Mille Cochin Info

[WestKnollAmy]

Katy, I don't know anyone who gets the same pattern on all the chicks while they are maturing. The same colors may emerge but they all look different as they grow up. Don't worry about pattern right now, just concentrate on type and the pattern will come as long as you continue to have the correct genetics there for pattern. I am trying to stick to just type and if I have several with the type I want but one has better pattern and color then I keep that one or those.

I have kept many that had bad color or pattern because they have great type and have had some rewards from it. Breeding just for color and pattern is going to produce a lot of bad type. Pretty but not able to produce quality birds.
You may already know all this.
From the first my DH has kept me on track by drilling "type" into my head. He will look at a MFC project bird and see how pretty it is and comment on how nice the patterns are shaping up but he is able to see type. I get "barn blind" and often only see pattern and color. If he says cull it I usually do because he is right, the type must come first.

I try to preach it to everyone on here and I believe most are headed in the right direction without me saying anything.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Quote:
Lucky, lucky, lucky!
I do not have anyone close that is working on this project. I think Mike is the closest to me and he is at least 150 miles away.

I have cut back some other breeds to make room for more pens of Cochins. I really love my banty babies. I wish I could sell them better so I could afford to feed even more of them but then I would work myself into the ground worse than I already do.

You are just so lucky to have local friends interested in working on this, too.

 

[Katy]

Quote:
Believe me I know all about selecting for type

Been aiming and culling for that with my BLRW for several years now. And I also know about being barn blind......I still hate culling a bird with nice lacing and color but poor type.

I guess I meant more just seeing what colors might develop from the different down colors....not that I plan on using that as the main criteria for if they stay or go.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Yes, I thought you had been breeding the Wyandottes (and you do have some gorgeous ones!) so I thought you would know what I meant.

I have never gone by chick color. I find it interesting but it only lets me know what genetics they carry. I usually already know since I have the foundation stock still here. I have gotten some different chick patterns from Bantyman, as I am sure he used different bloodlines than I did but it has helped me with patterns on my birds.

I also crossed in my Mottled Cochins to help with type and those chevrons. I continue to cross closely with that roo and the hens that are MF/Mottled. My patterns are not good from them but they continue to improve with each breeding and I hope to keep the type in there.

I notice when I get typy girls they do not lay as well. My girls with less type give me many more eggs and the fertility is better, too. Darn the hens! I know I should bred the best typed hens and do try but with low fertility and few eggs it is a real up hill battle! I do the best I can and work with what I have. Sometimes I spend my days .......

 

[mjgigax]

Quote:
Yep, chick color is all over the place. I did have two that had quite a bit of grey in their down that now have a dominace of black in their feathers at 5 mo. but even they are getting more and more buff in the mix. I am sure learning pacience.

I hear you, Amy, about Type.
I've been back out sitting in the pen with another cup of coffee.
This Mille/Mottle cross seems to have the best type for his age. What will he do to my breeding program color-wise? If he is the best type I've got, I realize that is more important than color.

It is hard to tell from my pics but he is noticeably fuller that the other 3 1/2 mo. olds.
Plus I can't spell

 

[mjgigax]

Quote:
Lucky, lucky, lucky!
I do not have anyone close that is working on this project. I think Mike is the closest to me and he is at least 150 miles away.

I have cut back some other breeds to make room for more pens of Cochins. I really love my banty babies. I wish I could sell them better so I could afford to feed even more of them but then I would work myself into the ground worse than I already do.

You are just so lucky to have local friends interested in working on this, too.

When I visited family in Texas in July, I was offered an 8 week-old pair of unrelated! SQ La Fleche but I just didn't have the room. I still kick myself for turning them down but I will not build more pens. I do not have the time and energy to expand and at the time I couldn't think of how to fit them in. I have a trio of LF Silver-Laced that I think I will need to sell in the spring. I think they are beautiful but I'll need the room for breeding.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I do look at my roos and hens that do not have good color or pattern for the breeding program to see if enough type is there for me to keep them.

