Cochin Thread!!!

[AndyCap]

Hey all.

I found a potential partridge rooster for my laced project. He has good foot feathering, but also has white spots on his head, and white/grey under feathers in his tail. I can see the saddles coming in a nice mahogany red.

i know he isnt SQ, but any thoughts please share. i want to learn what makes a good partridge, i have read all i can and would love your thoughts, good or bad. He is still young. The colour looks all over the place to me.

He is between two and 3 months old i believe. The last pic is the girl he came with. i dont particularly need her for the project, but want to keep her for the moment. These are very rare here in South Africa, so even if the boy is bad i will cross him to some nicely typed black or white girls, as he is only the second partridge Rooster i have seen in a whole year.

 

[tiki244]

Today I lost my 5 month old Lf blue cochin hen. The rooster that she was raised with wouldn't leave her side even though she was already dead.  I let them all outside and noticed that the young rooster wasn't leaving, so I walked in and saw her laying there. It got me thinking about a few other chickens that have died in the past.  I have raised about 30 cochins to this age from chicks and I would say that 5 of them died at 5 months for no apparent reason. 

I examined her the best I could, but the only thing I noticed different was that around her comb was bright red, like a really bright usual red, though it's been freezing everynight lately, so that might have something to do with it. Another 5 month old cochin hen was unable to use her legs a day before she died.  She couldn't walk right and died the next day.  The other 3 showed nothing.  A perfectly healthy bird one day, and then gone the next. Other than old age, and one to a predator, I haven't lost any birds except these.  Has anyone else had problems with their cochins around this age? I just don't understand why these seemingly healthy birds passed away. 

this sounds serious

 

[tiki244]

cochin1088 did you buy any birds that were not hatched at your house?

 

[tiki244]

Enjoying keeping my bantam cochin chicks on sand so far. Do any of you do this with success? So easy to sift out all the little poops every day and keep it clean so far. The sand acts just like clumping kitty litter. Since it is cold outside here in Michigan, I needed to find some way to keep them from getting too stinky in our basement. My daughter loves having her picture taken, can you tell?

What an adorable picture and nice set up.

...

My son went Best Large Fowl of the Youth show at the Four Corners Poultry show.  (Also Reserve Champion of the Youth show with bantam Buff Brahma)




Congratulations to your son!

Congratulations to Edison Cigany and John Burgess, they both had Grand Champion Bantams at the Maryland State Poultry Associations Show. Which was also the Cochin Eastern National show.

Nice picture!

Coopacabana donated a Bantam standard as a prize for the Jr's at Eastern Nationals. What a great way to encourage the youth! Thanks so much.

Congratulations

 

[tiki244]

AndyCap he has some growing to do yet. Nice score!

 

[cochins1088]

cochin1088 did you buy any birds that were not hatched at your house?

Not really. I have only brought in one dark brahma rooster but this was happening before he arrived. The only other birds that came from outside our farm arrived as eggs that I hatched and raised. I had assumed heart attacks when the first couple died because they were active and healthy one day and gone the next, but having 5 birds all die at this same age makes me think something else might be going on. Other than these brids, the only other deaths were from old age. The first 2 deaths happened 2 years ago. Another died 2 died last year. And now another this year. It just seems that 5 birds at 5 months old dying out of a total of 30 is too high to just be coincidence. Thanks for any help.

 

[JosieChick]

You are right that losing birds at 5 months of age to "sudden death" is not normal and you should definitely be concerned. Many state veterinary colleges will offer free gross necropsy. Gross necropsy is just opening the animal up and observing physical changes in the animals body. Some diseases, parasites, foreign bodies can be diagnosed this way. Often their are fees for further testing but can yield highly valuable information. I would contact your veterinarian and ask if they can submit a bird for you for necropsy or you can even send the bird in with the proper forms. Here is a place to start. http://www.vdl.umn.edu/guidelines/necropsy/home.html

The specimen has to be fairly fresh for accurate results. Usually within 24 hours of death and ideally not frozen but packed on ice. Check for specific guidelines on how to package a bird to ship for necropsy. They usually need to be sent overnight unless you are near a veterinary school and you could drive the bird there. Best of luck to you. Remember, doing a necropsy on one bird can save your other birds by determining cause of death. It is well worth the investment.

Not really. I have only brought in one dark brahma rooster but this was happening before he arrived. The only other birds that came from outside our farm arrived as eggs that I hatched and raised. I had assumed heart attacks when the first couple died because they were active and healthy one day and gone the next, but having 5 birds all die at this same age makes me think something else might be going on. Other than these brids, the only other deaths were from old age. The first 2 deaths happened 2 years ago. Another died 2 died last year. And now another this year. It just seems that 5 birds at 5 months old dying out of a total of 30 is too high to just be coincidence. Thanks for any help.

 

[JosieChick]

Adorable!!!! Congratulations!!

My son went Best Large Fowl of the Youth show at the Four Corners Poultry show. (Also Reserve Champion of the Youth show with bantam Buff Brahma)

Congratulations! All kinds of cochin showing excitement!

Congratulations to Edison Cigany and John Burgess, they both had Grand Champion Bantams at the Maryland State Poultry Associations Show. Which was also the Cochin Eastern National show.

What a great pic!!

Coopacabana donated a Bantam standard as a prize for the Jr's at Eastern Nationals. What a great way to encourage the youth! Thanks so much.

 

[cochins1088]

You are right that losing birds at 5 months of age to "sudden death" is not normal and you should definitely be concerned. Many state veterinary colleges will offer free gross necropsy. Gross necropsy is just opening the animal up and observing physical changes in the animals body. Some diseases, parasites, foreign bodies can be diagnosed this way. Often their are fees for further testing but can yield highly valuable information. I would contact your veterinarian and ask if they can submit a bird for you for necropsy or you can even send the bird in with the proper forms. Here is a place to start. http://www.vdl.umn.edu/guidelines/necropsy/home.html

The specimen has to be fairly fresh for accurate results. Usually within 24 hours of death and ideally not frozen but packed on ice. Check for specific guidelines on how to package a bird to ship for necropsy. They usually need to be sent overnight unless you are near a veterinary school and you could drive the bird there. Best of luck to you. Remember, doing a necropsy on one bird can save your other birds by determining cause of death. It is well worth the investment.

Thanks. I had no where to put her, so I was forced to throw her away. She is still on top in a plastic bag but it's been freezing everynight and I believe it's been too long after death. I will look into this in the case that it happens again. Thanks again for the information. I still don't know what to think. Has anyone else lost birds to a sudden death like this? She was running around happily and eating corn the day before I found her. Is there a posiblity of lethal genes? All the birds that this has happened too came from my original flock of LF cochins. I just keep trying to think of causes of sudden death, the heart attack idea seemed like the right answer until I realized that they all died at the same age.

 

[Coopa Cabana]

Quote:
A couple of questions:
1) Are they brooded inside or outside? If inside, at what age do you put them outside "on the ground"?

2) At what age are they switched from a flock raiser feed to adult feed?