Mille Cochin Info

[BluffCountryShepherdess]

Oh, you guys! This really IS addicting!
Fasendera, you and I and Katie are going to have to get together!
You can email me, off list, at: [email protected]

I'm leaving for work now, but will get back to you tomorrow.

In the meantime, I've got lots of pictures of my cochins (Mille Fleur and Blacks) on my blog today...

http://shepherdsvoice.blogspot.com

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Well, I guess I just have to add more pens. I want, want, want and yet I should sell, sell, sell.
I am enjoying this thread and feel the need to jump in and help out on the breeding end of it.

 

[WiseChicks]

Yes, you must join in!

There is NOTHING more addicting that a flock of mini fluffy-butt chickens. And when those fluffy-butts are candy-colored mixes of marshmallow and caramel and butterscotch and deep cherry and dark chocolate it is soooooo yummy! They are the sweetest, gentlest birds, and when they waddle around you can't help but smile!

We have the MFCs, Silkies, Seramas, many other colors of Bantam Cochins, d'Uccles (my son's birds) and standard size Ameracaunas. It is the most colorful flock imaginable, and is SO MUCH FUN! I can't wait to see what I get out of the breeding this winter. I keep looking at everyone's photos and looking at my little group of MFC's and thinking, "Maybe!"

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I have bantam Cochins in white and 2 chicks in mottled now. I have had the whites for several years and adore them. They are from a show breeding group and are lovely little babies. Even DH adores them.
Now I just have to get started on the Mille Fluers! They are stunning with that color and I saw d'Uccle(?) in that color at the poultry show this past Sat that was to die for. Some of the blends are not so much to my liking but I love the "butterscotch" color on them. I will need a lot of help to learn what to look for and breed for in this color of bantam Cochins.
I hope to pick up my beginner package this week.

 

[fasbendera]

Quote:
Beginner package? Is there really such a thing? If I am going to have a hobby I might as well start doing it right. The more I read on BYC I think I may have to go with purebreds or birds more true to their lineage.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

With the Mille Fluer Cochins that are being bred there are breeding projects that people are working on. Some have only one or two generations and others are further along.
I call it a beginner package because it is a trio of colors you need to work with to start. You can buy chicks from other people that are on maybe a 3rd generation and that to me is a working package instead of a beginner package.
I hope that makes sense since I am writing this while trying to cook supper, help the DD rearrange Guinea Pigs and clean off the kitchen table for the seasonal tablecloth change. Ack! I do not multitask well!

 

[fasbendera]

I am canning, getting ready to teach a canning class tonight, put dinner in oven on timer five minutes ago and waiting for elementary child to get home from school.

I ordered eggs from My Pet Chicken after drooling over this breed since I joined. I hatched 5 and three survived. I have picture a couple pages back. I am hoping for a hen out of the three. I think the one pictued is a roo just a gut feeling but we will see. He is a shade darker than the other two so I am impatiently waiting for them to feather out.

Oh and thanks for the information.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Oh I understand!
And here we are talking about breeding projects like we need more wildness in our lives. But it is oh, so much fun!

Well, I will let you all know about my new babies when I pick them up Wed. I saw them offered here on BYC and SGM lives close enough that I can get them!

 

[BluffCountryShepherdess]

There is NOTHING more addicting than a flock of mini fluffy-butt chickens. And when those fluffy-butts are candy-colored mixes of marshmallow and caramel and butterscotch and deep cherry and dark chocolate it is soooooo yummy! They are the sweetest, gentlest birds, and when they waddle around you can't help but smile!

Katie ~ I LOVE your description of the Mille Fleur color! May I put it on the Mille Fleur Cochin Yahoo Group? I'll certainly credit you for saying it! I'm going to try to use it when picking out a name for the roo that I'm getting from Mike. He shipped today so I should have him Wednesday morning! My pair from Tim Kerbo in Oklahoma also shipped today so this will be a fun week (better than Christmas!) in the Bluff Country.

I also love the "fluffy butts" on the Cochins. And they are such SWEET birds! Today, Shine (my black Roo) was sitting outside of the nest box, while Satin (black hen) was inside, laying an egg. He just sat there, trying to peek in and gentle chuckling to her the whole time.

I can't WAIT to see their babies! There are FIVE eggs in the nest box now. I'm hoping Satin will go broody by the end of this week. I'm going to use them for a 'guide' for my millies because I KNOW that Shine & his girls are excellent quality Cochins.

OK. That's enough for one day! I'm heading for bed.

Happy, Speckled Dreams!​

 

[wwmicasa1]

Quote:
I incubate almost year round. I have been collecting eggs this week & will put them in the bator tomorrow. I don't use hens anymore for incubation of eggs that are valuable. I have lost way too many chicks to hens who either stepped on them, sat on them or didn't tuck them underneath them at night & they got chilled.

There is nothing more heart wrenching then to have such high hopes on a hatch & then realize that if "you" had done something differently, they would have survived.

As for fertility, I think the high temps in the summer inhibit fertility more than the cold. Also it depends on what area you live. Here in California, we have cold winters BUT not the cold you have back east.

I also find that you can wait 7-10 days before setting eggs without any noticeable decrease in viability. I just candled Cochin eggs that were 12 days old before incubation & 6 of the 8 are developing.