Hey Patty, Gator, Mike and other mille cochin enthusiasts

[Buck Creek Chickens]

I got my 1st egg today out of' lil girl'

 

[Krys109uk]

she sent 2 buff columbian x mille fleur. I hatched 2 pullets. One has lots of white and one is just now getting a tad bit at 5 months old... and will probably get a bit more after her molt.

The buff columbians Lynne has must be carrying the mottling gene. Normally buff columbian would not be carrying this.

Buff columbian carries extra melanisers, does this affect the amount of black in the mille fleurs?

I'm not sure as to the ground colours you are all aiming for. Has anyone crossed to reds or that colour too dark? Or has anyone tried crossing to plain buff?​

 

[alpinefarm]

Quote:
I have 2 mille pullets from Lynne that are very pale buff ground color. I am just enthralled with this. I think it is so beautiful.

We'll see what I get this season, as my younger mf rooster (out of Lynne's Hillary) is quite a deep mahogany color.

 

[amazondoc]

Hey all --

Sorry I've been away from the forum!

Let's see, I've got news on four fronts --

1. First, my guys are doing well. I put up a bunch of pics of the parents and older offspring, here:

http://eggheadhill.smugmug.com/Chickens/809907

I've got about 30 youngsters from the same parents running around -- gotta get more pics soon. They are looking pretty uniform, except that about 20% are charcoal mottled with red highlights. Interestingly, ALL the charcoal ones are male -- so it's gotta be something sex-linked, but I don't have that figured out yet.

2. The five chicks I hatched from Lynne are also growing well, and looking interesting. Gotta get pics of them too!

3. I can't wait for the two chicks I hatched from Mike to get bigger. I can't tell too much yet. Both were wheaten like my own birds (my parent birds originally came from Mike), but his had noticeably redder down than mine. Can't wait to see how that translates to adult plumage.

4. I got eggs from Tate, which are in the bator now. Those eggs were lost in the mail for a WEEK before I got them -- and right when we had VERY hot weather, too. Nonetheless, I am pleasantly shocked to say that about half of them are developing! Poor Ralph/Lynn, those eggs were lost for so long that I even doubted they had been mailed at all -- but then they showed up out of the blue. I apologize for doubting!

I'll get more pics up before too long -- I promise!

 

[Msbear]

Quote:
The buff columbians Lynne has must be carrying the mottling gene. Normally buff columbian would not be carrying this.

Buff columbian carries extra melanisers, does this affect the amount of black in the mille fleurs?

I'm not sure as to the ground colours you are all aiming for. Has anyone crossed to reds or that colour too dark? Or has anyone tried crossing to plain buff?

They were buff columbian crossed with mille fleur so that's why they had the mottling gene.

Columbian carries the wheaten gene and this is why we use it. Regular white columbian like the ones I have could be used too but then you have another generation of adding the buff.... just kinda saves a step

Not sure how it all works... but it's working!!

Amazon, Im doing a bit on all the mille breeders and would like to document your progress. The charcoal issue with some of your roos is interesting. I had two charcoal roos. They later developed nice breast buff mottling but were, overall, too dark.

Anyways, a brief story of your efforts with pics of your initial breeders and any generations since then... whenever you get time? You can pm me pics and I can right click to get the direct address and post them to my page.

 

[Krys109uk]

AmazonDoc....Fantastic photos throught their various stages. Very interesting thanks. With the cockerel with more black, do you know where the black came from?

MSBear.....I can see why one wouldn't want to use silver columbian. I wondered whether anyone had tried using a plain buff or plain red, (depending upon whether the desired background colour to the mille fleur is buff or red)? Both red & buff carry columbian without the extra blackening genes, plain buffs are wheaten & often plain reds are wheaten. Red & both types of columbian can also be on wheaten or brown (the dark chicks).

The reason I ask is I'm curious to know whether it has been found to help the pattern to have the extra black & presumably fewer black restricting genes?

 

[Msbear]

You know, Im not sure exactly why but some breeders who's been working on them longer as well as some genetic gurus on some older mille posts (I'll see if I can dig them up) suggested we go this route. I think the buff may just lead to buff mottled without the black. I know folks have used buffs and reds to improve color and type...

Someone put is best a few months ago. They said something along the lines of there are many different roads to mille fleur. It's all about combining the ingredients til you get it right... a bit of this + a tad of that, etc.

 

[Krys109uk]

It's all about combining the ingredients til you get it right... a bit of this + a tad of that, etc.

Don't I know it?

I never thought I'd be trying to approach a colour/pattern from so many angles....

 

[twinlights]

Here are the chicks at 4 weeks.
Chick 1

chick 2

chick 3

chick 4

chick 5

chick 6

chick 7

I think I have two roos and five hens.

post # 550 has their younger photos. I numbered them to try to keep them straight. Chick 6 didn't get its photo in the first post because it wouldn't sit still. but it had no mottling back then.

 

[JOSHSBANTAMS]

So how many chicks have you all raised this year so far?? I’ve got way way way too many right now. I just counted and I’ve got over 100 from my bantams cochins in grow out pens and I can’t tell you how many I’ve already sold locally but I’d guess that I’ve hatched well over 200++ with all of the chicks I’ve gotten rid of and all of the silkies that I’ve hatched. I think I’m losing my mind………..
Just wanted to see if anyone else feels this way?