Cochin Thread!!!

[joanie_maine]

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I think that culling, for me, is an ongoing process.

My last hatch this year was 21 chicks. I now have nine left.

Usually by six months I have chosen what I want to keep, either for breeders or perhaps for the fairs the next year.

 

[Black Cochin Bantams]

I know I am changing the subject but is anyone going to the Portage Wisc. show in late September? I am taking a few if they don't molt between now and then. I am also going to the Bath New York show next week.

 

[magsrags]

Beautiful birds. Wish I could get mine to pose properly.

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[Hens and Roos]

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We will be going 2 of our kids will be showing there.

 

[dak]

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Shear luck!

 

[Coopa Cabana]

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Very nice!! When I got my (bantam) Golden Laced this past winter, I had no idea just how much I would fall in love with their exquisite coloring! It's a shame they are all so rare - I feel like we're trying to preserve an endangered species.

 

[Braclin]

Quote:
Very nice!! When I got my (bantam) Golden Laced this past winter, I had no idea just how much I would fall in love with their exquisite coloring! It's a shame they are all so rare - I feel like we're trying to preserve an endangered species.

Coopa,
Are all Golden Laced Cochins rare, or is it just the bantams?

 

[Coopa Cabana]

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I'm really trying to focus more on "posing" my birds for photos, rather than just pics of them running around in the grass or taking dust baths. It's really proving beneficial to me in assessing their type. What works for me is to pose the birds on something small, round, and somewhat high off the ground. It takes them a few minutes to figure out that they can jump down, which gives me a few minutes to move around and take side and frontal shots. Of course, I usually have to take at least a dozen shots to get one or two good ones. I have a large flower pot that I turn upside down to set them on, and another is a tall plant stand. I really liked the later - I could sit and take the pics, and it has a open weave surface - great to let the poop fall thru!!! And of course, if you pose them on something, you can place it where ever is best to suit your lighting and background.

I have found Tango to be a real ham for the camera, and I just love this pic she 'sat' for. She 'displays' very nicely. Obviously, her MF coloring and pattern still need work, but I think her conformation is pretty good. She will probably be my first venture into showing this fall - if I can get up the nerve!

I was really excited to see the coloring coming in on this little MFC, but I didn't realize until I took the pic and studied it that I was spending too much time focusing on her color, and not near enough focus on her type. I think she has a nice carriage and carries herself well, but her tail/cush is way too skinny, and not the "waterfall" it should be, and her foot feathering is very poor, and she has no underfluff. Gotta have underfluff!!

 

[zoo2u]

This is Leia, our buff cochin. she is my absolute favorite. She raises babies every year, we adore her. Here she is with her babies from June.

This is a picture of Easter, Leia's baby from last year. Easter now has her own babies that hatched in August. She is a cochin/Americana cross. She is so cool looking with the ear puffs and the feathered feet.

 

[Coopa Cabana]

Quote:
Very nice!! When I got my (bantam) Golden Laced this past winter, I had no idea just how much I would fall in love with their exquisite coloring! It's a shame they are all so rare - I feel like we're trying to preserve an endangered species.

Coopa,
Are all Golden Laced Cochins rare, or is it just the bantams?

I think both the LF and bantams are considered rare, although you can always find LF GL eggs on eBay. (I don't know the seller, and can't speak to the quality.) My first venture into GL bantams was from eggs I found on eBay, but type was poor and I re-homed the one lone chick that hatched. So I searched and searched, and waited and waited, and finally found a pair from a breeder who is currently earning Master Breeder points with her GL's. IT WAS SO WORTH THE WAIT!

The main issue is not that they are rare - you can order them from a hatchery. The issues are 1) getting good type, and 2) getting good color/pattern, and most important 3) getting both #1 and #2 on the same bird!!

If you saw the pics I posted a week or so of the pullets I hatched this spring (all from the same sire and dam), you can see the problem - there is no uniformity in the pattern. I don't know for sure yet how they will look when they mature, but I think the majority will be culls - only pet quality. I would say they all have above-average Cochin conformation at 3 months, but most will not make the cut due to their poor lacing. Maybe they'll surprise me in another couple of months!

When I started searching in earnest for good GL's, I was told (more than once) that there was no such thing as a "good" GL. And therein, I believe, lies the problem.