I am a newbie to the Cochin world so while not adding a second variety, I did get a trio of LF gold lace from Tom Roebuck when he came to Columbus for the Ohio National and will be working with those. I've had some "farm store" chickens in the past (mostly silver lace Wyandotte and buff Orpington) and have had a "mutt" rooster for a few years to help with fly control. I breed and show Oberhasli dairy goats (and am a licensed dairy goat judge) and decided I wanted a few chickens to match the goats and gold lace comes pretty close to their red bay with black trim. Stumbled across a couple of Wyandottes at a primitive craft fair. Made arrangements to get them and on the way over got a call that something "got" one of them but they did have other breeds available. Came home with the Wyandotte and a blue Cochin, both from a hatchery. Love the color of the Wyandotte, prefer the type and temperament of the Cochin so a quest, frustrating at times, to find GL Cochins began.
Tom has been SO giving of his time in this pursuit so a huge thanks to him.
While new to chickens, I have bred and shown dogs (English Springer and Clumber Spaniels) plus for the last 20 years the goats so will be proceeding slowly. I have seen all too often new people jump in WAY over their heads and bite off more than they can chew. It can be fun to have a little bit of everything but the more diversified one is, the more breeding stock that needs retained to advance. It doesn't take long for burnout to hit. For now, I'm sticking with just the one variety. Down the road I may expand but for now LF GL Cochin will be my focus.
Tom
(North-Central Ohio)
