Cochin Thread!!!

[MrsChickendad]

Very easy to follow bathing instructions anyone can use! Any particular TV programs? . . . I'm thinking maybe Animal Planet?

How about "My Cat from Hell"? It might make the chickens feel superior . . .

 

[ki4got]

I fill up the kitchen sinks with warm water, put some Dawn dishwashing liquid in one, vinegar in the other. Plop the bird in, make sure they can feel the bottom, and work on the topside while the feet are soaking. Might not be a bad idea to wash them with flea and tick shampoo. I use an old toothbrush or soft nail brush on their feet, but the poo softens up quickly. Rinse with sink sprayer, finish up in vinegar water. Wrap the bird in an old towel. I hold them on my lap in the towel and use the blow dryer on them while we both watch TV. They LOVE the blow dryer, just keep it low so it doesn't burn.

ok thanks. while bathing the roo i noticed lice or mites... not sure which, but skinny longish (like 1-2mm) bugs in the feathers. 8/ i think the hen may have MORE of a problem with that, as her comb and facial skin are real pale...

considering their condition i'm not horribly surprised. i'm wondering if i could use the ivermectin injectable as a spot on? i have injectable as i use it orally for the dogs and horses' worming routines, mixed with a hummingbird nectar concentrate to make it sweeter (it's normally very bitter). i've used it on my other chickens for worms, double diluted (.5 ml solution to 5 ml nectar and 5 ml water, dose bantam cochin about .2 ml works out to about the equivalent of 1m/100 pounds of body weight (same as for cattle, but easier to measure per pound of chicken)

oh and why the vinegar and how much? i didn't catch that part before... so if he's nearly dry should i go back and bath again? i also don't have a hair dryer, but i wrapped him in a towel for a while now he's in one of the brooders (until i'm done with the breeding pen) and having a blast with the clean shavings...

qualify this as TMI if you want, but I also think he's got worms, he's got REAL wet poops (projectile) and quite loud (chicken farts?).

but i think he enjoyed his bath. i put him in the sink, and he didnt say a word until i accidentally pulled a feather near his vent. (it had a clod) rinsed him super well, turned him over and re-soaped and washed his feet and vent again and rinsed under the running faucet again. LOL i think he enjoyed the pampering.

 

[bantyman]

Hey all

I have a question for some of the gurus I am thinking about getting some eggs with one of the parents being smooth and the other a frizzle How many generations will it take to get the frizzle out to where it dont show up anymore ? Or will it still show up from time to time even when bred back to nothing but smooths I am hoping to get an answer I can live with cause I dont want the frizzles and these are the only eggs of this variety that I have found Please somebody help me

Mike

 

[Funky Feathers]

Sounds like lice, but they could have both. They are VERY bad this year. Mild winter and dampness. I use dog/cat flea shampoo for that. Yes you can use the Ivermectin as a spot on. A drop on the back of the neck, a drop under each wing and a drop near the vent. Maybe a few days later powder them w/poultry lice dust. Dust their pen too.

BTW, that Roo looks very nice (quality).

 

[ki4got]

Hey all

I have a question for some of the gurus I am thinking about getting some eggs with one of the parents being smooth and the other a frizzle How many generations will it take to get the frizzle out to where it dont show up anymore ? Or will it still show up from time to time even when bred back to nothing but smooths I am hoping to get an answer I can live with cause I dont want the frizzles and these are the only eggs of this variety that I have found Please somebody help me

Mike

easy nuff... don't breed to a frizzled, and you won't get a frizzled. it's a dominant gene, so if you don't see it, you won't get it.

i just bought a pair today (white) the roo is absolutely gorgeous, the hen a frizzle. i'm not a frizzle fan, but i can hatch a bunch, find a girl i like and use her to breed back to him, end of problem. then this frizzle girl can find a new home.

i got the pair because i love HIM... IMO he's every bit show quality. once he moults out the discolored and damaged feathers, i thinkhe'll prove even nicer.

 

[ki4got]

oh, and on the bath thing... went back and re-bathed them both, and then rinsed with the vinegar (all i had was apple cider or red wine, i went with the cider, so at least they smell good.)

then hubby handled the blow drier and they got to sit on my lap and dry off... i've NEVER seen such a sight. both of them, once i got a position that let me get to the fluff against the skin, they just went limp and enjoyed the whole thing.

figured someday i'd have to learn how to bath a bird, just didn't figure it'd be today. they've both got scaly leg mite too, i discovered under all the gunk attached to their feet... *sigh* one more thing to keep them inside for a while. anyone have experience with that on cochins? i've dealt with it on canaries, but never something with feathered feets.

 

[lilcrow]

oh, and on the bath thing... went back and re-bathed them both, and then rinsed with the vinegar (all i had was apple cider or red wine, i went with the cider, so at least they smell good.)

then hubby handled the blow drier and they got to sit on my lap and dry off... i've NEVER seen such a sight. both of them, once i got a position that let me get to the fluff against the skin, they just went limp and enjoyed the whole thing.

figured someday i'd have to learn how to bath a bird, just didn't figure it'd be today. they've both got scaly leg mite too, i discovered under all the gunk attached to their feet... *sigh* one more thing to keep them inside for a while. anyone have experience with that on cochins? i've dealt with it on canaries, but never something with feathered feets.

I would think that your ivermectin pour on should work on the leg mites.

 

[bantyman]

Thank you ki4got I didnt know if it would pop up again 3 generations down the road or not as it would be in there And if it works like most other things once its in there it will pop up again Dont you mean that its a recessive gene ? A dominant gene takes over The chix from these eggs will be smooth x frizzled So I just dont breed the frizzled and I should be alright ?

Mike

 

[Grumpypantsmomma]

I haven't been on this thread in a while the last time I was on I posted about my 2 cochin gals ganging up on the other girls after our Roo has just done the deed with the other girks and him no Longer interested in mounting the cochin gals. Well they are still being stinkers but I have a Broody Cochin who was already on two eggs, I grabbed another that was fertile and put it under her, this is the first time doing so because she has never been truly broody, She just looked at me and clucked softly. She has been on them for two days straight, since then none of my other girls want to lay because she won't let them in her nest. I observed her this morning when I let every one else out she got a sip of water 1 little bite of food then straight to her nest before the other girls could think to even move. I moved her and her eggs this evening to a nesting box inside a bunny cage with enough room to eat drink and poo away from her nest, at first she was confused, she didn't know where her eggs were so I gently took one out of the nesting box and showed her moving slowly back to the nesting box she clucked softly then followed my hand back to the nest and sat on my hand and eggs before I could remove it! LOL! Silly Girl! Then I gave her some food and water, she ate and drank like she was starving but in a not so hurried pace as I took her away from the flock. She acts like she had been guarding the nest even before the eggs were laid. I am hoping she will stay broody this time and hatch out her chicks, as our Roo is still disinterested in breeding her and her sister the eggs under her are not her own. She will be surrogate mommy and a good one if she stays broody long enough

. I have the incubator on standby just in case.

 

[NanaKat]

You just gotta love a broodie Cochin!