties), because as breeders we have to keep them a lot longer than a black or white to see if they have potential.

Sorry I got carried away there, if they come out looking like little Chipmunks, then they will be on either of the two bases mentioned, which means the parents will carry those genes even if they do not display them on the outside. To really see what they are carrying, you could keep males and females that hatch and look like partridge and breed them back together, that will show you for sure which genes are causing that look.

Hope that helps.

Andy

This kind of stuff makes my head spin but each time someone explains I understand a bit more. Thank you.

 

[cabinchicky]

Sylviaanne thank you for that info!! So my black is really a blue. I ordered 3 blues, 2 were the blue one is black. But following what you posted she is blue although her feathers are black. My blue does have the darker blue lacing type look to her feathers. Thank you again !!

 

[lilcrow]

Sylviaanne thank you for that info!! So my black is really a blue. I ordered 3 blues, 2 were the blue one is black. But following what you posted she is blue although her feathers are black. My blue does have the darker blue lacing type look to her feathers. Thank you again !!

Here we go with yet another confusing fact about Blue, Black, Splash. Blues are Blue, Splash is the doubled gene of Blue, but Black is Black. You will never get a Blue bird from breeding two blue-bred Blacks. They act genetically like any another Black. However if they are very good, they do have a place in the breeding pen; for that matter, several different breeding programs.

 

[Black Cochin Bantams]

I thought slate legs in cochins was a DQ and yellow was preffered....? idk im still learning, ill look up the standard and maybe someone with more experience will chime in.

You are correct. Yellow or dusky yellow is correct leg color. fhttp://www.backyardchickens.com/t/222829/self-blue-cochin-bantams A great page for anyone interested in Self Blue..

 

[austinbndr28]

Yesterday i got 12 cochin's! A trio of standard partridge, a trio of standard black, and 6 bantam black(1 rooster 5 hens).

 

[SternRose]

Nice looking birds! Show birds?

 

[austinbndr28]

Nice looking birds! Show birds?

Thanks! I don't think they are show quality but I don't plan on showing never have shown before, but maybe one day!