Mille Cochin Info

[WestKnollAmy]

They are pretty. What I would call calicos though instead of MF, though I believe with the correct roo you would get some good offspring.

Find a nice typy roo with not as much white and you will get some babies that you can work with. These girls just need more type added. You will still have to work on color regardless so work on type to start with. I would not necessarily breed just for type, like to a Mottled but rather breed to a MF project roo that has the best type and as good of color and close to good pattern as you can get.

Color will come, don't worry. Type is harder to achieve.

Others can give you better pointers than I can. All I ever preach is type, type, type.

 

[Msbear]

Your birds do not look like they have that high white look... more like they are just a couple of years old. As mottled birds mature, the white tips get larger and the ground color gets less visible and that's what I see. "Calico" cochins have larger patches of pure white... I think... still not sure what that deal is

That said, your girls look like they have a good dose of mottling. I would put them to a buff columbian male to bring back some type. Your girls, though better typed than many on this thread, are still pretty far from the standard. If you breed them to a SQ male, you'll still only be inbetween... so, those offspring would have to go back to SQ to get closer. ..just depends on what you want

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Thank you both - Nadine and Msbear. They are right around a year old. Have no large patches of white (tho I know it may not look that way), just large white tips.


Grrr...........a buff columbian male can be as hard as finding hens teeth

I do have a nice type, few spot mottled roo coming, hoping to help with type and cushion. Do you think he will help with reducing the white while increasing the chevron?

Of my four girls, I believe these two have the best "type" and I mean that in the loosest of ways - Columbus and Dora have much better fluff than my other two. BUT my other two have reduced white tips.

 

[alpinefarm]

Quote:
My son wants to install Linux on my Mac Book. I hesitate 'cause I like Mac OS X just fine and Macs have little problem with viruses anyway. But he is crazy about Linux. Must be pretty cool. Decisions, decisions.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Here are my other two girls - they are very afraid of the camera and refused to pose for me.

They have smaller white tips but less fluff than Columbus and Dora. These two also are just about a year old.


Fern - she has a very upright, almost pom-pom type cushion:

Serry -

These girls are in with this roo right now - Sergio. Sergio will be going in with Columbus and Dora soon.

Some chicks from the first hatch - Sergio over Serry and Fern (not the silver laced of course) :

This little pullet is the only one showing black on her chest so far:

 

[Msbear]

Well, I know Nadine as well as myself and a few others are culling hard for type right now so, let us do some dirty work for ya

Put those girls to the undermarked mottled boy. You will wind up with mostly mottled looking offspring with some brassiness. Any buff based offspring will most likely take after their mille parents as far as type .. at least that's how it went for me

Raise up those dark babies and select for both type and pattern... at least patches of red/brassiness... keep a few of those and put back to your milles.. this will leave you with a very small improvement but, by then you should wind up with decently marked/typed birds and be ready to search out a project roo to cover your females. This project roo should be of excellent type and have good background color. And, keep 1 or two of your best typed F1's (nice typed black birds with brassiness) as you may need them later on in your breeding to cross back to.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Yup! I agree!

You have a good start there with your birds! Adorable chicks, not much black. It looks like a Mottled may help you with type and color. I have had very good luck with adding type this way. But I also bred about 30 of them so have numerous pullets I can weed out. Unfortunately lots of non-useable roos, too. Probably 30 of those.

Oh, it is hard to cull though! I think that is where so many of us get lost. We see pattern improvement and often lose type by just breeding for color.
My DH and I like to play the game of me closing my eyes and him picking a random MF teenager for me to feel for type and not be blinded by the color. If it wasn't for my DH then I am liable to have lots of pretties that would go no where to helping our MFC project cause! He is much better at sticking with type than I am. I often have to cry over letting go of some of my little pretty girls that won't help the breeding program.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Thank you both so much for your replies.

I am going to be seeking so much help

you'all will start saying..........no its Genny again

And I would like to give credit to Lynne, my birds are all from her - Thank You

 

[Lifesong Farm]

I had a request from Kathy for a pic. Here is the lone MFC out of my last hatch. It (he?)is a month old. Hatched on 3/18.

Here is what "he" looked like a couple weeks ago.

 

[Lifesong Farm]

My only 2 out of this hatch.