Cochin Thread!!!

[TexasChick09]

Thanks! It's good to have verification.

I thought Cochins were supposed to be docile, but that one is a mean little brat. He bites me every day when I feed, multiple times if I give him the chance, so I pick him up and carry him around while I feed everyone else. After that, when I put him back in his coop, he is a sweet as can be.

My molted that is the same age still is not feathered and is still tiny. I wish she/it would hurry up and get some feathers! lol

 

[ki4got]

i got a white and birchen same time, and the white was fully fluffed way before the birchen, who is still very small. both are 2 months old now. how old is your guy?

 

[TexasChick09]

These guys are about 2.5ish months now I believe.

You can sort of the see the Mottleds head in this photo, with the OEGB and Silver Sebright that are the same age, and it is just now starting to look like it will grow feathers. She's so ugly at the moment.

 

[Black Cochin Bantams]

Random thoughts continued


I often wonder if many or any of you would ever like to do exhibition poultry in the future or is having backyard Cochins enough?

Sometimes I ask myself do I take it too seriously?

Cochins as a breed need more people to work on some of the recognized but lessor known varieties. My projects are to improve existing varieties not create new ones. In my opinion the varieties that need work in Bantams are Silver Laced, Silver Penciled, Columbians, Buff Columbians, Partridge, Birchen, Red, Black Tailed Reds, Barred,Brown Reds, Lemon Blue, and Gold Laced. Large fowl just need more breeders.

I always wish that I knew more about genetics. I supplement my limited knowledge of genetics by asking questions from those who have considerable breeding experience. For what I am trying to do that works better for me than a book.

I would like to see some more Buff Columbians in shows. I have only seen 1 person exhibit them besides me in the last year. I am hoping to put some more in a show or two later this year.

Next year I want to travel to another part of the country and show where I haven't shown before. Perhaps the SE (Florida in Jan/Feb?)or SW.( 4 Corners sounds interesting).

I want more coop space but am running into minor roadblocks with county zoning. Thinking of getting a 18-26 ft camper and gutting that for my secondary coop. As long as I keep it licensed they can't stop me and no building permit is required.

Craig

 

[Funky Feathers]

I am passionate about getting Splash recognized. I have been working on them for 4 years (this Fall). I love the Buff Columbians but I don't have the time & space for another color. In the future maybe I can think about that.

 

[JosieChick]

In response to random thoughts, because I have a lot of my own....

I would love to exhibit my birds, I don't feel that right now I have anything worth exhibiting but I think maybe in a few years I might! I have a lot of birds who need work and their offspring will hopefully be better.

I think it is fun to take it seriously, but I also really enjoy my cochins that are just backyard pets and that is all they will ever be.

I wish I could work on a color that needs work but I don't have a ton of money to spend on birds and I also prefer to hatch my own chicks. Nobody will sell me hatching eggs except for folks working on project colors so that is how I wound up with mille fleur and splash cochins. I do hope to continue to work on both these colors to improve type. I have purchased black cockerels of decent type to improve my splash color/type and breed for blue. I also have mottled cochins growing up that are of good stock and hopefully will improve my mille fleur cochins type. I would like to see these colors improve in type and eventually be recognized?

I would LOVE to work on silver penciled, buff, buff columbian, partridge or lemon blue. But nobody will sell eggs. I hatch eggs because I want birds that are mareks vaccinated at hatch. I vaccinate all my birds after I lost one of my very dear hens several years ago to mareks and it was heartbreaking. I also handle my birds, A LOT, some folks don't. I have bought birds that were as wild as they come and it is terrible to be out chasing birds around a pen and have them screaming for their lives. My birds are handled from hatch and gentle, easy going and used to being picked up.

Project colors are what made me fall in love with cochins so I don't think they are a bad thing and I really enjoy my project birds. I would absolutely love to email or contact a breeder and request hatching eggs (which I am fully aware are a huge gamble) and actually get a reply and maybe even a yes. Because I would work hard on a variety of cochin that needs work but I think someone else has to willing to help a newbie along. I assume breeders don't want to sell eggs because they can't control for type/color etc. But sometimes you have to trust people. I have two black cochin bantams that I hatched this spring from another persons eggs (she put them in as extras, not what I bought) One has terrible type and doesn't even look like a cochin and the other has terrible gold leakage in the hackles. They are both in the butcher pen. I am serious about the quality of my birds and I won't place a bird with someone that is going to breed a lesser quality cochin.

Thank you Craig, for being thought provoking. I haven't posted on here for quite a while because it saddens me that all the posts are about what color two different varieties of cochins bred to each other would make...If you are going to go through the trouble of breeding cochins and hatching why not at least get two in the same variety?

