Mille Cochin Info

[mjgigax]

I posted an egg auction so took a bunch of photos today of the birds today and wanted to share with you all and see what you thought. I posted some of my mottleds too... thought you guys would be interested in seeing them as well.

this is a male from Matt McCammon. He's undermarked and, supposedly, that is better for using with MFC.. Im not really sure why. I know that somehow more well-marked mottleds will cause excessive white in milles and my hens have a lot of white so I thought it would help.








This is Todd. He's from Nancy and is sharing some girls with a roo from Jamie. Love his fluff and is gentle nature. Some of my buff based cockerels take after their granddaddy .. a BC roo from Tom and can be nasty. Those BC's were so gorgeous though.. I didn't care! lol



They all look so darned cute together!

I trimmed the roo to the right very hard so his cushion looks weak.



Here's a nice 2011 hen. She looked fabulous last year but, has turned very white and has NO black on her breast. Im hoping the mottled crosses help with that this year but, my blue girls are all "well-marked" so we shall see if that continues the excessive white issue.




nice back length and body width... very happy with that!



Im hoping the buff columbian from Bobbi Jo will help with base color too... It's getting kind of frustrating when, 4 years later, I am still using buff columbian and mottled! Ugh!

Todd has a very nice tail.
This year I didn't get any light butter colored girls. Last year I had a couple that looket almost like yellow columbians and from my first year all the girls were too light. Finally I am getting girls that are like my foundation hens but my Mille/Mottled boy that I am breeding this Spring is likely going to mess all that up for a while again.
Ike -

 

[County Boy]

Beautiful pictures everybody!! I really like Todd and Ike!!

 

[Msbear]

Thanks so much for posting that, Bobbi Jo. I really like the vibrant orange of JJ and what I am looking for. I change up my breeding pens multiple times during the season so.. I kind of win some and lose some. Some combinations definitely work better than others.

That Chocolate cochin looks VERY cochin. I'd like to see a pic of her feet. My crosses didn't display her type. They are more pointy in the tail, have orp looking heads and have very sparse feathering on their feet. All of my crosses grew out to be either 100% black or 100% chocolate. The chocolate gene is a diluted black... It works like blue and is the reason you never see chocolate birds with black on them too.. like you don't see black on a blue bird or a blue mottled. you may see dark blue. maybe if you take pics of her outside I can see her better and I'd love to see pics of her feet. I have made many mistakes and Im not saying you did.. I may be wrong. One of my mistakes was Byron. I thought for sure he was black mottled x MFC but, since then, I have realized he was MFC x BC. ..because since then EVERY bird I have crossed to black mottled has been black based and realized through experience that hatching a BC from that cross is .. not possible.

Amy, It's a never ending battle.. it really is..

 

[Reyvaughn]

Actually, Milroy was MFC x Mottled. You told me Byron was BC x Mottled - he's the one out of Tom's BC roo.

Unless that black hen is mixed with something with a dun gene... I do agree her feet should not be yellow, but they are. In the pics, dad's legs are chocolate w/ pink soles. And her hackles are just darker chocolate-y coloring, not black. I'll get new pics of her for you.

ETA:
With a black rooster, she'd only have 25% chocolates - all females. She only has one chocolate gene.
^ That was meant to be in the PM.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I posted an egg auction so took a bunch of photos today of the birds today and wanted to share with you all and see what you thought. I posted some of my mottleds too... thought you guys would be interested in seeing them as well.

this is a male from Matt McCammon. He's undermarked and, supposedly, that is better for using with MFC.. Im not really sure why. I know that somehow more well-marked mottleds will cause excessive white in milles and my hens have a lot of white so I thought it would help.








This is Todd. He's from Nancy and is sharing some girls with a roo from Jamie. Love his fluff and is gentle nature. Some of my buff based cockerels take after their granddaddy .. a BC roo from Tom and can be nasty. Those BC's were so gorgeous though.. I didn't care! lol



They all look so darned cute together!

I trimmed the roo to the right very hard so his cushion looks weak.



Here's a nice 2011 hen. She looked fabulous last year but, has turned very white and has NO black on her breast. Im hoping the mottled crosses help with that this year but, my blue girls are all "well-marked" so we shall see if that continues the excessive white issue.




nice back length and body width... very happy with that!



Im hoping the buff columbian from Bobbi Jo will help with base color too... It's getting kind of frustrating when, 4 years later, I am still using buff columbian and mottled! Ugh!

They are looking fabulous! I love all the white, probably because I get so little and just get an over abundance of red on mine! But yours are nicely built and the pattern will eventually come together on them. I would not worry about having to go back to the original base colors, that is helping to keep the type and solidify the pattern, believe it or not. I am not good at explaining it all but breeding those back in helps you to cull more of what you don't need in favor of what is going to work for the future generations.

 

[Msbear]

I know so many of the show breeders frown upon us paying so much attention to non-standard varieties.. but, I think the new colors are so exciting and is what keeps me interested. I also love the golden laced and columbians and mottleds too.. very pretty but, it's the excitement of not knowing what you're going to get and seeing all the beautiful combinations that make it fun for me. Amy, thanks for the encouragement. I am having a great hatch rate this year and I am feeling much better about things so far. I'll just keep adding a bit of this and a dash of that until it tastes just right!

Bobbi Jo, I hope she is chocolate. Her type is definitely better than my crosses. Keep us posted when you hatch from her.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Well, I, for one, seldom care what others think. I do what I want to do and if others enjoy it along with me then that is wonderful. If no one else likes it then that is okay too. My life is way too short to care what others think about my birds or what I am doing. I love the MF project and have put a lot of time into it.

I am with you on keeping me interested. I am not one to nit pick the details of a bird. The stress level would put me in the ground way too soon. I go to shows for fun and if I win then that is a bonus. If I don't win that is okay, too. I just like to be happy with what i have and am working towards.
I mean, I guess I am close to getting what is wanted to be seen in shows but I still have a long way to go with fluffy MF, not to mention correct color and pattern.

I say let's enjoy our birds and the friends we make along the way! And Msbear, I am thinking your porridge is just about right!

 

[mjgigax]

I love and appreciate the value of them all - the heritage and the new, bantam and LF. This breed has my heart locked up and threw away the key. Such a learning experience in animal husbandry and patience not to mention the stress relief value, and the nicest people!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

It is with much sadness that I have come on here to ask you all to keep Nancy in your hearts and prayers. She lost many of her pets and wonderful birds in a barn fire on Saturday.
We are very sorry, Nancy! We hope the wounds on your heart can heal soon and your grief is helped by your loving friends!

 

[Reyvaughn]

It is with much sadness that I have come on here to ask you all to keep Nancy in your hearts and prayers. She lost many of her pets and wonderful birds in a barn fire on Saturday.
We are very sorry, Nancy! We hope the wounds on your heart can heal soon and your grief is helped by your loving friends!

Oh, that is horrible! I hope the damage wasn't to extensive. I will be thinking of you, Nancy!