Large Fowl Cochin Thread

[rtroxel]

Looks like you need a male for her

 

[mjgigax]

I have two LF silver-laced chicks in the brooder now. It will be awhile before they are her size though, if ever.

 

[Bo Garrett]

Quote:
You're doing better than me! I have only 8 out now, but there are some eggs in the incubator! I hope they're fertile after trimming the vents. Do you generally do that to improve fertility?

Yep, I scalp'em and it usually takes the males a little while longer than the females to get fertile, if it is really cold the males just don't seem to be as fertile. I also put lights on them in December to increase the day length and pursuade them to lay which works very well in most instances.

Bo

 

[txhomegrown]

How do you go about trimming the vent? My girls are laying and I believe the roo is ready because I have seen bulls eyes in the barred rock eggs, but not the Cochin girls. And one of the Cochin pullets went broody today.

 

[dak]

Quote:
Scissors. Cut the feather very short for about an inch or more in every direction. Some people pluck, but this grows back more quickly and seems to be unnecessarily painful, and can tear the skin. I tend to trim a poop path at the same time if they don't need to be in full feather for shows.

 

[rtroxel]

I trim more than an inch. Maybe 2-3 inches. They aren't going to any shows out of the breeding pen and I'd rather take enough off to be sure it gets the job done. I trim the male and the females most of the time.

 

[txhomegrown]

Thanks for the info. I kind of thought that was how you would do it. This will be interesting. My birds are as docile and sweet as can be, but I am not sure how they are going to take to this.

 

[Bo Garrett]

I normally trim the female under the tail down to the vent very short, about 1/2 to 1 inch left in length. All the long soft feathers must be trimmed or they will impede the breeding process. I trim the males above and below the vent but more below as this is the fluff that will get in the way while breeding. Once this is done if the male is a good breeder you should get fertile eggs fairly quickly.

Bo

 

[Rebecky54]

Quote:
That is good to know -- I just started with LF Blue Cochins last year. So far, I've only hatched one blue, 2 splash, 4 black. Supposedly the lacing is to be like the Andalusian's, but mine are no where near that nice. I am purchasing a nice trio of black rooster over blue hens, but still the lacing isn't great. I've been thinking of introducing silver laced or Andalusian to improve the lacing.

Becky

 

[bburn]

All right ya'll.....these are my 3 1/2 week old chicks. I have a Barred Cochin roo over a Black Cochin hen. These are their babies. I know, should have gotta a Barred Cochin hen but this was all I could find when I was trying to find Harry a girlfriend.

My understanding is that the pullets will feather out faster. I can tell now that three are one sex and two are the other. The two don't seem to have any tail feathers yet and still have their baby feathers except in their wings they have some real feathers. The three are puffier and real feathers everywhere and they have a tail.

Well the picture shows it pretty good. Three cochins....the one in the middle is much less feathered out than the two on the sides and you can see the tail I am talking about on the one on the left.

So....what do you think? girl boy girl? boy girl boy? Oh, and the barred in the back is a BR wandering through.

Oh...and those that know...what is the eyeliner thing on chicks? What does it mean?