Hey Patty, Gator, Mike and other mille cochin enthusiasts

[onthespot]

if that means he can make mille fleur, then Cool Beans! Thanks!

 

[Krys109uk]

if that means he can make mille fleur, then Cool Beans! Thanks!

Being 'split' for silver means that half of his female offspring will be silver rather than the necessary gold & half of his male offspring will be also 'split' for silver/gold, irrespective of whether they are dark mottled. If his mother was mille fleur then he ought to give some mille fleur offspring. Mated with a nice millie female all of his offspring will inherit two genes for mottling, all things being equal, he will give 50% dark mottled. Of the 50% not dark mottled, in the region of 50% will inherit the unwanted silver gene. It is not possible to tell whether he is heterozygous for columbian, also necessary. If his mother was 'pure' for columbian he will have one columbian gene, if she was not he may not have a columbian gene. You would have to breed twice as many chicks from this male in order to get any mille fleur offpring as you would from a male that did not carry silver.

So you'll need to breed loads.​

 

[onthespot]

His mother was straight black mottled. I would rather breed twice as many with a chance to get super nice cusions, than half as many with odd feathers sticking up out of their tails and weak profiles. I guess time will tell. How soon would I be able to tell on the chicks if they got silver or gold?

 

[Krys109uk]

I would rather breed twice as many with a chance to get super nice cusions, than half as many with odd feathers sticking up out of their tails and weak profiles.

I see your point.

I only mentioned it so you could watch out for it.

How soon would I be able to tell on the chicks if they got silver or gold?

I imagine you'll be able to tell pretty quickly which birds are silver on those which are not dark mottled. Silver birds are unlikely to feather up with brown/gold in their feathers. Depending upon their down colour, you might be able to tell at hatch.

 

[onthespot]

Krys, I would just like to take this moment to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your advice, insight and help. It is like GOLD and I want you to know I appreciate it. I was going to offer you some eggs but I see you are UK. bummer.

 

[Krys109uk]

Onthespot, that's really kind of you thanks.

To be honest I'm cheating by being here.

I hope nobody minds. I shouldn't know a good exhibition cochin if it bit me,though I can see some of the birds look stunning. I've been working on blue jubilee Orps for a while &, as it's basically the same colour pattern, have been learning from all of you doing millie cochins. I recognise the presence of certain genes & seeing photos of the same birds growing on is really most helpful. Most particular thanks to Msbear's webpage & everyones progress photos. Also Amazondoc's work with mille fleur on wheaten base is helpful as mine are mostly on wheaten.

 

[Msbear]

Krys, Im not sure if the vulture hocks truly diminish or they just become less noticable when the cockerels fill out. My columbian roos have that part of the legs feather in rather quickly giving the appearance of vulture hocks but they aren't the hard, stiff feathers I've heard other describe. so again, not much help there

Josh, I'd be super proud of that cockerel. So many of us have some nice marked roos but it is more difficult to get that rounder look like yours is getting. Good Job!! Im really proud of my roo. I realize he is too tall among other things... but I still have lots of confidence in him He has beautiful buff mottling on his chest and his color is just gorgeous!!...maybe its a mother's love

and I think the pullets from Lynne can't be beat with their type and background color. Crossing with Tom's buff columbians has saved many of us a few steps!!

Alpine, your roo loos awesome too!! Maybe I'll get one of them in the next batch. Your pullet is very nice as well. The neat thing about breeding birds is that the gratification is so fast. 21 days to hatch, 5 months to fill out and your breeding just shortly after that. Hope is always just a generation away

Cruzin T, I updated the mille progress page with your pics. Thanks for supplying them... they really show nicely and I think you have a fabulous start with a gorgeous trio from Tate as well as some great birds from Lynne and Bantyman. Make sure you keep snapping so we can follow this story.

 

[JOSHSBANTAMS]

Hey Erin thanks for the complements

I'm hoping to get some nice chicks out of that pair. The pullet just started to lay so it won't be long until I'll be hatching some of their chicks. I wish the Roo had better black chevrons. He has some but not enough. I'm hoping that their offspring will be closer to what we're working toward.

 

[onthespot]

That is why we all have to keep trading eggs! If we had all our birds to work with in one place, we could make great progress. The next best thing is to trade eggs. Gooooo TEAM!!!

 

[JOSHSBANTAMS]

I'm game on trading eggs. I just haven't had many laid in the last two months, since the heat wave. Once mine start laying I'll be up for a trade.