I have not ever had to keep one that I disliked the color on like this one......

I always seem to find ones in the brooders more like this to use........

I was hatching out around a hundred a month to see what all I could get but I have cut back considerably right now. I am able to sell the hatching eggs so I use that to pay for feed but since I am not going to raise chicks much through the winter I need to set a good many in the next 2 weeks. As soon as I fill my orders I will be setting as many as they will give me.

I have a few youngsters growing up. I am watching them to see if they will be nice enough to keep.

I have quite a few that I just don't have photos of but I randomly snap as I go through watering and feeding some days. Here is my absolute favorite at the moment. I have a good many like this and am glad I tagged them since they are all about the same color and type. Wrong as far as MFC but will probably produce it well for me. I look at the shape and watch them mature and hope to holds together. So far so good. They are laying now and soon will be moved into a breeding pen. I think a few of us have ones like this and it will help the MFC become a better bird. We just need that patience!

 

[Msbear]

WOW, Nadine.. really nice stuff coming up. Really like that bottom cockerel. He doesn't have and black on his breast... his GF looks like the pullet right below him. They would be a perfect match Nice job! .. a hundred a month?

that's a lot of work. I hatched maybe 200 this year but, I have only 20 or so that are considerables. guess we need to hatch that much with so much variation right now

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Really? I wasn't sure about the bottom roo. He is still only a babe at around 12 weeks so I will take another photo in 8 weeks and show him again and see if you think he still looks good enough. Of course, photos can be deceptive so I will try to get plenty of all angles. Kinda hard as I took this one laying on my stomach on the ground and shooting through the gate. They just won't pose well for me. His form is a lot like the roo in the first photo but that guy is 5 or 6 months old. I have about 20 of those running around the farm. I don't consider any keepers and often give them away with the purchase of 2 or more pullets.

Yeah, a hundred a month was a lot of work. I had a huge pen of pullets that I just had to go through and decide what NOT to keep and cull out. I keep whittling them down to try and keep only the best but those blasted things change each month and let them molt and BAM! You have to change your mind again. DH is good to help with that.

As my type is starting to be more consistent I am able to slow down a bit in hatching. Now to cement that pattern in. I should accomplish that in ....oh....another few years!

Thank you for the compliment and encouragement!

 

[Msbear]

I wrote a few lines for the Cochins International newsletter that comes out this month. Parts of that note have been mentioned here in recent pages. Basically, I think it all comes down to patience. It was a race to achieve color and, 3 years later, it's here... but, now that we're going for type, we can't expect it to just take 3 years. Keeping type in mind will override color and therefore making it take a backseat. I think we're looking at a good 10 years before we'll have anything SQ. That little cockerel you have appears to have good type from this angle. He also have correct background color AND black chevrons coming in on his hackle and saddle. That's better than what I've got this generation in any of my males.

It's funny about changing over time. I almost culled this little white thing. She looked awkward and too white and just didn't cut it. I got busy and never listed her on craigslist. Then I saw her a few weeks later and all this buff with black chevrons started coming in. I was SHOCKED. She's now in the running for one of my best pullets this year. I also culled a lot of black ones that I think are now probably growing in some nice color later. In the males, the hackle feathers don't even come in until like 4-6 months. These adult feathers can be totally different than their juvenile feathering causing them to be a totally different bird. I wish I would've kept some of those black ones. I still have my dark hen with brassy but, I should've improved on her for this year by keeping some typey pullets with more brassy all down the breast and into the back. Those dark breasts will really help with adding color to light birds the next generation.. and guess who has a ton of light girls and NO typey dark boys

...so, I started hatching again

just a little then stopped. I set about 50 eggs. ..got some dark ones hatching now. And, some dynomite ones from my BC x mottled girl with brassy hackle. They hatch almost chocolate looking. cannot wait to see them.