Good luck with your camper coop, sounds like a fun project!

Random thoughts continued


I often wonder if many or any of you would ever like to do exhibition poultry in the future or is having backyard Cochins enough?

Sometimes I ask myself do I take it too seriously?

Cochins as a breed need more people to work on some of the recognized but lessor known varieties. My projects are to improve existing varieties not create new ones. In my opinion the varieties that need work in Bantams are Silver Laced, Silver Penciled, Columbians, Buff Columbians, Partridge, Birchen, Red, Black Tailed Reds, Barred,Brown Reds, Lemon Blue, and Gold Laced. Large fowl just need more breeders.

I always wish that I knew more about genetics. I supplement my limited knowledge of genetics by asking questions from those who have considerable breeding experience. For what I am trying to do that works better for me than a book.

I would like to see some more Buff Columbians in shows. I have only seen 1 person exhibit them besides me in the last year. I am hoping to put some more in a show or two later this year.

Next year I want to travel to another part of the country and show where I haven't shown before. Perhaps the SE (Florida in Jan/Feb?)or SW.( 4 Corners sounds interesting).

I want more coop space but am running into minor roadblocks with county zoning. Thinking of getting a 18-26 ft camper and gutting that for my secondary coop. As long as I keep it licensed they can't stop me and no building permit is required.

Craig

 

[thecochincoop]

Random thoughts continued


I often wonder if many or any of you would ever like to do exhibition poultry in the future or is having backyard Cochins enough?

Sometimes I ask myself do I take it too seriously?

Cochins as a breed need more people to work on some of the recognized but lessor known varieties. My projects are to improve existing varieties not create new ones. In my opinion the varieties that need work in Bantams are Silver Laced, Silver Penciled, Columbians, Buff Columbians, Partridge, Birchen, Red, Black Tailed Reds, Barred,Brown Reds, Lemon Blue, and Gold Laced. Large fowl just need more breeders.

I always wish that I knew more about genetics. I supplement my limited knowledge of genetics by asking questions from those who have considerable breeding experience. For what I am trying to do that works better for me than a book.

I would like to see some more Buff Columbians in shows. I have only seen 1 person exhibit them besides me in the last year. I am hoping to put some more in a show or two later this year.

Next year I want to travel to another part of the country and show where I haven't shown before. Perhaps the SE (Florida in Jan/Feb?)or SW.( 4 Corners sounds interesting).

I want more coop space but am running into minor roadblocks with county zoning. Thinking of getting a 18-26 ft camper and gutting that for my secondary coop. As long as I keep it licensed they can't stop me and no building permit is required.

Craig

I think it is important to have nice typed birds whether they are pets or for show. Why not have beautiful birds to look at. Same with dogs, if you're going to go out and buy a dog you want one that looks like it is supposed to even if you are not showing. I also may have a couple buff columbians to show at the ON I will have gold laced and possibly a couple BLR's this fall

 

[thecochincoop]

on the subject of rare varieties needing work, I have a pair of reds for sale that look really nice but I'm just not thrilled with their personality

 

[Coopa Cabana]

Due to size constraints, I mainly work with just one of the "lesser" varieties - Golden Laced Bantams. Whick means I, too, may never raise a winner. I just hope to someday raise one worthy of an entry fee.

Working with a patterned variety certainly has its challenges - I have no idea how the GL's ever got recognized! It's frustrating, challenging, nerve-wrecking, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. And it's forced me to read and learn so much more about genetics than I ever thought I would. 40+ years later, and I know Mrs Joslyn, my high school biology teacher, is smiling down on me.

And the absolute best part of my journey is all the marvelous friends I've "met" along the way - both thru BYC and Cochins International - all who share my passion for Cochins.

In Europe, they have an International Cochin Day - the 2nd Saturday of September. I think we should join in and make it truly an International event! The geographic center of the U.S. is in Lebanon, Kansas. Anybody live near there?

One other quick observation - It's much easier to raise the humidity in your incubator than it is to lower it.

~Gail

 

[Black Cochin Bantams]

I love that you are posting an interesting thoughtful intelligent group of replies to my "more random thoughts" post.

I am not and was not rying to suggest that anyone is not doing their part. It was just an observation that some varieties REALLY need our focus and care. I do have Columbians,Buff Colymbians,Silver Penciled (thanks to a dear friend), Birchen, and some silver laced hens but no rooster. Still looking for a SL Rooster. Please keep me in mind if you spot a decent SL Rooster. I also have some Partridge but would not be spreading them around much because of willow legs on most of the hens. Males all have yellow legs. I was trying to suggest the varieties I listed earlier need work in areas that would bring them closer to the SOP. That was shown in the responses I saw. Love you folks!

Craig