Holy moly those sound really spendy! Also, there was Newcastle disease in so cal earlier this year so be sure to check out the progress on the quarantine of poultry in cali before ordering chicks. Since I'm the odd duck with the black silvers, I can weigh in on the cuckoo x bmc breeding: if you want to keep cuckoo for some fun color, you can get away with golden cuckoo penned up with your bmc, just like I can get away with keeping cuckoo penned with my black silvers. You will have way fewer culls with that pairing, as you won't be messing with changing the base red/silver, only with the barring, in a manner of speaking.
Also, often cuckoo/gold cuckoo are added to increase the hackle/saddle coloring of the line you are crossing with, so if you have a poorly undercolored boy, bringing in a gold cuckoo to your black copper flock can up your color.
Also, often cuckoo/gold cuckoo are added to increase the hackle/saddle coloring of the line you are crossing with, so if you have a poorly undercolored boy, bringing in a gold cuckoo to your black copper flock can up your color.