Cochin Thread!!!

[thecochincoop]

Quote:
my mottleds are getting theirs in at roughly 6 months old

 

[trailgurl]

cool, I wanted to know because I was thinking of getting some bantam cochins to show, and the event is in october- we're placing our order in feb.-any suggestions would be welcomed

 

[leeandtina]

What would cause a 11 month old cockerel's foot and leg feathers to turn pure white...well most of the foot feathers and just a few here and there on the leg. Also he has lost quite a few of his foot feathers. This cockerel has won Best in Show, Best Cockerel, Best Standard and now I am sure it would be disqualified. It is weird and leaving us clueless. Has anyone heard of this before?

 

[WestKnollAmy]

What color is he to start with?
At his age his color is just starting to show up. Most of my Mottleds get more white on them as they mature but at 11 months I see white feathers more on the feet and legs and around 18 months they start getting more white on the body.
Having been wounded could do it but I would think you would notice.
I would say there may be genetics in there you didn't know about and are now showing up.

 

[Coopa Cabana]

Amy's correct - depending on what color he is, it can sometimes take a couple of molts before they have their mature coloring. And he may have something hidden in his genetic background that you are not aware of.

A few years ago, I read about a Hamburg hen that was a couple of years old, and when she molted, her spangling never came back in.

 

[lostsoulhelpmejebus]

Here is my lone cochin...I believe it to be blue?

 

[leeandtina]

Quote:
Oops I forgot to put that in there. He's black and had beautiful coloring. When my daughter showed her in October the judge had complimented her on the coloring. I wonder about what you mentioned in being wounded...she noticed a couple places on the one foot a week ago that she thought something had tried to get at his feet because there was a little bit of blood and she noticed a few missing feathers. I just looked really close at him today and the feather is actually black from the shaft out and then towards the end it gets grey and then turns stark white. It definitely wasn't like that before. Let me see if I can post a picture of him before. Maybe I can't attach it with a quote/reply?

Yea! Figured it out...okay with a little help from my one child lol

 

[leeandtina]

Oh I know what I was going to ask in my previous post/reply. You mentioned a wound. Would that make the feather change out the shaft like that? If it was from a wound does it go back to the black next molt? Thanks for the help

 

[WestKnollAmy]

If a wound occurs so severely to damage the follicle, then it could make it come back white. I don't see it as often in chickens as mammals, though.
Although my black Langshans roo was picked pretty badly on his legs for a while and all his feathers came back black so if it was that bad of a wound you should have noticed it easily enough.
I'm leaning more genetics than wound.

 

[TennesseeTruly]

Here's the newest members of our bantam cochin flock. They just hatched and they were on their way to the brooder so they weren't completely dried yet.

The eggs came from California and its the first time that I've had eggs shipped to me from that far away. A lot weren't fertile and the ones that were, the air cells were VERY messed up. I decided to incubate them anyway. All the ones with the most messed up air cells are right there in that picture. And I do mean very messed up air cells. They were funky looking all the way through incubation and I wasn't sure if I was going to have viable chicks hatching or not. I'm happy with my 6 little chicks. These 4 and the 2 others that are in the incubator.

Laurie