Cochin Thread!!!

[TeaChick]

You need to breed frizzle to a smooth feathered bird.  Otherwise you can end up with a poor feathered bird that has broken feathers all the time and they fall out quite often -poor things look quite pitiful.  Snoodle is beautiful and you want to have beautiful babies if you breed her. 

Oh, I had no idea! Thanks! Yes, I do want her to have beautiful babies.
Thank you, I think she's beautiful too. ;-)

 

[One Chick Two]

Thank you so much for your thoughts mjgigax and shotzy007! We still have so much to learn about him. And thank you joanie_maine for the link- this helps very much to clarify.

We just never realized just how slowly this breed matures! At 8 weeks old, he had no obvious indicators of being male yet- his comb was tiny and pink, and only had a few tiny reddish feathers on his head. Now, he's bigger than our RIR roos, but it's apparent he still is feathering in, and the feathers seem to be changing. One thing we didn't expect is, he is our flock's most excellent (supervised) free ranger and he runs everywhere. lol Thanks so much everybody!

 

[mjgigax]

I

Thank you so much for your thoughts mjgigax and shotzy007 ! We still have so much to learn about him. And thank you joanie_maine for the link- this helps very much to clarify. We just never realized just how slowly this breed matures! At 8 weeks old, he had no obvious indicators of being male yet- his comb was tiny and pink, and only had a few tiny reddish feathers on his head. Now, he's bigger than our RIR roos, but it's apparent he still is feathering in, and the feathers seem to be changing. One thing we didn't expect is, he is our flock's most excellent (supervised) free ranger and he runs everywhere. lol Thanks so much everybody!

have a huge boy that til he was 6 mo. old was named Lola. He tried to mount a hen and it dawned on me she was a he. The next week his saddle feathers shot out long and then he crowed. He runs and jumps wildly around the yard and is our farthest free ranger- really is the flock scout and gets along great with the other Roos.

 

[Reyvaughn]

Finally! Pics! I put a 3rd light in the shed, so I got pics while I was out there doing that and chores.
The shed is almost done. Almost...


Left side from the front. The 2x4's and windows were supposed to go in the south facing wall before it got cold. Ooops.
There are 2 totes under the first set of cages holding a lot of dishes, waters, feeders, the new vents (ooops again), meds that don't freeze, ect. My cages are under the 2nd one.


Right side - the south facing wall. Outdoor cats' feeder & waterer, cat/chicken carriers and misc stuff under these cages.
The cans are my chicken feed. There is grit and oyster shell in the buckets. Look! The timer for the lights is on the wall, too! It's working. I collected 5 eggs today!


Down the aisle. Three pens on the right (5x5, 4.5x5, 3.5x5) and 2 on the left (both are 6.5x5). The aisle needs finished (that 1' open section and the 5' solid plywood bottom will be pine tongue and groove and enclosed so I can use the aisle for a pen, too. It's 4'4"x13" and I am going to squeeze my 19 Ameraucanas in there. They are housed in a smaller area now... I just hope they don't realize they can get over the walls into the other pens. If so, they will go back out to the big 10x10 shed. I was trying to get everyone consolidated into one building for winter. Other than the geese and turkeys, I think I may be able to pull it off!


View from the back in the aisle out to the front of the shed. I wish I had used the pine tongue and groove on both sides now.

I did sweep it, but the birds made a mess already. I still have some molting and they really enjoyed dust bathing in the new shavings. And the dust! I didn't get the new vents in in time so the back window is cracked and I will have to be very vigilante on the condition of the pens now. I bought myself a new shop vac just for the shed for the winter to help with cleaning pens and clean up the dust.


Better and more pics of the birds tomorrow. My camera was acting up. I managed about 6-7 good pics out of the 50 I took. They all kept coming out blurry. Anyways, camera is reset and seems to be doing it's job again.

 

[mjgigax]

Finally! Pics! I put a 3rd light in the shed, so I got pics while I was out there doing that and chores.
The shed is almost done. Almost...


Left side from the front. The 2x4's and windows were supposed to go in the south facing wall before it got cold. Ooops.
There are 2 totes under the first set of cages holding a lot of dishes, waters, feeders, the new vents (ooops again), meds that don't freeze, ect. My cages are under the 2nd one.


Right side - the south facing wall. Outdoor cats' feeder & waterer, cat/chicken carriers and misc stuff under these cages.
The cans are my chicken feed. There is grit and oyster shell in the buckets. Look! The timer for the lights is on the wall, too! It's working. I collected 5 eggs today!


