Starting a show flock....opinions please.

[Dirty Blonde]

My daughter has taken a serious interest in showing chickens.

I have no problem getting her a nice show flock, but I need some advice before I go all chicken crazy!

We have pretty much decided on Cochins, but now we are debating LF Cochins or Bantam Cochins. Pros/cons?

We would like to get some nice hatching eggs and later buy some young stock from a reputable breeder. We cannot come to a decision as to the color we want to go with. I adore the Columbians, but they are pretty hard to find. She likes the Splashes, which seem to be easier to find. Is "splash" a color or a pattern? If anyone could give me some examples I would really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance! I'm sure I'll have more questions along the way!

 

[apc]

Id go with bantams because they eat less, and you can own more

! If your daughter likes the splash color I would suggest getting started in b/b/s (blue, black,splash) you can keep all of those colors together and still get pure colors.

 

[Dirty Blonde]

apc, can you tell me more? Or point me to a website that has more info? Sorry, I don't know much about poultry genetics. Now Percheron horses, I'm your girl. LOL

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Splash to Blue= 50% Blue and 50% Splash

Blue to Blue= 50% Blue, 25% Splash and 25% Black.

Blue to Black= 50/50 same color



Splash to Splash= 100% Splash

Splash to Black= 100% Blue

Black to Black= 100% Black

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Splash is the homozygous state of the blue gene (Bl/Bl); blue is the heterozygous state (Bl/bl+); black is not diluted by the blue gene (bl+/bl+).

There is that enough genetic-ese for you

How old is your daughter? Maybe you can raise large fowl and she can raise bantams? (or vice versa). I do not know about large fowl, but splash is not recognised for bantam cochins. However is she breeds blues, she will get some splash. Much better to start with a recognised colour.

 

[Dirty Blonde]

This forum is amazing! Thank you so much!

I was thinking about having bantams and LF, but I don't know if I will have the facilities to keep them separated yet. We are still working on that!

(Think mother/daughter scheming!)

Can anyone chime in and tell me what colors are recognized and if it varies by LF and Bantam? I'm sorry for all the silly questions.

 

[apc]

Ive heard for show (here at least) that splash is "undesirable" for show (for both lf and bantam). It is however my favorite color in birds and I own many in this color.

I also think it is harder to get the color "right". Not to say that one cannot show this color is just cannot win best of show ect...
But since she is starting out, Id let her get what she wants

I think bantams are less intimidating, and easier for kids to work with. Also check out mottled cochins! Another fantastic color!

 

[georgialee]

I vote bantam for showing... much smaller and easier to handle and house. Here is a site with a bunch of pictures of different colors: http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGA/Cochins/BRKCochinBty.html

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Ummm, I think splash is a hard colour to get wrong. As long as the feathers don't get sunburned, lol!

 

[apc]

Quote:
Maybe im thinking of "sports" hm...