Standard cochins from Ideal hatchery

[yellowherb]

Just got my babies from Ideal. I placed the order early January as soon as they were available. Ideal moved my order up from 3/1 to 2/22 with my permission I also said packing peanuts were ok.

My order was 2 pullets each of Standard cochins in partridge, silver laced, gold laced and barred. 1 roo each in partridge and barred. I also put 2 cuckoo maran feather legged pullets in my order (can't tell them from the cochins!)

100% arrived alive from the hatchery to Florida. I have 10 red packing peanuts(non feather legged) and the 12 chicks I ordered. They are lively and eating, drinking and huddling under the light. This is my 3rd Ideal order and I've been happy with each and every one. I have not had any chick die in shipping.

The quality of the chicks is pretty good for a backyard flock, although a previous order of sultan chicks had a lot of deformed toes and this appears common to the breed. The cochins I pulled out and looked at singly have beautiful fuzzy feet, heavier feathering than I expected. So we will see how they grow up.. I'll take pictures later once everyone settles in and has a chance to eat and drink.

I would like to place another order for self blue, black, buff, red and blue which I did not order this time..Hubby would probably be hiring a divorce lawyer though.

 

[Frizzlett]

I ordered 10 assorted Cochin bantams and 2 Silver Sebrights yesterday from Ideal! They're set to ship March 6th, hopefully they'll come sooner. I've been running around since Monday to two different Tractor Supply's to find chicks. One store only has around 15 total, all of a breed I don't want, and the other store has no idea when they're getting them. So I gave up with Tractor Supply and ordered online.I hope everything goes well with my Ideal chicks!

I don't know if I'm more excited for the ones I ordered, or to see what "packing peanuts" the throw in. I love surprises lol!

 

[yellowherb]

I've tried 3 different TSC's and they had buff orpingtons, cali whites, white leghorns, Cornish x, black sex link and barred rock (looked like all roosters to me). Only one store had 2 bantams of any sort. I also tried a ranch feed store and it was much the same.. all production type, nothing fancy.

I was hoping to find a few silkies for a friend of mine.

I got feather legged bantams from Ideal last year, they were pretty nice. I only kept a partridge cochin though and then it turned out to be a rooster

 

[Frizzlett]

We're hoping to keep 5 Cochin hens, 1 Sebright hen, and 1 Cochin rooster. I ordered so many since they're straight run. We hope to get what we want from what they send. I'll probably want to keep every last one including the packing peanuts, but we only have room in our coop for 6-7 bantams.

 

[yellowherb]

I am not sure how my ratio of male to female went on the bantams. I gave a lot to neighbors and I think they eventually decided most were roosters and took them to auction. Around the time I bought the 25 assorted my husband decided I needed to thin out my flock, so I kept only the partridge until he turned into a rooster. He was beautiful though!

 

[Frizzlett]

Well I hope we get lucky and get mostly hens. We're going to be selling the extra locally, which should be rather easy since Cochins are uncommon where I live. Everyone who sees Cochins or Sebrights here fall in love.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I had 5 Cochins in my bantam assortment in September. Only one was female

 

[yellowherb]

I had 5 Cochins in my bantam assortment in September. Only one was female

sort of makes you wonder if there is some sexing going on..
I've been looking at ways to sex chicks since I hatch a lot. I think I might have this vent thing figured out. I wont say 100% but it's not as hard as I thought it would be..you do get pooped on sometimes though.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Yes. Someone speculated that when they pull out sexed females perhaps some places throw the males back into the straight run bins. Of course, with bantams and others that aren't sold with the option of being sexed it really should just be luck of the draw.

 

[Frizzlett]

I just got the email saying my chicks have shipped! They will probably be here Wednesday since I live in Virginia. I'm a LONG way from Texas. I'll post pics of them when I bring them home!