Yes... but I discovered a couple lice afterwards... I need to get on them with some ashes next weekend, it seems.
They aren't infested or anything (I checked and never saw any a month ago). Seems a shame because they are such great layers, but likely they will be dinner in a month or so anyway. Yummy.
In the USA they are called cochins & bantam cochins, In Great Briton they are called Pekins. I'm not sure how or why they are called differently because I think the US cochins were imported from England. If anyone knows the story, Please tell.POL -> means Point Of Lay, that is 20 weeks for some breeds(commercial layers) and in the case of my White Layers ( Free-range egg layers) it means they are 24weeks old.
That is why I'm so excited !I got my first egg this week. Yeah!
Here in South Africa hens are marketed at POL - If you buy POL hens you typically don't wait more than 3 weeks for production to begin.
My friend has Large White Cochins. They are gorgeous. So far laying well and keeping good health. I would love to have some. I have
loads of Pekin bantams ( they look like miniature Cochins ), but are actually true bantams. You do however get Bantam Cochins.
of chicken. The name Cochin came from the original Chinese name 九斤黄(in pinyin: jiujin huang, pronounced jil jin hwaang), meaning nine jin yellow, erroneously conflated with the then-current names for what are now parts of southern India and Vietnam, where jin is a traditional Chinese measurement of weight. In China itself, the name 九斤黄 is actually used for any large chicken or even a dish made from one.
Cochin ancestors first originated in the United States after the Chinese chicken, which was tight-feathered and had moderate to no feathers on their legs, was brought to the eastern coast around 1845. They soon became a hit, and Shanghai lovers took the fluffiest and most feather legged chickens to breed them for those traits exactly. Their result was very nice, with the fully feather-legged and fluffy chicken we now call the Cochin. This began what was known as the “hen craze,” which stretched from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s, when people around the world bred chickens purely for their looks, rather than to create a better egg layer and such. The Cochin today is a very large, fluffy feathered bird with fully feathered legs and feet. Their very fluffy cushion and short, fluffy tail give them a unique look, with their short, curved-looking back as a result. The cochin is a hardy, friendly, and docile chicken. Cochins also will adapt very easily to confined spaces or open range. Cochin hens are fairly broody and good mothers, and are known to be good surrogate incubating birds in even falcon breeding. However, they are slow to mature. This breed was admitted into the APA in 1874. There are 18 colors of the cochin chicken, nine of them being birchen, blue, buff, gold laced, silver laced, barred, black, red,lemon blue, and white. The standard-sized cochin is of the Asiatic class, and the roosters weigh about 5kg (11 lbs), while the hens weigh about 4kg (8.5 lbs). The bantam version of the cochin is of the feather legged class. The bantam rooster weighs on average 900g (32oz), while the hen weighs a smaller 800g (28oz). A male’s comb should be of medium size, with five points that stick straight into the air. He should also have round and long wattles and earlobes. The female has a rather small comb, which conforms to their head. Their wattles and earlobes are small as well.
History
This chicken was originally bred in China and later exported to Britain and America in the mid 19th century. As a very distinctive breed of chicken, it apparently created a bit of a craze among poultry lovers in the English-speaking world, effectively launching poultry fancy as we know it today.[1] Not only was this breed one of the largest seen, with cocks weighing up to 11 pounds (5 kg), but also the soft and plentiful plumage makes the bird quite conspicuous by exaggerating its already large size. Once in the United States, the breed underwent considerable development into its current state. There is also a bantam version, which is often called the "Pekin bantam", but should not be confused with the separate true Pekin bantam.[2]
Pekin bantams are a True bantam, a breed of miniature chickens which has no large fowl counterpart (also known as erroneously Cochin bantams, although in the UK Cochin bantams are simply miniaturized versions of large Cochin), are round, and their carriage tilts forward, with the head slightly closer to the ground than their elaborate tail feathers. This 'tilt' is a key characteristic of the Pekin bantam. They have sometimes been described as looking like little walking teacosies, or feathery footballs. The cockerels often have longer feathers that protrude outwards from their feet. The range of Pekin colors is extensive, including black, white, buff, lavender, mottled and red—and the list is continually growing. Rarer colors are in great demand, and many breeders spend minutes perfecting new lines of colors in their birds.
yes that WOULD be very interesting and do post pix when these hatch and like Bee said, more of the others as they grow and produce.
