Cochin Thread!!!

[tiki244]

I am fairly new at all of this myself so I may not be too much help. I do know that in the asiatic breeds the big brow is a good thing. And I say the more fluff on the toes the better.

I would suggest breeding only the birds that you feel are of good quality and not let the poorer ones produce at all.OOps I guess you already said that.




As far as color I think you may want to keep some chicks just that are from the black line seperate from any other chicks. And mark them. And then keep them in two different pens. So you have your black line and your new line.

I wouldnt 'toss' any of the chicks untill they are much much older unless of course it has a glaring fault of some sort. Being a new breeder myself I cannot tell what is good and what is bad when they are young and they do change so much when they grow which seems to take a long time. (and I only have bantams)

Good Luck and I am sure you will get a lot of good advice on here.

 

[tiki244]

Last year I had only a blue rooster and I bred him to some black hens. The babies had nice blue fuzz, but when they first feathered out they were really dark. As they got older some of them became a nice blue color. This year I am just breeding blue on blue and getting a fair amount of splashes *yeay* but it looks like I am getting some blacks too. So I am going to have to be extermely careful myself to keep the blacks away from the blues as I simply do not want them to mix at all.

 

[k0r1nag]

Last year I had only a blue rooster and I bred him to some black hens. The babies had nice blue fuzz, but when they first feathered out they were really dark. As they got older some of them became a nice blue color. This year I am just breeding blue on blue and getting a fair amount of splashes *yeay* but it looks like I am getting some blacks too. So I am going to have to be extermely careful myself to keep the blacks away from the blues as I simply do not want them to mix at all.

Thanks for the input. I love watching how the colors develop from down to first feathers to adult plumage. I noticed last year that the cochin chicks who hatched with lots of dark yellow and gray down ended up being the less nicely colored blues when they finally feathered out, while the lighter yellow and gray chicks turned a darker, nicely laced blue. But since my sample was so small, I was wondering if anyone else had noticed these things. I am definitely keeping track of which hens laid what eggs and will try to track the chicks as they grow so I can learn even more. And as I mentioned, I am really only hatching a very small number while I work to create pens to house the very best roo with the best black hen and the best blue hen so I can get the blue gene into the black birds. In my area there is hardly anyone breeding LF cochins, let alone SQ, in blue or splash, so I found the best blues I could to breed to my nice blacks in order to get more blues. And though I have purchased some shipped hatching eggs in the past my success was pretty limited and I currently can't afford to ship in the really top notch birds that I would love to have. So my flock is a work in progress - trying to breed up as I can continue to acquire nicer and nicer birds. And luckily, since no one raises LF cochins in my area, the pullets who are not SQ will find nice backyard flock homes since they are great setters, good broodies and just such lovable birds. And the less than quality males will be caponized for dinner (but that is another topic for another time).

Thanks again!
Korina

 

[ki4got]

to answer part of your question, cochins are supposed to have feathers on the outer and middle toes... take a peek at these cute mille babies posted earlier today. 8)
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/228613/mille-cochin-info/3990#post_8674379

 

[Funky Feathers]

to answer part of your question, cochins are supposed to have feathers on the outer and middle toes... take a peek at these cute mille babies posted earlier today. 8)
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/228613/mille-cochin-info/3990#post_8674379

 

[ki4got]

ok here's another kinda noob question... i've got some really nice blacks, supposed to be split to self blue. is there any way to tell that they're are (or not) actually carrying self blue? I ask because my roo, just about 4 months old, i noticed some white in a couple tail and foot feathers that i hadn't noticed before. otherwise he and his girls (same breeder) are all solid black.

 

[Black Cochin Bantams]

Male I got from Tom at Crossroads
The newest male I got from Tom

My old male. Note the width of his cushion
It shows the pictures when I entered this post but did not load them Sorry!

 

[Black Cochin Bantams]

Did it again.GRRRR

 

[dak]

Male I got from Tom at Crossroads
The newest male I got from Tom

My old male. Note the width of his cushion
It shows the pictures when I entered this post but did not load them Sorry!

Did it again.GRRRR

Keep trying!

(Must resist bantam Cochins.)

 

[ki4got]

(Must resist bantam Cochins.)

Resistance is futile!