Dividing a Bantam Cochin flock, what's the best way to do it?

[chicken_china_mom]

I have several different colors of Bantam Cochins, and I'm trying to find the best way to divide the flock without making freakish color combinations when they breed. Here are the colors I currently have:

Blue Splash-roo & hens
Barred-a pair
White-Pair (hen is frizzled)
Black Mottled-Pair
Black-Frizzled hen only

What I was thinking of doing was putting the Splash and Whites in a pen together, but what will I get if the colors cross breed? I don't know yet what to do with the Barred, they kind of don't blend nicely with anyone, lol. My other option is that I have White Silkies and I could put my whites in with them, and then I'd get Sizzles AND Silkies, however my two Frizzled hens, one white, one black, I got together as chicks, and they are very attached. So where do I put her? In the bator right now I have a pair of Splash chicks, a Black chick, and a chick that I can't quite tell what color he is. They all came from my own birds. For the most part they bred pure without me having to separate them. I am working on Blue Mottled though, so I know I need to keep my Mottled and Splash together for a time, but what would happen if I threw the Whites in with them? I have more Black Mottled eggs in my bator now from fresh stock, as well as some Whites, Lavenders, and Cinnamon Reds. I have only 2 or 3 eggs each of the last few colors, so it will depend on how many hatch out before I will know what else I'll be putting in the coop later on. I'd like later on to get Columbian Cochins as I find their colors to be just gorgeous, and eventually I'll get Brown Reds, but that will be after I work on new pens next year or so. Any help with this would be great. Thank you!

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

I'd put your black frizzle in with the splashes to get blue frizzles!

Put the whites in with the silkies like you said. Yoiu could also put the mottleds in with the splashes and frizzle, and you'd get blues that are split for mottled. You could also put the barred and mottleds together, and get barred split to mottled, though I don't know how the 3rd generation of those would look...

 

[chicken_china_mom]

I hadn't even thought of Blue Frizzles! That's a great idea, and it gives me more wonderful colors to work towards! I forgot, I also have a Partridge chick in the brooder that I'm keeping. Any idea where I should put that baby? I have my fingers crossed hoping it's a hen, I have too many roos as it is!!!

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote:
I know nothing about partridge, but according to the genetics calculator, it could go in with the blacks and splashes too, because with blacks it should throw 100% black, and with splashes, it should throw 100% blue.

 

[muddyhorse]

how many pens do you have to fill ?

 

[chicken_china_mom]

Well, currently I just have my entire flock of Bantams running together, and that consists of my Cochins, a Mille Fleur d'Uccle hen, my White Silkies, a Black Silkie/OEGB hen, my Bantam BO's, and a Dark Brahma roo. Oh, and my ducks to, lol. But I want to start separating them out to get pures. I have in my brooder right now six 3 week olds that came from my own birds. One is a Silkie/Cochin mix, and the rest are pure Cochins. My BO's are not currently breeding, and neither are either of my Frizzle hens at the moment, and the Dark Brahma roo is not permitted to breed. He's low man on the totem pole and the hens won't even let him mount them, so he just kinds walks around doing nothing most of the time. I'm thinking that I will have to set up a pen later on for all the extra birds that I don't have mates for, and just not incubate their eggs, or let the hens brood over them. Looks like I'll have a Belgian Quail Antwerp to add into that future pen as well as some other unknowns since I also picked up some chicks from TSC about 2 weeks ago. That's interesting that my Partridge should throw blues and blacks. At least I know I'll have a place to put it when I separate them out! I don't have the pens set up yet, it's an ongoing process. Currently I have a coop, and a new coop coming. The new coop will go strictly to the Bantams, and the old coop will go to the Standards. I'll have to separate out the Standard flock later on anyways as I need to move my Marans around, and I'll also need a pen for my BLRW. I think that maybe through early Spring and Summer I'll separate them, and then come late Summer I'll put them all back in the big coop with the big run, until Winter comes, then everyone will go into the new coop, but with a partition to separate the Bantams from the Standards so that no one gets hurt, cause the coop I currently have is just metal and there is absolutely no protection from the cold in the Winter, whereas the new coop will be wood, and solid with a floor and windows, and should do well to protect the birds from the elements. I lost too many birds to the cold this last Winter. But I'm getting an idea now of how to divide my flock up.