Mille Cochin Info

[tallyho]

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In my hatch with Lynnes eggs I had two black chicks, one fluffy yellow and the rest were variation on chipmunk. The variety of chick color is amazing. Don't worry, she'll be beautiful.

 

[Peppermint]

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Candace,

That baby is from one of the D'Uccle eggs I sent you. You asked me to throw a few D'Uccle into the box & evidently it got mixed up with the MFC. I'd be happy to send you replacements later in the month. Just PM me to let me know.

Your D'Uccles are beautiful, so I'm thrilled that one hatched out, Lynne. I guess I'll be trying for these MFC's again

And I'll be doing the dry hatch method since you are having the best success with that style. Thanks for the ID help!

 

[Msbear]

Hey Bantyman, Im lovin that hen that GeorgiaLee hatched out.... just scooped up a partridge hen myself and will give her a go

 

[newDirection]

Thanks, Lynne. I will try the dry hatch method for the Milles. Do you hatch everything this way or is this specific to the Mille's? My Silkies hatched better in the incubator than under the broodies. I was attentive to the humidity at 40% thru day 18 then 65-70% at lockdown.
I will keep working at it, I enjoy the whole process so much and the genetics of the MFC's is fascinating. I enjoy all aspects from the science to the cute and cuddly and finally the beautiful coloring on the adults.
Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it!

-Erica

 

[bantyman]

Hey Georgia
Guess that hen come from the partridge x millie She would most likely be an F2 It looks like it worked on her Just wish some of the hens that I kept looked like her The roos did cause the original roo come from a male line I have an F2 roo that has turned out just beautiful And getting better every day

Erin
It took awhile to get that kind of girl But it did happen But not to me Some of the best I got from that cross come from swapping the hen and roo from the partridge and the MFC and then breeding the offspring from that together Have been thinking about trying aother cross and see what happens Will let you all know when it happens

Mike

 

[Msbear]

Hey Mike, glad to see it's working for ya.

You remember me chatting the partridge up with you a while back, right

well, I've been chatting with some folks overseas who've been working on MF cochins (pekins) for nearly 5 years and I have learned something new today. I remember maybe it was Amazondoc who spoke about the genetics of mille fluer and how it takes buff columbian and mottled but, Ione also mentioned how she specifically wanted to focus on wheaten downed and she said that unless you focus on one particular down color, that we will never get them to breed true. Now, speaking with this Australian person, I kind of had an ah-ha experience ..doesn't take much to get one of those out of me

But, anyway, she said that MF can be made on either wheaten or partridge based downs and that the two versions of mille fleur will be different but both are acceptable versions and that it is important to consider when purchasing new birds to improve your existing milles... that, if you're focussing on one, the other could totally throw a wrench in the program.

With wheaten, you will get males with a brilliant red as the wheaten gene is more condusive to the mahongany gene. Lynne, that's why when we hatch a yellow bird and in two days the black comes in the wings and we know... IT'S A BOY! Then, the red comes in and most of the time the breast pattern can be clean and distinctive though the hackles and saddle are more difficult to get black in. With wheaten based females, you will begin to get washed out looking girls with very little black. This can be worked on by including kind of a mix of other genes and, this person also said that it's acceptable to have the differing down colors and that may help you decide early on who's going to turn out like what... though I couldn't imagine ever getting to a point where I wouldn't get any surprises.

With partridge based birds, the males will have darker breasts... maybe even all black at first. As you hatch and cull, you can get the tri color in a great pattern but, overall, the males will be darker.
while the girls seem to have a more even distribution of pattern though there can be smudgy looking, even penciled looking lacing effect to the pattern. The females will be richer in base color and have more black.

This may not be correct... it's more here say, I guess but, I thought it sounded good and made some sense and thought interesting enough to share.

Now, I look in my brooder and see the rainbow of colors and am thinking

ETA: I forgot about duckwing... they say you can create MF on duckwing.

 

[Coopa Cabana]

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If I understand everything correctly, you can have the identical color and pattern genes, but it is the e-allele (eb or eWh) that everything is based on and will determine how the genes interact and present themselves. Kind of like what Sigi writes - you can throw the exact same ingredients, say spices and vegetables, into your soup, but if the stock of one is beef-based, and the other is chicken-based, you will end up with different soups - both will be vegetable soup, very similiar in appearance, but different nonetheless.

 

[Msbear]

Yes! But, to make it even more confusing, I saw a pic of a mfc hen that was wheaten based and actually hatched almost white and this bird was near perfect in pattern. Her base color was a bit diluted looking but, everything else was amazing so, it's not like one allele is particularly better than the other. It's more a matter of preference but MF can be successfully achieved on either and also... I think on mixes of the two. The breeder thought that there must have been an absense of columbian on that particular bird.

I have heard that mille fleur breeders strive for overall even distribution of pattern but, that it's just not as common as you'd think. The SQ birds may display it but, when you get to the breeder's home, you will find an array of different levels of pattern. Im beginning to think that this is some sort of elusive holy grail. .. the perfect patterned bird may hatch from your birds and you raise it up and feed it yoguart and vitamins and you breed the heck out of it with every MF roo imaginable and you may not be able to recreate it.

I would really like to update my progress page and include more photos of birds from their down color on up so we may understand this more....

If anyone has excellent pics of their chicks... like a shot of an individual chick, then a shot of that individual bird as a juvie then as an adult, please email me. [email protected] These kind of things drive me crazy. I have to have an answer

 

[Coopa Cabana]

I only did a progression of 4 of my chicks last year (same sire/dam), up to 10 weeks:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=40221-mille-fleur-cochins-project

 

[mjgigax]

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Interesting to hear about the Mille/partridge mix. I have three 11 week old pullets that are from my partridge pen when I also had my 2nd Mille roo in there while his pen was being built. I was going to cull them when they grew enough for me to tell if there were pure partridge or a mille cross. So far I think 1 is pure partridge and two are crosses.
I now have 7 breeding pens and won't be "double-housing" anymore. The mille fleur roo has been out of that pen since Feb. 1st and one of my partridge pullets just finished hatching 5 tiny partridge chicks.
I also love the genetic of breeding AND the cute factor; they are the perfect stress relief for my stressful job.