Down the aisle. Three pens on the right (5x5, 4.5x5, 3.5x5) and 2 on the left (both are 6.5x5). The aisle needs finished (that 1' open section and the 5' solid plywood bottom will be pine tongue and groove and enclosed so I can use the aisle for a pen, too. It's 4'4"x13" and I am going to squeeze my 19 Ameraucanas in there. They are housed in a smaller area now... I just hope they don't realize they can get over the walls into the other pens. If so, they will go back out to the big 10x10 shed. I was trying to get everyone consolidated into one building for winter. Other than the geese and turkeys, I think I may be able to pull it off!


View from the back in the aisle out to the front of the shed. I wish I had used the pine tongue and groove on both sides now.

I did sweep it, but the birds made a mess already. I still have some molting and they really enjoyed dust bathing in the new shavings. And the dust! I didn't get the new vents in in time so the back window is cracked and I will have to be very vigilante on the condition of the pens now. I bought myself a new shop vac just for the shed for the winter to help with cleaning pens and clean up the dust.


Better and more pics of the birds tomorrow. My camera was acting up. I managed about 6-7 good pics out of the 50 I took. They all kept coming out blurry. Anyways, camera is reset and seems to be doing it's job again.

Very nice, so organized and convenient.

I just noticed that you have Wheaten Ameraucanas. I have them too. They are so beautiful but I think I am sell out of them and getting Sussex. My Ams are so flighty compared to my Cochins and Marans. Also,I hatched quite a few Wheaten chicks and some chicks from my Wheaten roo over a Blue Ameraucana hen and only the crosses survived a bacterial attack I had go thru my chicks this Summer. Makes me think my Wheaten lines are too narrow. I think I will keep a couple pretty hens for eggs but sell my roo and the rest of the girls.

 

[brahmabreeder]

Reyvaughn: what are the overall dimensions of your coop/shed?

 

[Reyvaughn]

I never measured the shed, but I know it's bigger than a 12x24 - which my mom's boyfriend has. Each cage is 6' 1/2" (plus 3" each base) and the back pens are 13'. Plus the window and about 6-8" extra by the garage door. The pens are each 5' and the aisle is 4'4". So, the shed is about 28x14'.

 

[NanaKat]

Nice set up and looks like a lot of room for you purposes.
Since the pens are inside on a wood floor...might consider linoleum floor covering to help with clean up. I buy feed ten 50 pound bags at a time and stack them on a pallet. Mice pellets in packets underneath the pallet.

 

[mjgigax]

Nice set up and looks like a lot of room for you purposes.
Since the pens are inside on a wood floor...might consider linoleum floor covering to help with clean up. I buy feed ten 50 pound bags at a time and stack them on a pallet. Mice pellets in packets underneath the pallet.

I have been afraid to use mice pellets because I am afraid that the chicks or my dog or cat might get ahold of a poisoned mouse and get poisoned too. Are there any that are safe to use around pets and livestock?

 

[ki4got]

Nice set up and looks like a lot of room for you purposes.
Since the pens are inside on a wood floor...might consider linoleum floor covering to help with clean up. I buy feed ten 50 pound bags at a time and stack them on a pallet. Mice pellets in packets underneath the pallet.

I would worry about the mouse poison... a friend lost a number of birds last summer when her neighbor started putting out mouse bait and her SFH ate some of the poisoned mice...

I'd settle for traps, but not bait. you can get a multi-use live trap and put the bait in that maybe... mice can get in but not out. but I find peanut butter seems to catch them faster. then I just dunk the whole thing in the water barrel to kill and feed them out to the chickens. LOL don't know about bantam cochins, but LF birds of all types have no problems swallowing mice whole.

ok hubby just pointed out a quick and easy multi-use trap...

it's a 5 gallon bucket with water in the bottom so trapped mice can't jump out (not so effective in the winter). a dowel rod fixed across the bucket with a toilet paper tube in the middle, smeared with peanut butter.

looks like it'd work pretty well. there are a number of variations, if you take a peek on youtube for 'bucket mouse trap' but the idea's pretty much all the same. tho he's a but more practical than I am... he suggested using antifreeze instead of water. it'd kill them quicker I guess, but I'd want something to keep pets/chickens out of it. maybe a wire cover that rodents can get thru easily.