Need Breeding Advise

[Arenas Chickens]

Both of the males appear to have pea combs, when I zoom in on the pictures that were posted this morning.

What do you not like about how they are developing? They look like normal pea combs to me

I do not like the pea or rose combs

 

[Arenas Chickens]

Can you get an up close picture?

The best I can do...

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

I’d like them to just be smaller versions of themselves lol my research has told me cochins are large chickens. So perhaps not so Cochin-ish would be the goal.

I wasn’t referring to standard cochins specifically, just the overall look of a cochin (bantam or standard).

If you want something that looks pretty much like a cochin but is smaller, I’d cross to a d’uccle. They’re small, fluffier than other smaller bantam breeds, and have feathered feet. The offspring wouldn’t be perfectly gold laced, and they wouldn’t have the same exact tail and body shape as a cochin. They would also probably be bearded. Still, definitely something recognizable as a cochin mix. A couple cochin x d’uccles (gold laced x would probably give you a different color than these): https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/bantam-mottled-cochin-x-bantam-mille-fleur-duccle.1088361/.

If you want to keep the laced color and care less about the body/tail shape, I’d go with a sebright cross. Sebrights are even smaller than d’uccles, though they aren’t really fluffy and have a very different body shape. The offspring of a sebright x cochin cross will have rose combs and less leg feathering. Some examples:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...unique-bantam-cross-ended.531928/post-6808560
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...n-roosters-tame-and-friendly-bantams.1167917/. (Gold laced cochin x sebright will give you neater lacing than the crosses in the above threads.)

 

[NatJ]

View attachment 2639838
there is one of the 7 that is smaller then this.
View attachment 2639841
Same guy from above next to a buff orphington - they are all supposed to be the same age.

That looks about right to me, for a bantam and a larger breed.
The size difference tends to become more obvious as they get older.
The bantams start smaller, grow slower, and usually mature at a younger age.
The other chickens start larger, grow faster, and usually keep growing for longer, which all adds up to quite a difference in size by the time they finish growing.

I do not like the pea or rose combs

In that case, you may not want to work with those cockerels.

There is a link between the gene for blue egg color and the gene for pea comb.
They can be linked in any combination:

blue egg/ pea comb (Ameraucana, many Easter Eggers, probably your cockerels)
blue egg/not-pea comb (Your hen, Cream Legbars)
not-blue egg/pea comb (Brahmas, Buckeyes)
not-blue egg/not-pea comb (Leghorns, Rocks, Wyandottes, most other breeds)

But if you want single combs, and you want blue or green eggs, you will want to work with chickens that have the blue egg gene linked to not-pea combs. Your current hen, Cream Legbars, and I think Whiting True Greens could be good choices. Also some Olive Eggers that get their blue egg gene from Cream Legbars.

 

[FuzzyCritters]

The barred one is definitely a cockerel. Non-barred roo x barred hen makes a sex link cross where cockerels are barred and pullets are solid. Since the chick is barred, he must be a cockerel.

The second one looks more like an Easter Egger x Red Sex Link. There's not a hint of barred rock in him.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

The barred one is definitely a cockerel. Non-barred roo x barred hen makes a sex link cross where cockerels are barred and pullets are solid. Since the chick is barred, he must be a cockerel.

The second one looks more like an Easter Egger x Red Sex Link. There's not a hint of barred rock in him.

That’s what I was thinking for the first one, but if the seller was wrong about them being blue barred Easter eggers that are the result of a barred rock x ameraucana cross, then I wouldn’t trust them about that aspect of the parentage, either.

 

[Arenas Chickens]

Well I am officially frustrated by this my first thought was to get a cream legbar but after a suggestion of the blue barred Easter egger I went with these two.

Guess I still have time to figure something out as my momma went broody again anyways and is sitting on some RIR eggs.

I just really want to keep momma’s genes around. She so pretty and good tempered. Oh well. Guess we’ll just see how things play out.

thanks everyone.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Well I am officially frustrated by this my first thought was to get a cream legbar but after a suggestion of the blue barred Easter egger I went with these two.

Guess I still have time to figure something out as my momma went broody again anyways and is sitting on some RIR eggs.

I just really want to keep momma’s genes around. She so pretty and good tempered. Oh well. Guess we’ll just see how things play out.

thanks everyone.

Fortunately, just because they’re not exactly what the seller said doesn’t mean they don’t have the blue egg shell gene. My guess is they’re actually both Easter egger crosses, one being an Easter egger x barred rock and another being an Easter egger x another breed. Though the barred one could be a pullet, at this age it’s really too young to be sure. To me, that chick could go either way at this point.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

That comb is yellow, not red or becoming red, at least soon. Will I will admit I forgot that single barred males can exist, I really, really still think it's a female

 

[Arenas Chickens]

Development with question:

My red & white Roo, I’m calling Big Red these days, seems to be maturing way to fast & it’s causing some arguments between my BF & I as he says ‘it can’t be happening.’ He is crowing & trying to mate with any hen around. I had to separate him & place a barrier between the two pens so he cannot see them. It was the only thing that settled him down.

He broke the tip off his upper beak trying to get to the hens in the other pen. It’s not territorial or anything else. He literally has been trying to mate with even my little bantams. He started a while ago, but at that time I did take it as territory & dominance but upon watching him further & closer, he is trying to mate.

He is too young for this behaviour in some opinions but I am not displacing his behaviour for something else. My BF said ‘he can’t be mating he’s too young unless he’s a leghorn.’ With all the confusion already regarding his breed, I don’t need to think I’ve brought home Frankenstein’s son

Yes there was a question in there lol Is this normal, possible, unheard of, I’m crazy, or just it is what it is?