Self-Blue Cochin Bantams

[MrsChickendad]

Any chance this is Self-Blue? I had 3 pop up from an experimental pen, 2 are frizzles. (Ignore poopy feathers)

 

[cochinman2005]

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I believe they are regular Blues. Pics show faint lacing. Self-Blues don't have any lacing at all and are a brighter gray/blue color.

 

[cochinman2005]

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Time will tell. If I don't think they are a good representation of Cochin type then no, I won't. I'll cross them to Blacks again next spring if that's the case and will do that anyway now that I have yellow legged SB cockerels with the f4 generation.

 

[MrsChickendad]

Yeah, I figgered it was a long shot! Thanks!

 

[cochinman2005]

2011 Hatch: these are three of the oldest. (about 12 weeks old)

Yellow Legs

Yellow Legs. The males feather really slowly, so it will be a while before he has a decent cushion for a better evaluation.

White Legs

Shot of her width across the back. This pullet so far looks like she is going to be pretty nice as far as type goes. She's out of a split male with white bottomed feet so I expected that the youngsters out of that male would have incorrect foot color but the split male was too nice not to use for breeding.

 

[mjgigax]

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Beautiful! - much progress!

 

[dak]

How do you feel about the feather quality of these birds? Or is it too soon to tell?

 

[Msbear]

Dak, I was thinking the same thing. Boy, what a trip this is turning into, Tom. There is a lot of progress but, also a lot of hoops and disappointment (referring to low SB hatching percentages, feather quality and leg color) Maybe it's the SB color that is throwing it off but, the feathers appear to be kind of stiff and thin especially on the cockerel. That white legged pullet really looks nice ... fluffy, wide, cute face..isn't that how it goes

 

[cochinman2005]

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Feather quality: too soon to tell I think. The cockerels (even though you can't tell from the photo) are actually showing better feather quality than the f2 Self Blues. They have a bunch of pin feathers, just really slow coming in. They should have pretty good cushions based upon the females I used. Both pullet I photographed are still carrying a bunch of chick feathers and just now starting to get some better adult feathers. I don't have my hopes too high for pristine feather quality at this point, but I think it's better than the f2 SB's.

The SB genetics seem to bring with them lots of challenges. The poor feather quality, the slow feathering etc. However, I've seen plenty of SB OEG's that have really good feather quality so I know it can be done.

The white legs are something I'll eventually be rid of through breeding, but since both original birds had slate legs/white feet, and that is definitely dominant over yellow, it's just a matter of time. The fact that I purposefully used a male with incorrecte leg/foot color this year doesn't help, but type first, and he definitely had type. Where I bred yellow legged split X yellow legged split, all offspring were yellow legged. Likewise, toward the end of my breeding this year I bred a yellow legged split to the good typed f2 white legged female that I had kept. I got a few yellow legged SB's from that. Time and patience.

SB hatch percentage. 25% is what's expected and about what I got. Next year I will probably breed some SB males x f3 split females (the best typed ones). That will produce 50% SB's so a bit higher ratio and more chicks quicker. I am also hoping to finally be able to breed SB X SB for the first time which of course will produce 100% SB. I knew this would take time, but it's a really good looking color out on the grass.

 

[cochinman2005]

Updated photos of 2011 hatch birds.

For width comparison.

These are the oldest group and they are about 4 1/2 months old now. Definitely an improvement over what I started with 4 years ago. Feather quality will continue to be a challenge I think, but the cockerel in the top photo is showing some very good feather width. All of them are nothing but pin feathers so they still have a ways to go.