Cochin Thread!!!

[Black Cochin Bantams]

Hi everyone,
Forgive me for not reading all 8375 posts in this thread

but I figured this was the place to ask. I am planning on breeding some bantam cochins this year and I have a couple questions if someone has time to answer them.
1. Where can I find some pictures of good quality (not necessarily SQ but decent at least) Blues, Splash and Blacks, and what am I looking for for the most part? I know there are tons of photos in this thread, but I don't know what I am looking for. Body size? Stature? Tail?Wing? Toes? Etc. I also have some with the Frizzle dene, so any pics of those would be good too
2. If I were to sell hatching eggs, what would be a going price IF the birds are decent examples of the breed?
3. Who on here is the Bantam Cochin "go to?" I know I have seen some really gorgeous cochins on here but I can't remember who's they were

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to answer yet more questions

Here is my answer:

1 http://www.cochinsint.com This the Cochin International website. After you get to that site look on header and click on variety photos. Those are pictures of very good birds. Also on that heading is a heading of breed standards. There you can find what we all look for in a bird. If you posted pictures of your birds you can also get feedback about them on this thread.

2 My personal thoughts are not good on hatching eggs. If you had shown and done well with your birds you could possibly get a good price. Will you be trying to sell locally or have to ship. If you plan on shipping know the laws as some states are difficult to ship to legally. Are you NPIP? Are they going to be mixed mess of eggs or pure black , blue, splash breeding. All would affect how I view the product. Mixed yard chickens from birds of hatchery quality bring the least as they should. As to prices I would see what they go for here on BYC. I don't mess with shipping eggs at all,either buying or selling. I might trade eggs with another breeder I trust.

3 There are many people on this thread who have good birds on here. Cochinman2005, lilcrow, Mr. Ree, Coopa Cabana, myself and many many others.

Craig

 

[NYRIR]

Thanks a bunch! Yeah, for now they would be just locally sold, mixed color backyard chickens! But maybe in the future something better.
As for the link you gave me...it leads to this page when I click on it?
Thanks so much though, I will have to check out all those peoples Cochins!

 

[lilcrow]

Well new york, you just heard from one of the "go to" people in Cochins. I personally have a little difficulty with what I fear is your goal. It sounds like you plan to breed heavily and flood the market with inferior birds. My problem with this is that I try VERY hard to breed ever increasingly better birds - for show and the improvement of the breed/variety, and all the folks that BBC referred to are doing the same thing. What this means is that we have A LOT of birds to get rid of at the end of the year, and they are usually very good quality because they've survived all the culling which take place over the season. Some folks don't necessarily cull the same way and many, including myself, have been working all year to find pet homes for the stock they have been eliminating. I know there is a whirlwind of controversy around finding pet homes for culls, but I don't intend to discuss that here, my culls are better than any hatchery stock that is out there. So with all of this said, maybe you can understand why I have an issue with someone who wants to jump into the middle of our hard work and without knowing anything about the breed starting cranking out unknown numbers of birds that, as I said, are inferior in quality. If you don't know the breed, there is no way that you would be able to continue your breeding program and produce increasingly better birds. It takes a critical, at least moderately knowledgeable eye to make the decisions necessary to pair birds that will compliment each other. You can't just throw two birds together and expect to get better chicks than the parents.
If you're looking to make money from this venture, I'm afraid you've chosen the wrong path, there is no money in chickens, unless you plan to mass produce birds with no concern for their welfare. Any conscientious breeder will tell you that they've lost more money then they've made over the years. (However, I will say that there are good breeders out there that have been able to stay in the black or at least break even, they are better money managers than I am).
I'd like to encourage you to stay logged in here, participate in our discussions, and learn about the breed. Eventually you will begin to have an eye for what a Cochin should look like and what you would like to devote yourself to.

Thanks a bunch! Yeah, for now they would be just locally sold, mixed color backyard chickens! But maybe in the future something better.
As for the link you gave me...it leads to this page when I click on it?
Thanks so much though, I will have to check out all those peoples Cochins!

 

[Black Cochin Bantams]

Can anyone post a pick of a show quality black cochin bantam. im goin to a show breeders property to pick out some show birds and i want to make sure i get show quality birds and not his cull birds

This is the picture of one of my hens.

This is a picture of my first best of show Cochin in May 2011. I hatched her in 2008. I would call her a SQ Black.

 

[lilcrow]

OH!! Craig, she is just beautiful. I would be very interested in buying a couple of your girls that you're going to let go of, either from last year or this. I think you know I don't breed Blacks, they would be used in my Blue program.

This is a picture of my first best of show Cochin in May 2011. I hatched her in 2008. I would call her a SQ Black.

 

[Black Cochin Bantams]

OH!! Craig, she is just beautiful. I would be very interested in buying a couple of your girls that you're going to let go of, either from last year or this. I think you know I don't breed Blacks, they would be used in my Blue program.

Thank you. That girl will die of old age here. I culled almost all of my Blacks because of a breeding mistake I made several years ago. I bought several pairs from Tom and a pair from Al Prado recently to get my Blacks back on track. I can't express this enough that I have to cull all birds with weak eye color as it will come back to haunt me if I don't. My advice to all who want to hatch and raise good Cochins is to watch eye color closely and cull as necessary.

Craig

 

[mjgigax]

The chick picture of the Columbians and my caption says it all. Do not cull early except for genetic flaws. I also have to say I kept more with extra undercolor because I am trying to get birds with more dark feathers in the correct places. I can cull the ones that are too dark later. You have to keep the best typed birds and just continue to work on the color/pattern.

Craig

Sound advice.

 

[mjgigax]

Well new york, you just heard from one of the "go to" people in Cochins. I personally have a little difficulty with what I fear is your goal. It sounds like you plan to breed heavily and flood the market with inferior birds. My problem with this is that I try VERY hard to breed ever increasingly better birds - for show and the improvement of the breed/variety, and all the folks that BBC referred to are doing the same thing. What this means is that we have A LOT of birds to get rid of at the end of the year, and they are usually very good quality because they've survived all the culling which take place over the season. Some folks don't necessarily cull the same way and many, including myself, have been working all year to find pet homes for the stock they have been eliminating. I know there is a whirlwind of controversy around finding pet homes for culls, but I don't intend to discuss that here, my culls are better than any hatchery stock that is out there. So with all of this said, maybe you can understand why I have an issue with someone who wants to jump into the middle of our hard work and without knowing anything about the breed starting cranking out unknown numbers of birds that, as I said, are inferior in quality. If you don't know the breed, there is no way that you would be able to continue your breeding program and produce increasingly better birds. It takes a critical, at least moderately knowledgeable eye to make the decisions necessary to pair birds that will compliment each other. You can't just throw two birds together and expect to get better chicks than the parents.
If you're looking to make money from this venture, I'm afraid you've chosen the wrong path, there is no money in chickens, unless you plan to mass produce birds with no concern for their welfare. Any conscientious breeder will tell you that they've lost more money then they've made over the years. (However, I will say that there are good breeders out there that have been able to stay in the black or at least break even, they are better money managers than I am).
I'd like to encourage you to stay logged in here, participate in our discussions, and learn about the breed. Eventually you will begin to have an eye for what a Cochin should look like and what you would like to devote yourself to.

Yes, You can learn ALOT looking at the pictures and reading. There are many patient and honest yet kind people with lots of experience and true apprecian for this breed on this thread.

 

[mjgigax]

This is a picture of my first best of show Cochin in May 2011. I hatched her in 2008. I would call her a SQ Black.

Sigh! What an amazing bird.

 

[Mr. Ree]

Here are a couple pics of my Btm White Frizzle Cochins. And I noticed that someone mentioned birds with the frizzle gene and wanted to see some. First of all, if you know nothing about frizzles then I would suggest learning a bit about them first, they are not hard to breed or rais, but some info you really need to know. If you have any questions, PM and I will help you the best I can. But, I will say this: you can have a bird that carries the frizzle gene, and it not be frizzle. The bird doesnt have to be a frizzle to be carrying the gene, it just has to have the correct gene makeup to look "correct". Thats why it is important not to breed frizzles to one another, unless its your only choice, or plan to cull hard.

These pics were taken just a few days ago on 2-17.





~Casey