What gender is this Blue/White Cochin?

[rodeorulz]

I have an almost 23 week old Cochin that I received as an extra in my order from Murray McMurray Hatchery and I'm not quite sure what gender it is...I'm leaning towards rooster, let me know what you guys think! Also...I have not heard it crow, but it does seem to make a deeper sound. For the most part the other chickens leave it alone too so I've never seen it fight with the roosters or try to be bred by the roosters...maybe because it is so much larger than most of the other chickens.

 

[speckledhen]

Male, no question. But, why did you say "Blue/White" Cochin? It's definitely white, no blue gene in the bird. Does not appear splash to me, but maybe it's the photos.
See pics below for pointy saddle feathers, which are a male trait and really are screaming on your boy in the pics you posted.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Cockerel

 

[sourland]

It's a beautiful white cockerel. In my experience Cochins have been a slow maturing breed.

 

[rodeorulz]

Thanks! I was pretty sure I was seeing the pointy feathers too but the white feathers make it tricky on my eyes
I say Blue/White because when we received him he looked more like the pics of the Blue Cochin chicks that they have on their website and less like what the White Cochin chicks looked like. But then he feathered out to this. I do see some "black" showing up on some of his feathers, but it is very minimal. And here's their description:
"Blue Cochins
This stately, gentle variety is very rare and extremely beautiful. The bluish-slate color is striking in Cochins.

THE COLOR BLUE: A unique genetic feature of this breed is the constant recurrence in the offspring of not only all blue chicks, but also the black, white, and black-white colors used in the original matings many generations ago to produce these blue birds. All of these chicks carry the blue genes and when mated black on white or with other blues in turn produce many blue offspring. In our breeding flocks, however, only blue males of the finest color are used.

Approximately 50% of the baby chicks will be all blue. The other 50% will be black, white, and black/white combinations."

The part I bolded at the end is what makes me believe this guy could still be a Blue Cochin rather than a White Cochin.

Here's a pic (not a great one I know) of him when I received him:

Since it is a rooster though it doesn't really matter what it is because he'll be making his way to the freezer as he does not match my flock and I don't care for the feathered feet...always getting mud, poo, etc in the feathers. He'll end up in the freezer and make a yummy meal!

 

[rodeorulz]

I figured he would be slow to mature too after what I had read about them...was really hoping it would end up being a hen...oh well. He'll just make a yummy meal then or two!!

 

[speckledhen]

Thanks! I was pretty sure I was seeing the pointy feathers too but the white feathers make it tricky on my eyes
I say Blue/White because when we received him he looked more like the pics of the Blue Cochin chicks that they have on their website and less like what the White Cochin chicks looked like. But then he feathered out to this. I do see some "black" showing up on some of his feathers, but it is very minimal. And here's their description:
"Blue Cochins
This stately, gentle variety is very rare and extremely beautiful. The bluish-slate color is striking in Cochins.

THE COLOR BLUE: A unique genetic feature of this breed is the constant recurrence in the offspring of not only all blue chicks, but also the black, white, and black-white colors used in the original matings many generations ago to produce these blue birds. All of these chicks carry the blue genes and when mated black on white or with other blues in turn produce many blue offspring. In our breeding flocks, however, only blue males of the finest color are used.

Approximately 50% of the baby chicks will be all blue. The other 50% will be black, white, and black/white combinations."

The part I bolded at the end is what makes me believe this guy could still be a Blue Cochin rather than a White Cochin.

Here's a pic (not a great one I know) of him when I received him:
View attachment 1195586

Since it is a rooster though it doesn't really matter what it is because he'll be making his way to the freezer as he does not match my flock and I don't care for the feathered feet...always getting mud, poo, etc in the feathers. He'll end up in the freezer and make a yummy meal!

Trust me, he's not a blue, though he could be splash, I suppose. I'm not sure that is the same chick-splash chicks don't look that way, generally, and he can't be blue since his color isn't blue. He must be white, which has no relation to blue, or splash. I have bred blue/black/splash Ameraucanas, Orpingtons and Rocks, plus now have blue partridge Brahmas. If he was blue, he would be blue, seriously. He doesn't carry the blue gene at all, unless he is splash, then he has two, but you would not call him blue. Even splash is not usually that bright white color but a softer pearly white tone with gray/blue/black accent feathers like this Splash Ameraucana hen. Splash is a genetically black bird with two blue genes. Blue is a black bird with only one blue gene, which turns the black to blue. Add one more blue gene and you get splash.


I have never had any problems with poop or mud getting in feathered feet on my Brahmas or the two bantam Cochin birds I used to have. I guess it depends on if you keep them in a small pen that gets exposed to a lot of weather and becomes very muddy so they can't get out of it. But, they do seem to groom their foot feathers a lot.

 

[speckledhen]

Splash Orpington chick and blue Orpington chicks. Blue on left, splash on right. Just to show how they look together.

Whatever he is, he's a big boy!

 

[rodeorulz]

So it is just the chicks that can look different (I'm referring to what I bolded again)? I never got clarification from the hatchery on that and that's why I never knew for sure. I know animals can have certain genes and not have them show up, especially if they only have one or it is not dominant.

What do you mean "I'm not sure that is the same chick-..."?

My chickens spend most of their time free range and I think that's where the problem is/will be. I live in Wyoming and most of the time it is dry, but when we have any kind of moisture we have mud (we have a fair amount of bare ground at our place). We also get a fair amount of snow so that I can imagine can be problematic. And if they spend any time with the goats there's a good possibility of a mess from them too I have other reasons I'm not interested in Cochins at the moment too. Maybe I'll change my mind down the road...who knows. He's still alive so I still have time to decide to keep him too...but I have too many roosters right now.

Oh yes he dwarfs most of my other chickens, except for my Black Australorp rooster, he isn't too much smaller.

 

[speckledhen]

So it is just the chicks that can look different (I'm referring to what I bolded again)? I never got clarification from the hatchery on that and that's why I never knew for sure. I know animals can have certain genes and not have them show up, especially if they only have one or it is not dominant.

What do you mean "I'm not sure that is the same chick-..."?

My chickens spend most of their time free range and I think that's where the problem is/will be. I live in Wyoming and most of the time it is dry, but when we have any kind of moisture we have mud (we have a fair amount of bare ground at our place). We also get a fair amount of snow so that I can imagine can be problematic. And if they spend any time with the goats there's a good possibility of a mess from them too I have other reasons I'm not interested in Cochins at the moment too. Maybe I'll change my mind down the road...who knows. He's still alive so I still have time to decide to keep him too...but I have too many roosters right now.

Oh yes he dwarfs most of my other chickens, except for my Black Australorp rooster, he isn't too much smaller.

What I mean is that if he is white (not splash) he would not have looked like the chick you showed, perhaps it was not him like you thought in the picture? White chicks start out yellow. If splash and not white, they usually do not have blue on the head like the chick in your photo, but are silvery/pearly-grayish white as chicks.

With the blue gene, it expresses, meaning you have to see it. It won't be hidden. He would be blue like this young blue Orpington cockerel, whether lighter or darker, he'd still be a shade of blue; or he would have blue "accent" feathers if he was splash, meaning the bird has two blue genes that washed out the color all the way past blue to a pearly white color.

.

I was just trying to explain the way the blue gene works. If a bird is blue, well, it's visibly blue.

If you have no reason to keep him, I completely understand that. I've sold males that I had no plans to keep because of their breed, though I kept the pullets.


The Splash brother of the blue Orp male above, pictured next to him for comparison of color, same parents: