- Feb 19, 2009
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I have been working on the Large Mottled Cochins for three years now starting with a black cockerel that was split to mottled. From that I bred him back to his daughters of which there were two different matings and most of the chicks came out mottled in the F2s. This year I am breeding 5 different bloodlines by crossing to other black cochin lines and line breeding the original three lines I produced. So far I have 14 cockerels and 10 pullets that are about 3 months old and a bunch of new chicks hatching each week. The hens are laying well now and they are very fertile so far with excellent hatchability.
The chicks are easy to tell if they express the mottling gene as they will have mottled skin on the shanks and toes and as they begin to feather they will have quite a bit of white tipped feathers, more so than pure blacks.
There are several of us on the forum working on large mottleds; Jamie Matts, Tom Roebuck are two that I am sure of and there may be others. Not sure if they are raising them in saleable numbers but we are working towards a qualifying meet in a couple of years.
They are a beautiful bird and if I can figure out how to do it, I will post some pictures when they get closer to maturity. So far, I am very pleased with the results and have several promising birds to take to Indianapolis in October.
Bo
The chicks are easy to tell if they express the mottling gene as they will have mottled skin on the shanks and toes and as they begin to feather they will have quite a bit of white tipped feathers, more so than pure blacks.
There are several of us on the forum working on large mottleds; Jamie Matts, Tom Roebuck are two that I am sure of and there may be others. Not sure if they are raising them in saleable numbers but we are working towards a qualifying meet in a couple of years.
They are a beautiful bird and if I can figure out how to do it, I will post some pictures when they get closer to maturity. So far, I am very pleased with the results and have several promising birds to take to Indianapolis in October.
Bo