Mille Cochin Info

[WestKnollAmy]

I tell ya, I applaud anyone that can get the prices I see on the auctions for these MFC.

I have been selling some every month but do not get the price I see others going for. I sell local and that may be my problem but even the few that I ship out still go for way less than that. I sell mine for what I feel I would pay for them and I guess that is cheap. Too cheap. But then again, I am down pretty low in numbers on my birds right now and have very little I could sell.
I was glad to get down to around 500 birds and my brooder room is now so open I keep feeling like I am forgetting to clean something.

But when I had 400 chicks in the brooder room I was working myself to death along with 27 breeding pens and a large free range flock plus 2 pens of ducks.

I still have a few I could sell but don't want to due to having nothing if I were to lose a few girls or a roo or even a small breeding pen. I have only the 4 breeding pens of project MFCs. And I am hatching very little right now and probably won;t do too much through the winter. The closer I get to what I want, the pickier I get. Probably the same as you guys do in your breeding programs.

BTW, there are some gorgeous birds in the auctions! Those MFCs are very pretty!

 

[KDailey]

Wow... talk about a lot of reading! It took me ages! Of course I skipped over general chatter and just focused on the breeding talk but that's still a lot of pages and a good bit has already left my head. lol

I'd love love love to get into this project. I have two MFC chicks from my neighbor that I'm hoping are going to survive the weird weather we're having. And I've got one egg labeled MFC in the incubator along with 21 other bantam cochin eggs that are supposed to be from show quality stock. I'm so excited and praying that one egg will make it!

So from what I'm getting out of it is that mille fleur comes from crossing buff columbian and black mottled yes? So if I wanted to start my own line I'd need to start here. Now... is buff columbian a standard color that I can buy from someone or should I get some to breed to make buff columbian and then the same question with black mottled?

I'm tryin to decide if I should get some quality and go from there or try to establish my own line. Can I get some pros/cons for either option from those more experianced than myself?

 

[Katy]

I'm about to officially join you all.....some of my Mille cochin eggs from Troy have pips.

 

[Msbear]

Quote:
woohoo!! I am hatching wheaten rosecombs right now.. which have been hard to get some fertile eggies so I am happy too

As for the breeding questions, buff columbian and mottled are already accepted varieties though BC can be tricky to find. I have some awesome buff columbian x mottled boys that I will list this week. They look almost completely bc but has a few white tips. Putting them to a mottled cross hen with some brassy in the hackle and breast should give some nice chicks.

Basically, the feat as of now is type improvement. There are many nice patterned birds available but, very few that measure up typewise.. .. and, those that do need some serious help in the pattern/color dept. It's up to your which route you'd like to take. I think starting over with a mottled and a buff columbian isn't necessary as we're past that but, outcrossing to either is definitely a possibility.

 

[KDailey]

So I should probably just go with the best mille fleur I can find and try for better type than color....

 

[Reyvaughn]

I need to get some new pics of Milton, Mildred and Millie up. I think I am going to take Milton out of the pen until the girls start laying. At around 27wks, they are still not laying and I don't think they need Milton on them at the moment. Also, I am regretting not getting a darker cockerel off you, Erin. Neither of the girls have breast flowers - well, Mildred has a couple. My mottled boys are crowing and are really filling in nice. I think I may put one of them, depending on their type, with the girls. Milton may have to wait for another batch of darker girls. I was hoping these two would have started laying already. So, my project officially won't start until next year. By then, we will be moved and settled. Hopefully I will have some broody girls to hatch some eggs from BYC members in spring!

 

[mjgigax]

Some of my young Milles and a couple of friends -

As they are growing, I notice that most of my pullets have darker hackles. This little girl doesn't have any but her pattern is quite different, not as regular. Have any of you raise a chick with this "look"? How did they look when older?

Updates of my oldest cockerel, Carl - he seems too long legged. He is only 7 mo. old, hoping he fills out.

This cockerel, Henry (6 mo. old), has an awfully big comb

I have a couple of 4-5 mo. old roos with foot feathers like this

 

[Katy]

As of this morning I've got 6 little Mille Fleurs out and several more pips. ....plus a couple of my SLW I had in there too.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

mjgigax,
I see some well typed birds in your bunch! try to look beyond the pattern and color right now as we all still have a ways to go to perfect this variety.
Your eye is good on your own birds. The roo that is too leggy, cull unless you have girls with more round type. There are other nice roos in your bunch or from another breeder. Go for that type first. Although I must say I like his top but you don't want those long legs.
It appears that the pullet you have pictured is going to be very nice! She may be a good one to put with Carl. Her pattern will improve a lot in the next few months. I would like to see another photo of her in January!

The roo with a big comb, I would cull. That is so hard to breed out, imo. It seems to want to pop up later in those really nice sons. Though I love his color and pattern so far.
Has the leg feathering always looked swept back like that on the roos? Interesting.

Gosh, your MFC flock is really looking so good. Next year your chicks are going to be awesome! These are some really pretty birds.

 

[Beth G.]

I'm not very good at taking pictures and work alot so I had to take them last night.

But, I was wondering If I could get some feedback from MF breeders in here. I have one light pullet and one dark. I would like advice on what you think of them and also what you would bred them to to help make their Color Pattern better for the offspring. Thanks to any and all that can help

This is the lightest of the flock

And, This is the darkest of the flock

The rest of the 20 pullets I have are all in between.

Thank you