Large Fowl Cochin Thread

[NanaKat]

Okay...as promised pictures of the recent hatches. Cochin, Wyandotte and Bantam...about 150 on the ground and in the brooders


A six week old strut


Profile of a 6 week old


Six week olds and 4 week olds


Broad head on a 4 week old


Two week old huddle..there are more Cochin in the mix...


Day old to 5 day olds mixture of breeds but the Cochin stand out

 

[County Boy]

 

[warmheart]

Oh my goodness CountryBoy, I love love love your golden rooster! *swooooon* Thud!

Wow, all your birds are gorgeous, but is he ever a looker!

 

[annabananaandfamily]

Making a last ditch effort before I snag eggs on ebay. I am trying very hard to find some lf cochin eggs to set asap. I dony show my birds, just love the breed andam interested in getting some solid stock. Not overly concerned with color, variety is a good thing in our big backyard, but definitely trying to get some good, feathery birds and trying to avoid hatchery stock. I am ready and waiting, so please let me know I you have any available.

 

[County Boy]

Oh my goodness CountryBoy, I love love love your golden rooster! *swooooon* Thud!

Wow, all your birds are gorgeous, but is he ever a looker!

Thanks, that is Bruce. He is from Lynne. Bruce is in my project of Lemon Blue/ Brown Reds.

 

[k0r1nag]

Such lovely birds in this thread. And such amazing colors!

I do have a question regarding color that I hope someone here can answer for me. I have black and blue large fowl cochins. I have two exceedingly nice black birds - a hen and roo - that I got from Monica Harmon, but my other birds are from a local person who bought what she was told was a flock of show birds, but she herself does not show, so the birds are not as nice as they should be. That said, I wanted blues, and she had a few really nice blue roos that she was using so I bought chicks from her. Now to the color issue...the really nice birds are from a black only flock that occasionally leaks a little white mottling, but does not contain any other colors and hasn't for years. This breeder only does black and is working to do the nicest blacks possible. I used my lovely black roo with the nicest of the two blue hens from the other flock and hatched out a blue roo with promising confirmation. Although he has a bit of lacing, he does not have a nice dark "andalusian" blue with heavy lacing. He is more of a light blue with a few splashes. In his darker areas around his hackles and saddle, there is a distinct muddy brown color in the center of the feather. It doesn't really show well on the photo, but here he is from the front. (BTW - he is not quite 1 year old yet and his foot feathers are not very nice as he has free access to the yard and it has been rainy and muddy.)



This light brown color on him is very similar to the khaki polish I have had in the past. Is it possible that he carries both the blue gene and the dun gene?

My main goal in breeding large fowl is for medium blue birds with dark lacing and no splashes, as well as a nice flock of very light blue birds with good dark splashes. So my question is, what would be my best use of this roo? Should I mate him with blacks to try to create better blue birds with nicer lacing and a darker ground color or should I mate him with my best blue hens, in order to begin getting some splash birds? It was my intention to put him with my two best blacks and pair my stellar black roo with my two best blues to aim for a high percentage of blues, but I am concerned about getting more muddle colored blues. But as his conformation is much nicer than any of the other roos I have hatched so far, I really want to use him in my breeding program.

It is my hope to buy some very nice blue birds (or splashes) to add in to my lines in the future, but I have had poor success with shipped eggs (though almost 100% hatch rates when I set my own eggs) and shipping some nice birds just isn't in the budget at the moment. I want to breed as few birds as possible to get my desired results, so would really appreciate any helpful advice on how to proceed.

Thanks so much!
Korina

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I just love how your boy looks like he is a gentle tower of protection for the wee mite underfoot.

 

[wwmicasa1]

I just love how your boy looks like he is a gentle tower of protection for the wee mite underfoot.

X 2 ~!

 

[mibirder]

Korina-

Because the blue gene is easily affected by other genes present, the color can vary greatly from light to dark. Generally those with melanizer genes will tend toward the darker end of the spectrum and Splashes without melanizers will be lighter even to the point of looking off white.

Dave

 

[k0r1nag]

Korina-

Because the blue gene is easily affected by other genes present, the color can vary greatly from light to dark. Generally those with melanizer genes will tend toward the darker end of the spectrum and Splashes without melanizers will be lighter even to the point of looking off white.

Dave

Dave,

So given my question of how best to pair him, given that he has some lacing (although not very dark) and some splashes, and is light in color, should I pair him with my lightest nice blue hen to try for light (almost white) blues with splashes? Or would a good, dark blue hen with heavy blue lacing bring up the color and lacing in his offspring? I am aiming for both colors in my flock - nice medium blues with well defined dark blue lacing and pale blue (almost white) splashes with strong, medium to dark blue spots, but I only have two "nice" roos to work with this year, a black and this blue roo. And since I only plan to hatch one incubator full of eggs (42) for the year (due to space constraints), I would like to up my odds for the colors I am striving to keep.

Thanks again for all the helpful information!

Korina