Cochin Thread!!!

[chipmunkridge]

Quote:
I am not sure, but it appears that you have hatched the KING OF ALL CHICKENS. It looks like a tiny crown.
I have no idea on the genetics, but it sure is cute.

 

[mjgigax]

Quote:
Somebody must be playing a joke on you. No way could such different chicks show up in one hatch when no others have shown up sooner in any other hatches.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I have had this happen in other species. You are going along breeding very nice animals and then bang! something weird pops out of a mating that never happened before. You start looking around for the culprit that crossed the lines in your breeding pens!
The time of year and the right alignment of the stars (

) seems to set them up for a genetic wonder.
Somewhere back in those lines, maybe way back, there were birds are carrying the genes to make these birds. It may never happen again but it could happen next hatch. Some of those recessive genes just saw each other and teamed up to give you a head scratching outcome.

 

[Msbear]

I think it's much more practical that you made an error at some point .. either collected the wrong eggs... eggs that you mistakingly thought were the columbians OR somehow another roo made contact and was able to fertilize a few eggs OR someone IS playing a joke on you. TT, I have heard of wierd genetic mutations but not in a situation where you have nice birds which are obviously that breed and your breeding to another bird that is obviously well bred... just doesn't happen. That columbian gene is STRONG When bred to anything, it will still have that columbian markings and would be SILVER BASED! I don't buy it. Chalk it up to a big OOpsey (I've been there

)

the answer to your burning question may be much more clear in a few months... keep us posted

 

[Black Cochin Bantams]

Quote:
Craig - you've been holding out on us . . . they're beautiful! Congrats!

I wasn't holding out. I took the pictures but couldn't get them loaded. I got my daughter to load them for me yesterday. I will try to get pics of Black pullets and Cockerals next time.

 

[TennesseeTruly]

Quote:
Erin, I collected these eggs myself and my birds are from your stock. LOL I'm really really really confused. I mark my eggs as soon as I collect them. I carry a pencil with me to mark them as soon as I collect them. I don't have chickens that look anything like what I'm seeing here. I hatched these eggs from someone who got their Columbians from you.

And where someone said it looks like a crown, it does! I never thought it it but it actually does look like a crown! If I hadn't collected these eggs myself or I bought them from someone I'd be scratching my head. I have a bunch more of their eggs in the incubator due to hatch in a week and I'm almost afraid of what's going to hatch.

I have one customer who has bought Columbian eggs from me 7 times. He told me that he's never had anything but Columbian's hatch. I've hatched about 60 eggs myself and never have I ever had anything like this happen.

Here's a picture of the little silver laced one. Also, the ones that have this crown looking thing on their head have no foot feathering. The one that doesn't have the crown, does have foot feathering. Strange indeed.

Laurie

 

[TennesseeTruly]

Quote:
Thanks Amy for validating this for me. I KNOW I didn't screw up collecting eggs and I also know that there's no possible way for another chicken to get into their pen or for them to get out. After our dog attack back in 2009, I built Ft Knox for many of my pens and this pen is one of them. Now every single egg that comes from that pen is going into the incubator. Its just strange to me that no one has reported back that they got an "strange" chick or that out of all the ones that I've hatched (mostly roos of course) that this is the first time this has happened.

Laurie

 

[NellaBean]

Do you have any polish? I've seen that wacky mini mohawk in polish crosses, which would also explain the lack of feathered legs. All it takes is one bird getting out or in to screw things up. Because it wasn't just a "one hit wonder" single bird in a group of many hatchings, and rather a group of birds all in the same hatch, I would have to say 99% chance of some sort of messup. Since you have a hubby and grandkid both out and about with the birds, it only takes one hen to slip out for a few minutes. The face on that chick sure looks more polish than cochin.

I have a cochin guy from Nadine......and he was the one in a few hundred that came out "weird". As he has gotten older it has become more and more obvious that he is definitely pure cochin, just a strange color combination.

You know how people joke about horses/dogs/etc breeding through fences? Maybe a rooster has found a new gymnastic way to make sweet sweet chickenlove through the fencing

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Quote:
Erin, I collected these eggs myself and my birds are from your stock. LOL I'm really really really confused. I mark my eggs as soon as I collect them. I carry a pencil with me to mark them as soon as I collect them. I don't have chickens that look anything like what I'm seeing here. I hatched these eggs from someone who got their Columbians from you.

And where someone said it looks like a crown, it does! I never thought it it but it actually does look like a crown! If I hadn't collected these eggs myself or I bought them from someone I'd be scratching my head. I have a bunch more of their eggs in the incubator due to hatch in a week and I'm almost afraid of what's going to hatch.

I have one customer who has bought Columbian eggs from me 7 times. He told me that he's never had anything but Columbian's hatch. I've hatched about 60 eggs myself and never have I ever had anything like this happen.

Here's a picture of the little silver laced one. Also, the ones that have this crown looking thing on their head have no foot feathering. The one that doesn't have the crown, does have foot feathering. Strange indeed.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/24335_20110201_4.jpg

Laurie

Interesting color pattern.

 

[PunchyPoultry]

The Cockerels and Pullets I am starting out with (all Standards) =]

Splash Pullet

Splash Cockerel

Black Cockerel

There is also a Black Pullet but she did NOT want her picture taken!!!