Cochin Thread!!!

[AndyCap]

Hey all, looks like the "birchen" bane has struck me again. From the black X partridge f1 this time. I have one boy who is black, with white feathering coming in on his chest. I have no clue as to how this keeps happening to me.

The rest of the f1 is black, some girls with a bit of red leakage in the wings. But how this boy popped out with white markings on his chest and neck i will never know...

Here is the little fella, with a poorly marked "birchen" frizzle in the background. And the other strange "birchen" that came from my black frizzle roo X white smooth hen.

 

[Black Cochin Bantams]

This post if for the parents of kids who want to show poultry in 4H this year. I know that some states in the South have had their fairs already. But in the Midwest we are about 5 + months from county and State fairs. The time is NOW to find whatever birds your child would like to show this year. Each year I see kids buy chicks from the local feed store or farm store. I see some kids do a very good job raising these but then to not do well come show time. The kids just didn't have good enough stock genetically to compete. It is also true that some good birds are shown but they are just TOO YOUNG to do well. A 14 week old chick can not compete on equal ground with older birds. It is not easy to watch. Please do not wait until March or April to find decent stock. Never too early to start looking and it is amazing how quickly it becomes too late. I am not trying to sell anything. Hope this helps improve even 1 4H participants experience.

 

[dwegg]

I know Judy Gaant, Jackie Jordan, Kyle G and several other Cochin people will be there. Those folks know Cochins!

I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing...lol...it is always intimidating for total novice to enter a show and to be put against amazing breeders with the best birds... I would never put just any bird in a show of course... We all hope that the birds we show are great!

My first show I took a splash silkie and it was a double show and she go BV in both against 6 other splash...the next show I took her and a blue silkie...well my splash came 4th and I WAS happy with that as the lady who had the other splash were just amazing and the best I've seen. She was super nice and had lots of nice things to say about my silkie even though it didn't compare to hers...BUT she made me feel so welcome and I came away feeling good about going to shows...just saying that I guess I was just lucky at my very first show and realized that my splash (even though lovely to me) is not really a show bird but maybe a nice one for the breeding pen...and I am happy with gaining that knowledge because of nice people who are more experienced parting with their knowledge...

I really hope to meet Judy and others at the Cochins...these are my very first Cochin bantams and I think they look amazing but am excited to see them compared to others...

 

[mama2my4]

This post if for the parents of kids who want to show poultry in 4H this year. I know that some states in the South have had their fairs already. But in the Midwest we are about 5 + months from county and State fairs. The time is NOW to find whatever birds your child would like to show this year. Each year I see kids buy chicks from the local feed store or farm store. I see some kids do a very good job raising these but then to not do well come show time. The kids just didn't have good enough stock genetically to compete. It is also true that some good birds are shown but they are just TOO YOUNG to do well. A 14 week old chick can not compete on equal ground with older birds. It is not easy to watch. Please do not wait until March or April to find decent stock. Never too early to start looking and it is amazing how quickly it becomes too late. I am not trying to sell anything. Hope this helps improve even 1 4H participants experience.

We are 6 months from our 4H fair and we have already been told to we need to get what we are getting. They have to be in hand by March. The birds my son is showing are already in the brooder and the youngest are going on 4 weeks old.

 

[joanie_maine]

This might be a good moment to ask about the age of birds to show.

I'm not sure about what the 4-H rules are, but in other shows, it's up to the owner.

How old should a bird be to be entered in a show? Clearly, roosters and hens will be over a year old, but what about pullets and cockerels.

Any opinions???

 

[lilcrow]

Hey all, looks like the "birchen" bane has struck me again. From the black X partridge f1 this time. I have one boy who is black, with white feathering coming in on his chest. I have no clue as to how this keeps happening to me.

The rest of the f1 is black, some girls with a bit of red leakage in the wings. But how this boy popped out with white markings on his chest and neck i will never know...

Here is the little fella, with a poorly marked "birchen" frizzle in the background. And the other strange "birchen" that came from my black frizzle roo X white smooth hen.

Geez, your little frizzle guy is looking very nice, in some ways more Birchen than ever, but then on closer inspection there's the penciling or at least I think it's penciling. Whatever it is, he's very pretty. Tell me again what your goal is, I've forgotten........sorry.

 

[thecochincoop]

I see this a lot too, people will be contacting me in the middle of summer when I have either sold my older birds, or the rest are just babies

This post if for the parents of kids who want to show poultry in 4H this year. I know that some states in the South have had their fairs already. But in the Midwest we are about 5 + months from county and State fairs. The time is NOW to find whatever birds your child would like to show this year. Each year I see kids buy chicks from the local feed store or farm store. I see some kids do a very good job raising these but then to not do well come show time. The kids just didn't have good enough stock genetically to compete. It is also true that some good birds are shown but they are just TOO YOUNG to do well. A 14 week old chick can not compete on equal ground with older birds. It is not easy to watch. Please do not wait until March or April to find decent stock. Never too early to start looking and it is amazing how quickly it becomes too late. I am not trying to sell anything. Hope this helps improve even 1 4H participants experience.

 

[thecochincoop]

This might be a good moment to ask about the age of birds to show.

I'm not sure about what the 4-H rules are, but in other shows, it's up to the owner.

How old should a bird be to be entered in a show? Clearly, roosters and hens will be over a year old, but what about pullets and cockerels.

Any opinions???

Most birds look close to adults at around 6-7 months, but I have seen that my birds don't look their best until about 2 years of age. They need to look like the adults, just not over a year yet

 

[mjgigax]

This thread sure is busy!

 

[dwegg]

well just back from the Newnan show...and what a show it was...lots and lots of amazing bantam cochins...and lots of great peeps to talk to as well...I took my splash cockeral, splash pullet, and blue mottled pullet...my cockeral came 2nd (ok so there was only 2 splash cockerals)

...my blue mottled came 1st and BV (ok so there was only one blue mottled)

...and my splash pullet came 1st AND BV...but there were 5 splash

Here are some pics...