Possibly sold a LF Cochin as a Bantam D'Uccle

[slantrhymes]

Hi there! This is my first post, though I've been a lurker for a while.

I want a flock but I just graduated college, and my partner has one more year of his doctorate program, so it's rentals for us for the foreseeable future. I am, however, fortune to have worked out a deal with my lovely next-door neighbors, who were given a hand-me-down coop recently: I can raise the chicks to get the experience and be a chick mama, and then I offload the little pullets (hopefully, as we're a residental area) to them once they have their run built. (I'm aware that it sounds like I'm doing all the work for their benefit--but I really wanted the hands-on experience!)

Now, there's a problem. They wanted bantams, so I went to the local farm store and bought two little D'Uccle chicks. Or, rather, I bought what I was told by the worker were D'Uccle chicks--she grabbed for the ones with the feathered legs and I, a first-time chick owner, was so over the moon that I didn't realize giant Cochins were in the same bin...and that they also have feathered legs. In fact, I didn't realize this until I returned for two more chicks (after one of the first two died of what I think was probably cocci, and yes I have everyone else medicated!), and the employee helping me ignored the ones who look just like my first two girls and went for much smaller chicks with fluffy little legs. They look quite different from my Joyce (one of the first batch) and now I'm pretty worried that I might have been told a LF breed was a bantam. That would be a problem!

Worryingly enough, it would also explain why the surviving chick from the first batch is growing inexplicably long "knee" feathers that I haven't seen on any D'Uccle pictures...

I have pictures to supplement this very long explanation:


1. Ira, one of the new "girls."


2. Pearl, the other new one.


3. And Joyce, picture taken today (6/11/14), around 3-4 weeks old.


4. Joyce about 9 days ago (6/2/14), around 1-2 weeks of age (and Astrid, the ill-fated scissor-beaked chick). At this point, she was probably about a week older than the two new chicks, Ira and Pearl.


5. Another photo of baby Joyce from 6/2.


6. And yet another current picture of Joyce.


Helllllpppp! I love these little birdies dearly and know they'll have a great home next door, but if Joyce is a giant breed they probably don't have room in their little coop!

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

D'Uccles are supposed to have vulture hocks, which are those longer feathers coming off the backs of their legs. Thats normal for them. As far as the Cochin, which is what it looks like to me, they come in both bantam and standard size. Is it a lot bigger than the D'Uccles? If so, it probably is a standard. Usually, if you bought them at the feed store, they keep all of the bantams and standards separate. And, it's also VERY common for them to have no idea what they're selling you, other than "bantam and normal chickens"

A picture of the Cochin next to one of the D'Uccles would really help us all compare the 2 to get a better idea of its size.
Oh, and

 

[keesmom]

First of all, LF hatchery Cochins are nowhere near the size of breeder birds. They won't really be giant. Secondly hatcheries do have bantam Cochins. Third, hatcheries sell bantams as straight run so there's a possibility of getting cockerels.

Are the new chicks about the same size as the one you have or latger?

 

[slantrhymes]

Okay! More info. Sorry I wasn't clear!

The farm store I bought them from had three breeds in a bin: D'Uccle (under the size category, labelled "Bantam"), Polish (labelled "standard"), and Cochin (labelled "giant"). The new birds were smaller than I remember Joyce and Astrid being when I purchased them, but my memory might be faulty.

Here are some pictures of them standing together, but there is a couple weeks' worth of age difference here, so I'm not sure how helpful it is:








Thanks for the warm welcome!

 

[donrae]

I'm pretty sure Joyce is a d'uccle. I can't tell if she's got the puffy cheeks, but some of the photos look like it. She also looks to have the vulture hocks and a more upright set to her tail. Cochins are rounded, softer looking without those hard feathers on the back of the legs (vulture hocks). I think Ira looks like a bantam Cochin, can't see the white chick well enough.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Ira looks like a bantam to me as well, it looks to be the same size as pearl. All of my standard Cochins were hefty chicks and obviously bigger than my bantams

 

[slantrhymes]

You all are making me feel so much better. Thanks for the reassurance! And yeah, Ira and Pearl are the same size, purchased at the same time from the same hatching.

Vulture hocks! That's a good term; I'll remember it.

The only thing is that if Ira and Pearl are Cochins, they must be standard--the store didn't have bantam cochins available, at least not in that bin. Hence my concern! They'll either be bitty D'Uccles or very large Cochins! Unless there was a mislabeling...

Unfortunately, it's hard for me to determine the relative size of the chicks, since I'm a newbie.

Smaller than normal chicks? Much bigger? I don't really have enough experience to say!

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

If it makes you feel any better, most of the time the feed stores have absolutely no idea what they're selling

 

[slantrhymes]

Haha, I'm not sure if that makes me feel better or worse!

 

[slantrhymes]

Hi, all! I have some updates! And new questions...

So (James) Joyce was undoubtedly a little D'Uccle roo (therefore we rehomed him to a flock of 40 with an experienced keeper). Here's a picture the day I gave him to his new mama, at around 6-8 weeks of age:




And now the other two little ones, Pearl and Ira, have grown a lot! They're probably around 4 weeks old now, and I'm wondering what breed/gender they might be. They were both sold to me by the farm store as D'Uccles but I'm almost certain at this point that Ira is a Cochin. I'm hoping they're both little pullets!


Ira (at left) and Pearl, being affectionate.

Ira ducked, but I'm hoping this pic allows you all to get a sense of scale. Ira is so much larger than Pearl!
















Sorry these are all selfies...the babies wouldn't get off of me when I went into their run to take the shots.