Ive been tinkering around with this project seeing how fast the Cochin traits would get into an F2. Any body else doing this project as well? I'm guessin next year I'll have some gorgeous Lavender Cochin F4's if they keep looking like this. Here's a pic of one of my young Lavender Cochin Roos.
See here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=302014&p=1 I wasn't able to get in on it- but I think they did make some progress. I have some black hens, and would gladly give it a shot if I had a lav roo.....
For anyone else that's willing, try this basic plan: Lav Orp X Black Cochin = F1 F1 X F1 = 25% Lav in F2 Choose Lav F2 that are most "Cochin-like" and proceed with them. Cull the rest. Lav F2 X unrelated Black Cochin = F3 F3 X F3 = 25% Lav in F4 Choose Lav F4 that are most "Cochin-like" and proceed with them. Cull the rest. etc. When working with a recessive mutation, you will need to cross the F1's (and all the other F's with an odd number) together to get visuals. If you are starting with one Lavender, the F1 you breed together will have to be siblings, but after that, you cross to an unrelated Cochin in the next generation. If you have several unrelated Lavender, you don't have to inbreed at all. You'd just do F1a X F1b (the F1 from one Lav crossed to the F1 from another Lav). When you breed F1 X F1, you will see a range of type from "mostly Orp" to "mostly Cochin", but this range will keep moving more toward "mostly Cochin" with each generation being bred back to a Cochin. Don't breed back to the original Lav or any previous Lav generation -- just keep moving toward "more Cochin." I don't know how many generations would be necessary to bring type back completely, but breeding to a bird with more Orp will just set you backwards. Hope that helps people interested in starting their own project.
They still look orp to me. I think you have quite a few years before you have nice looking cochins. Patience is the key. good luck
Quote:you can always try to make a very light blue cochin istead of lavender.. like Platinum Blue using Blue(Bl) and Dun(I^D) or just breed to very pale blue.. let me find some pics...