Hey Patty, Gator, Mike and other mille cochin enthusiasts

[onthespot]

my thought is that no one will scrap their breeding program if it is working for them. I think the variety will have continued problems breeding true probably forever based on your post. I don't know what mine are based, so I wouldn't begin to be able to know what to do with my birds.

 

[amazondoc]

Quote:
It doesn't have to be a question of "scrapping" a breeding program. New genes are brought into breeding programs all the time.

One good way to begin getting an idea about the E allele is to look at the chick's down color. Wheaten (E(Wh)) chicks will be yellow at hatch; wild type (e+) chicks will be chipmunk striped; partridge (e(b)) chicks I'm not sure about, but here's a pic of partridge rock chicks -- http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/product/partridge_rocks.html .

 

[DANNY]

HERE ARE SOME CHICK PICTURES. THE LIGHT COLORD ONES ARE PROBABLY WHEATEN OR BUFF COLUMBIAN. THDARKER ONE IS PARTRIDGE AND THE ONES IN THE MIDDLE MAYBE BLUE MILLE OR MILLE. THERE IS ALSO A COUPLE OF "TWEENERS". IF ANYBODY RECOGNIZES ANY OF THESE COLORS PLEASE COMMENT ON THEM.

 

[wwmicasa1]

Thank you so much to everyone who were interested in the MFC pullets. I'm happy to say they have found a new home in Colorado.

 

[wwmicasa1]

Quote:
It doesn't have to be a question of "scrapping" a breeding program. New genes are brought into breeding programs all the time.

One good way to begin getting an idea about the E allele is to look at the chick's down color. Wheaten (E(Wh)) chicks will be yellow at hatch; wild type (e+) chicks will be chipmunk striped; partridge (e(b)) chicks I'm not sure about, but here's a pic of partridge rock chicks -- http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/product/partridge_rocks.html .

Hey Doc!

Your babies are beauties.

The older group has very good dark color. You were right about that.

I have to admit I know "nothing" about genetics. I guess I have just been lucky in my breeding. Where yours come from the Wheaten side, mine come from Buff Columbian.

In my previous hatches, my chicks were all over the scale in regard to color of down. But this last hatch of F3's are very similar to Mille Fleur D'Uccle chick down.

Here are some pics I took this morning of the April 19th hatch.

My aim is to strive for at least 90% of the chicks to breed true to color. We will always contine to have the oddball but that is to be expected. Hopefully we will all benefit from each others future breedings. I do not show so I will leave it to the experts to decide what the standard should be. Then we can all work toward a common goal.

 

[amazondoc]

Hey Lynne --

Those little guys are just too cute!

I dunno which E allele is going to work the best in the long run. But if folks ever plan to show and get the color accepted in this country, we'll eventually need to figure that out. I've sent a private email to David Hancox about it, but no response yet. We'll see. Chicken color genetics is soooo complicated, but it's fun to play with!

In the meantime, I hope some of your chicks can add some better type to my birds. Mine are definitely lacking there. I do also have a couple of mottled hens with pretty good type, but I'm not sure I really want to get into the multi-generation task of getting the color back if I cross out to them. So many questions, so few chicken pens!

 

[Msbear]

I was thinking of putting a mottled hen in with mine as well to work toward that ginormous cushion. I know it will take forever to get good mille color back but if I just keep throwing the nices daughter back in... maybe I'll be on to something

 

[tfpets]

Hi all,

Got a chance to read Most of the thread again - I'll give kind of brief of my birds so far - and intent for the future - with a heavy leaning on ~expert~advice because Mille Fleur, especially the Cochins, is a favorite.

I have 2 roosters that I got as "Project Mille Fleur Cochins" from Eggchel, here on BYC - no, I didnt ask their backgrounds....I also got 6 Project Mille Fleur Cochin hens from her. They are mostly Buff, with mottled white, and some spots of black on a couple of them...2 were near laying egg, the other four were still peeping, this was in 01/09...The roosters and hens have nice bodies and feathering - I can post pics of each if you like for opinions -

Today, I am the proud recipient of Eggs from Lynne!! So I wil be able to have a start in some of the very pretty Mille Fleur Cochins!!

So depending on my hatch results - and since Lynne already has the best...should I just scrap the original "Project" cochins I have and not use them to breed with, ever? I have never hatched from them - I didnt know what to do, what to add to the lines, since I dont know their background...Should I continue with Lynnes birds only, or will there be traits in my existing flock that would be useful??

What I know about Genetics, you could put in a thimble!
Tina

 

[Msbear]

If I were you, I would start two lines. I would keep the nicest of Lynne's in a separate coop, then toss the remainder of Lynne's birds in with your existing hens. See what happens. Lynne's have exceptional color and type but it doesn't hurt to keep two lines going in order to outcross when your birds are bred too tight... 4 years in the future.

Expert breeders do this to keep genetic diversity in their bloodlines.

 

[DANNY]

I have already bred mottled over mille and mottled over buff columbian. Here is some of what i got. I don't know why or how but i am breeding out these thiis year and have some interesting looking chick.