Mille Cochin Info

[Fancy Feathers]

Here's Lily and the other one, along with the Lavender Orpington chicks who hatched with them.

Can you see why she's my favorite?

3 more in lockdown today, 15 in the other incubator.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

OMG! Gracie is so good with the chicks! Look at that chick looking up at her so cute.

Thank you, Nancy, for sharing those wonderful photos and hopefully helping others to understand that a MF/Mottled bird in the MFC project does not always produce black. I wanted someone else to show photos besides me so maybe others could possibly start getting an idea about how the MFC project works.

I am going to be thrilled to watch these chicks mature through the summer and Gracie have some marvelous pets.

And make sure to keep us informed about all those in lock down and in the incubator. Photos make this thread interesting.

 

[Funky Feathers]

Here is a Calico pair I have for sale to anyone working on this color.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Cute but they will probably get a lot more red feathering as they mature and not be calicos at all. I have lots of mine look like that when young only to mature and look like MFs.

The calico project is very difficult because you need hysterical mottling in the bird to express each time. It will be very difficult to get each time as the birds will get darker the more generations are bred so you have to keep introducing more white factors or more hysterical mottled birds. Then you will wind up with a lot of sports, too.
I have actually done better with the calicos since I have been working on the buff Mottled project. My problem is I want to keep them all, they are so pretty!

 

[thecochincoop]

Cute but they will probably get a lot more red feathering as they mature and not be calicos at all. I have lots of mine look like that when young only to mature and look like MFs.

The calico project is very difficult because you need hysterical mottling in the bird to express each time. It will be very difficult to get each time as the birds will get darker the more generations are bred so you have to keep introducing more white factors or more hysterical mottled birds. Then you will wind up with a lot of sports, too.
I have actually done better with the calicos since I have been working on the buff Mottled project. My problem is I want to keep them all, they are so pretty!

in my experience with mottleds they always get more as they get older. to be correct they need to be almost solid as cockerels and pullets and then they should show well as hen/cock. I would think it would work the same way with the calico (at least if they are a mottled based variety)

 

[tinychicky]

since we're on the subject of calicos i have a couple cockerels that need new homes. one is regular calico and the other is blue. they're out of my BLR project and free to anyone that needs them in their project

Hi cochincoop, can you PM me pictures of them? I'm just starting out with MF's. I have one pullet and I'm picking up three more tomorrow from nhnanna...her originals are from Msbear! As strange as it sounds I've had no luck yet finding a roo to go with them. They seem to be pretty scarce here in NH and I'd rather not introduce a totally different color if I can help it.

 

[Funky Feathers]

Wow, it is rather confusing. I am certainly no genetics expert. So should I be listing these as regular Mille Fleur then?

 

[thecochincoop]

Wow, it is rather confusing. I am certainly no genetics expert. So should I be listing these as regular Mille Fleur then?

unless they have pattern with chevrons then I would call them calico not MF. the random mottling is not going to produce MF, and most have too much white that I've seen

 

[thecochincoop]

Hi cochincoop, can you PM me pictures of them? I'm just starting out with MF's. I have one pullet and I'm picking up three more tomorrow from nhnanna...her originals are from Msbear! As strange as it sounds I've had no luck yet finding a roo to go with them. They seem to be pretty scarce here in NH and I'd rather not introduce a totally different color if I can help it.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.287874501241246.87574.100000560950503&type=3&l=02ccf8f143
they are in this album, one is a blue calico and could be interesting in your program. shipping would be $40 for either one or $50 for both

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Quote:
My hens often lighten up, even in the MFs they will get more white but my roos do not. They tend to stay the same.
I have 4 Mottled roos and one I have had almost 3 years and he was grown when I got him, has not got any more white on him. His daughters are very slowly getting more white as they get older.
I like that. I breed for that (after conformation, of course) and this has been great.
The ones I notice get a lot more white as they mature are the more pet quality birds, though I am sure it may happen in all lines. Cleopatra, my best hen of 3 years has gotten a bit more white but not too bad. She certainly can't be shown now as she was when she was 6 months old.

I unfortunately bred too far to the side of keeping the mottling at bay and wound up with Ranger, a handsome example of a bantam Cochin but he is over a year old and is still only showing a bit of white on his chest and is black everywhere else. I kept him for my hysterical mottled girls and breed for that balancing of white tipping. My experience is it will take me several years to level out the genetics others have thrown in. Those modifiers seem to be tricky with some breeders.