Cochin Thread!!!

[Desirai]

This is what everyone has been telling me ever since I decided I wanted cochins.. right now I have 12 50-day-old chicks all hatched in the same incubator and 3 of them are cochin roos.. so far no aggression other than chest bumping between all 12 of the chickens.

I have heard that Cochin rosters are quite docile and friendly(even with each other) in comparison to other breeds, any one know if this is true?

 

[ki4got]

Quote:

I have heard that Cochin rosters are quite docile and friendly(even with each other) in comparison to other breeds, any one know if this is true?

i'll agree, my last bunch of mixed cochins i hatched out 3 hens and 5 roos... the only problem i had with them was ganging up on the girls before they were really old enough to breed. 2 went to a sale, then i sold one of the pairs too. so now i've got a nice trio in a pen for breeding, and just got 2 more girls to go with the other roo left over. my trio are in a 4x8 pen with another pair as well, and both get along well. just until i'm done building my next cochin breeding pen.

 

[Funky Feathers]

I need opinions on these young birds. I want to sell them and need to know how much to charge. Do they look like decent quality? Or is it too soon to tell anything?


Partridge pullet



pullet~ what color?

 

[ki4got]

I need opinions on these young birds. I want to sell them and need to know how much to charge. Do they look like decent quality? Or is it too soon to tell anything?

Partridge pullet


pullet~ what color?

too soon to say for sure on quality i think, but the bottom one i'd say is a black cockerel.

i sell all my 4-8 week old babies regardless of breed/sex for $10 if they're purebred, $5 if they're mutts... if i keep them longer to grow out i get more for pullets but cockerels are harder to sell unless it's as a pair or trio.

unless i need a cockerel for breeding, i sell them off ASAP. then i can allow the pullets to grow out longer (without cockerels bothering them).

 

[Funky Feathers]

The black one I think is a pullet going by the tiny comb/wattles compared to others of the same age. The others are definite cockerels. Are you sure this one is black and not black mottled or silver laced? I hatched these 2 from eggs I got from Lucky Pickens. ?

 

[ki4got]

Quote:

The black one I think is a pullet going by the tiny comb/wattles compared to others of the same age. The others are definite cockerels. Are you sure this one is black and not black mottled or silver laced? I hatched these 2 from eggs I got from Lucky Pickens. ?

well he/she looks identical to all the blacks i've had. here are 2 laced from roslyn. cockerel on the left pullet on the right.

and the one on the perch looking at the camera is my black roo at 4 weeks. his girls are the one to the left on the bottom, and the one peeking over his back from the corner of the brooder tub. all 3 pictured below.

about a week ago (bottom right. the other 2 are his girls). they are all solid inky black... the camera picked up a lot of the shine from their feathers. they are just 5 months old now.


eta: all these cochins are from luckypickens. and the blacks are split self blue so

i'll start incubating their eggs in another week or so. i'm only getting TEENY pullet eggs right now and they were free ranging prior to last week so they're probably mixed (my oegb liked these girls a LOT).

 

[folgerrd]

Should I keep my roos in a different coop once they are all old enough to be reproducing, if I don't want them to?

Quote:
i'll agree, my last bunch of mixed cochins i hatched out 3 hens and 5 roos... the only problem i had with them was ganging up on the girls before they were really old enough to breed. 2 went to a sale, then i sold one of the pairs too. so now i've got a nice trio in a pen for breeding, and just got 2 more girls to go with the other roo left over. my trio are in a 4x8 pen with another pair as well, and both get along well. just until i'm done building my next cochin breeding pen.

 

[ki4got]

Quote:

Should I keep my roos in a different coop once they are all old enough to be reproducing, if I don't want them to?

that's up to you. but i'm planning on a 'bachelor pad' coop in the future, so that my girls can grow in peace and not worry about harrassment from the homonal cockerels. the last bunch i free ranged, and there were several times i noticed hens 'running for their lives' from 2 or 3 roos at a time... in a coop, there isn't as much room to run, so the harrassment would be that much worse IMO.

 

[Chicken Crazy12]

I am working on getting the splash accepted. I need some more breeders who have raised splash for at least five years to commit to this. If anyone here is interested in helping, send me am email. [email protected]
A few things still need to be worked out, but looking at a possible presentation in the fall...

I would be happy to help, but only been raising them for 1 year so that counts me out. I think it's great though that someone is working on getting the color accepted.

 

[chicknadventure]

hi all-I have been lurking this thread for a week or so, trying to glean info, but to be honest, at this point it's WAY over my heads discussing genetics, etc. but I wanted to introduce myself.

My name is stephanie, and i recently got bit by the chicken bug. I have a sweet little backyard flock that is halfway to eggs (yay!) and I decided that I ALSO wanted to run a simultaneous little breeding program. My space is limited, so I looked for a breed that was child-friendly, robust, and cute of course. I have a cochin in my grab bag that I now think is a bantam cochin. She was one of my heartiest birds in the backyard flock, so I finally landed on this breed after more research.

I don't know what colors yet, but I am really drawn to blacks, greys, whites, and lavendar or porcelain birds. So I bought my first "pair" this weekend of birchen's that are roughly 3 months old. I also bought 4 chicks, 2 are sibling black lace, and one splash, and one that looks like it will be a blue.

I have some pics of the stock, and when I get a chance (probably tomorrow) I will post some pics of my breeding pair. I have read over and over to breed for "type" so I am sure that I will have to bring in some other lines to improve, but here is some of my starting stock

This is supposed to be a silver lace. Can someone tell me if there is a way to determine gender?



Here is the mom, which I don't own. I think her color is nice, but she isn't as round as she should be, right?


and then my splash baby came from this pair, but splash isn't recognized, right? But it was so cute I bought it anyway, not sure if I could use it to produce some mottled? (again, learning genetics)