Cochin Thread!!!

[wife2abirdman]

Keeping birds can be so heartbreaking -
I lost my Blue Mottled hen. She was fine one Monday but dead Tuesday morning.
I have got to change my avitar pic because I can't bear to look at pictures of her right now.

I am so sorry for your loss. It is why I try so hard not to love any one chicken but this winter I had a cockerel who I just fell in love with and he was to be my Marans breeding rooster. I got really sick last month and so someone else had to take care of him and he died. One thing that helped me a little is to just sit with the flock, they can tell when you are sad (I think anyway).

 

[Reyvaughn]

Sorry to hear you lost your hen, MJ. Hopefully you got some good babies to help replace her... not that you can ever really replace the special ones.


On another note, I have a genetics question.
I have 2 girls I thought were black. They look black w/ no leakage at all. I bred them with my chocolate Orp and got a chocolate Mille Fleur chick (If you are curious, see my Chocolate Bantam Cochin Project album in my siggy). I have a black cockerel who is at least 3rd generation solid black. If I breed him to them, will I get black chicks? Is black dominant? If I do this and breed their daughters back to the chocolates, will any MF genes pop back up? If so, how many generations will I have to breed back to their father to get rid of the genes? Is this worth the time trying to fix the recessive genes? I am so sick of not being able to get my hands on black bantams. The kids wanted to show this year and once again, I don't have anything worth showing... Other than my cockerel. One bird can't be shown by 2 kids who want their own bird to show. And I can't go anyplace on my projects.

 

[wife2abirdman]

I have a question about Bantam fertility. Do you have to AI them all or will they breed on their own? I am not a huge fan of AI just an opinion really, so most everything I have I let nature take it's course or they are out of the breeding program.

 

[Reyvaughn]

I have a question about Bantam fertility. Do you have to AI them all or will they breed on their own? I am not a huge fan of AI just an opinion really, so most everything I have I let nature take it's course or they are out of the breeding program.

Mine do fine on their own. I do like to trim their tushies to improve fertility. I will not AI... if it ever comes to that, I won't have Cochins.

 

[Mr. Ree]

Hi everyone! I would like some opinions on my buff Cochin Bantams I got from Urch/Turnland poultry. Gender would be helpful as well, but it's looking like they are all cockerels. :/ They turned 5 weeks on Monday.

Cockerel (?) #1

Lighting was different in this picture:







Cockerel #2






I had a picture of his head, but he would NOT coroporate so it turned out blurry.

Cockerel (Or maybe this is my pullet)? #3







Weird lighting in this picture, but it really shows his/her head.





Sorry for the dirty foot feathers. The reason I took pictures of those is because on #1, I think it was, had feathering on the smallest toe. Is this a major defect in a Cochin? I'm hoping to start breeding Cochins with these guys, if they turn out decent enough. Thanks for any help.

The only one I see that even resembles a cockerel is the last bird. And, to be truthful thats all your going to find out right now. These birds are far to young to determine anything about them, other than obvious defects or deformities. You need to learn to be patient and wait for the to mature more before you can give a full critique yourself, before asking the opinions of others. Wait about 10 weeks or so, and post some more pics, they should be a little more filled in them and you can for sure tell the sex of them. So far, they are looking good.


~Casey

 

[Frizzled Pink]

My first baby frizzle. So excited

 

[joanie_maine]

I'm still churning out red bantam cochins here

Eggs are hatching as I type this.

I have two breeding pens - you can see that one pen is giving me darker colored birds with a bit of black. The other pen produces the lighter but clearer red.

 

[12eggs]

My first baby frizzle. So excited

They are adorable, I didn't know they showed those feathers right away.

 

[Frizzled Pink]

They are adorable, I didn't know they showed those feathers right away.

This one is 13 days old,

 

[ducclelover]

Are these cochins?