Cochin Thread!!!

[Peep-Chicken]

Speaking of laying... I got this egg today (right one). Is it my Cochins or my polish?

 

[Jharper]

Speaking of laying... I got this egg today (right one). Is it my Cochins or my polish?

More than likely a Cochin. Is it a bantam? They tend to lay a tinted to white egg.
On the other hand a polish if standard.

 

[Beekissed]

I eat all my roosters when I hatch out eggs and they grow up some...

Everyone wants hens and never roosters. Some sell but most don't so instead of giving them away where someone else is gonna eat them, I do as I LOVE eating chicken. I grew up raising my own food, and even tho it sucks having to butcher them, I also know where my meat is coming from and know my bird never suffer as I am very humane about the process. So in my case here at my farm, they are a dual purpose bird... pets, breeders, feather babies, and food in both eggs and meat.

That's how I feel about my birds. I wouldn't want anyone else to have them....I've done that and with disastrous results. Never again. Every single chick will stay here from birth/delivery to death so that I know that quality of life has been at a premium.

 

[ki4got]

I guess that would be a "no", then, on that question!

Didn't want to have to reinvent the wheel if someone is already having good success out there and can sell some eggs or chicks.

well, IMO "good egg production" and cochins don't go together because they're broody... so in that respect you're probably better off, like Craig said, with hatchery birds who lay well and don't go broody as often... but they don't have the type or size that non-hatchery LF do I think...

I don't know if the lf varies from the bantam much, but every one of my mature bantam girls went broody at LEAST twice last year. one girl was working on 4 before I put her in a cage for a week.

 

[ki4got]

Quote: my bantam cochins all lay decently sized brown eggs (almost as large as my LF blrw girl's eggs!) the silver laced are laying a pale brown but NOT white...

 

[Jharper]

my bantam cochins all lay decently sized brown eggs (almost as large as my LF blrw girl's eggs!) the silver laced are laying a pale brown but NOT white... 

My black show hen lays a white to tinted eggs. My other one lays a light brown egg.

 

[Beekissed]

well, IMO "good egg production" and cochins don't go together because they're broody... so in that respect you're probably better off, like Craig said, with hatchery birds who lay well and don't go broody as often... but they don't have the type or size that non-hatchery LF do I think...

I don't know if the lf varies from the bantam much, but every one of my mature bantam girls went broody at LEAST twice last year. one girl was working on 4 before I put her in a cage for a week.

Twice a year isn't bad if you are into chick production. Four times a year...excessive. A breed can have broody tendencies and still have good egg production and it's a desirable trait in heritage breeds when they can reproduce their own kind without the aid of an incubator.

I think if I got into this breed I'd definitely be breeding for egg and meat production first, broody tendencies third and feathering last of all. Just like for any other breed.

 

[dak]

I think if I got into this breed I'd definitely be breeding for egg and meat production first, broody tendencies third and feathering last of all. Just like for any other breed.

My guess is you would quickly lose type.

 

[Beekissed]

My guess is you would quickly lose type.

And gain a useful bird. If the breed used to have those qualities and still have "type" then it can again. It would just take some time, I'm thinking. What I can't imagine is why so many folks just want feather and type but no usefulness out of the breed. That's a conundrum. Why settle for mediocrity if one is to put so much time and effort into a breed?

 

[3BirdGirlz]

Look at all the different breeds of dogs....some breeds for sure aren't useful, but people like and breed them because they're cute, pretty, or neat looking.
What good is a minature horse?
People have changed many animals over the years to be pets and nothing else. They become companions and are bread to be.
I love the way Cochins look with all their feathers and love their attitudes. They are my pets that I get eggs from....maybe not everyday, but at least 3-4 days a week. I enjoy Cochins way more than any breed we've raised for meet or eggs.