Cochin Thread!!!

[cochinman2005]

Quote:
Thank you. I do know that they can be pricy due to costs. Here in new York it seems to be difficult to sell laying pullets for $5. its nice to know that negotiations are allowed. If they are good type wise and the color is correct I have no problem paying $60.

$60 for a trio of Self-Blue Cochins is fair considering you can't find them anywhere. However, my definition of fair and yours may differ a great deal. For instance, how good is their type and their color? How good is their feather quality. What is their skin color? White skin, blue legs, white foot bottoms (all three are colors foreign to the breed)? Still $20 per bird for something to start with isn't all that bad.

 

[cochinman2005]

Wendy'sChicksRock :

How do you all keep the feathers on the feet looking nice. Wire cage? shavings? Mine keep breaking all their foot feathers and We will be showing them in the summer..
Any info will be helpfull and much appreciated..

Thanks
Wendy


eta : fix typos

Are they allowed to free range? Shavings a couple inches deep in their pens will help. Some varieties are more active and tend to break foot feathers more than others. If they are allowed out where they can get their foot feathers wet, the repeated wet/dry/wet/dry makes the feathrs brittle and the break pretty easily.​

 

[elieugene6]

Quote:
Thank you. I do know that they can be pricy due to costs. Here in new York it seems to be difficult to sell laying pullets for $5. its nice to know that negotiations are allowed. If they are good type wise and the color is correct I have no problem paying $60.

$60 for a trio of Self-Blue Cochins is fair considering you can't find them anywhere. However, my definition of fair and yours may differ a great deal. For instance, how good is their type and their color? How good is their feather quality. What is their skin color? White skin, blue legs, white foot bottoms (all three are colors foreign to the breed)? Still $20 per bird for something to start with isn't all that bad.

Yes $20 a bird is good. I paid $30 for a pair of sq black bantams from bill zeihm back in August. So what else should I be looking for to determine how good these are? What color would their ideal leg and foot color be? I haven't dealt with self blue in any breed due to the rarity of the color. This is most likely to be my b'day present to myself since my fiance won't purchase me anymore birds until I get rid of some. Lol.

 

[Coopa Cabana]

Quote:
$60 for a trio of Self-Blue Cochins is fair considering you can't find them anywhere. However, my definition of fair and yours may differ a great deal. For instance, how good is their type and their color? How good is their feather quality. What is their skin color? White skin, blue legs, white foot bottoms (all three are colors foreign to the breed)? Still $20 per bird for something to start with isn't all that bad.

Yes $20 a bird is good. I paid $30 for a pair of sq black bantams from bill zeihm back in August. So what else should I be looking for to determine how good these are? What color would their ideal leg and foot color be? I haven't dealt with self blue in any breed due to the rarity of the color. This is most likely to be my b'day present to myself since my fiance won't purchase me anymore birds until I get rid of some. Lol.

There is an excellent thread devoted solely to the development of Self-Blue Cochins. They are still considered a project color in development by most breeders. If you are serious about getting into Self-Blues, you really should read thru the thread - it will also answer most your questions about leg/foot color, and just about everything else about them!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=222829

 

[cochinman2005]

Quote:
$60 for a trio of Self-Blue Cochins is fair considering you can't find them anywhere. However, my definition of fair and yours may differ a great deal. For instance, how good is their type and their color? How good is their feather quality. What is their skin color? White skin, blue legs, white foot bottoms (all three are colors foreign to the breed)? Still $20 per bird for something to start with isn't all that bad.

Yes $20 a bird is good. I paid $30 for a pair of sq black bantams from bill zeihm back in August. So what else should I be looking for to determine how good these are? What color would their ideal leg and foot color be? I haven't dealt with self blue in any breed due to the rarity of the color. This is most likely to be my b'day present to myself since my fiance won't purchase me anymore birds until I get rid of some. Lol.

I started a Self-Blue thread a while back to document progress. There are some pics of correct and incorrect leg/foot color on their. All Cochins are supposed to have yellow to swarthy yellow feet/legs. All foot bottoms should be yellow. I am betting that the ones you are getting will have Blue legs and white bottomed feet. Most of what you find out there does. Through breeding you can correct that. The Self Blue thread is https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=222829

 

[Coopa Cabana]

Sorry Tom! We were posting at the same time.
~Gail

 

[cochinman2005]

Quote:
No problem...

 

[adelsi]

Hello. I'm pretty new to this site. I wanted to find Black or Blue Standard Cochins that are show quality. Are there any recommended breeders? Any suggestions?

I used to have standard Buff Cochins over 15 years ago and would like to get back into this hobby again and start showing.

Thanks!

 

[Black Cochin Bantams]

Quote:
Please look at the Cochins International website for the links to member webisites. Or look here on BYC under Chicken Breeders and hatcheries:2011 Cochin Breeders Directory. Then start contacting people. Good luck.

 

[serendipityfarm]

Quote:
Your best bet to improve Silver Penciled would be to cross with Partridge. If you cross a SP male over Partridge females all of the females would be SP in color and the males would look like a golden duckwing.......Keep the SP females with the better type and cross them back to the original SP male and you should have improved type and pencilling from the better Partridge.
I have used this cross many times with SP/Partridge Wyandottes.
Hope this info helps. Crossing with Black would work but you would lose alot of the pencilling and would probably take about 6 or 7 generations to get it back.

Good info. Thank You! I don't have SPs (yet) ha!, I was ONLY going to have Mille Fleurs...........

Same here, but I really like the SP. Actually considered bantam dark brahmas, but then figured if I can get it in Cochin (and let's face it, there isn't much you can't get in Cochin

) why not?
I have another question, though. I was looking at Ideal's SP bantams and there is a note that says something about needing a double breeding to get good color. Any ideas what that means?
~Terry

ETA: The site actually says "This breed requires double mating to produce quality males & females" Any ideas???
Any non-hatchery sources of these birds out there?