# Fuzzies!



## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Just thought I'd show off some pictures of my lil fuzzy silkied Cochin bantam kids from yesterday. 😁 The numbers are their hatch order, just for my reference. They hatched at the end of May, so they're roughly 2-and-a-half months old now. It's hard to tell from pictures because some of them are suuuper dark, but Wash, Diesel, Hank, and Harley are my Blues, and the rest of them are Black.



































































Also, here are Myrtle, Dandy, and Zinnia, last year's babies, hanging out in their little tarp hammock yesterday. Gus was too busy with big, important rooster business to come over for a picture, I guess. 🤣


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I had to go back and look again. The little boys don't even have the hard feathers in their tails that silkie boys do. 

Had I known those guys existed I just might still have a few.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Haha, yup, they're all fuzz! They are pretty irresistible little darlings! 😍


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

More fuzzies from this morning! ❤ These are just shot with my cell phone so not as sharp as the others, but I thought they were cute enough to share anyway. 😊 A curious Harley:











Diesel, what a handsome young man! 😍











Bella looking very intently at the camera lens 🤣











Zinnia with almost the same face 🤣











And I see now why Gus didn't want his picture taken the other day. He's ragged from molting, poor boy!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Gus looks like he wants to hurt someone.

You know that last pic is pretty stunning. He's absolutely beautiful.

What is the status for them being accepted into a standard? Is anyone trying?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Haha, can't blame him for the dirty looks, he's like a pin cushion right now! My poor guy! He is quite the looker, though, isn't he? Just wait until he's all finished molting. 😍

I don't know of anyone actively working on getting them accepted, but of course I only know of a couple other farms with them at the moment. I'd love to see it happen! It wouldn't be terribly difficult to get them in the standard since they're a variety of an accepted breed rather than an entirely new breed for the standard, right? Not even really a new variety as much as like a different feather style, I guess? They're still Blue and Black Cochin bantams, for example, just silkied, like how frizzle Cochins are still Cochins, just frizzled? I don't show my birds, so I'm not well versed in the processes involved there. 🤭


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It's really involved getting them accepted into the standard. It might be easier to get them in then it is new varieties. The only way to know is for someone to join the Cochin club and introduce them. 

I didn't show mine either. I didn't want to put them through that stress. 

He really is stunning even when he's not fully suited out. I can see where they could become a really popular new bird to possess.


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## Animals45 (May 11, 2021)

It's so funny how they are bigger and all fuzz and no feathers.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

robin416 said:


> It's really involved getting them accepted into the standard. It might be easier to get them in then it is new varieties. The only way to know is for someone to join the Cochin club and introduce them.
> 
> I didn't show mine either. I didn't want to put them through that stress.
> 
> He really is stunning even when he's not fully suited out. I can see where they could become a really popular new bird to possess.


Gotcha, I'll have to look into that! Agree on not stressing the birds! I also hate to think of possibly exposing them to illness or parasites at a show. 😬

Also Gus thanks you! 😁 He's got looks and personality for sure. He's the only rooster I own who will willingly climb into my lap for cuddles. 😍 The rest of them for the most part don't mind being held, but I guess they don't want to ruin their tough-guy reputations by coming to me for attention like Gus does.  I'm hoping the cockerels from this year will mature to be much the same.





Animals45 said:


> It's so funny how they are bigger and all fuzz and no feathers.


The fact that they stay chick-fuzzy all their lives is one of my favorite things about them! ❤


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Have you or the other farms ever talked to them in the Cochin club about your birds? I'd really like to see what their reaction would be. You all could be sitting on some money if you wanted to take them further. 

Have you noticed any obstacles in breeding. No genetic problems? No fatal genes?


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## Animals45 (May 11, 2021)

fuzzies said:


> Gotcha, I'll have to look into that! Agree on not stressing the birds! I also hate to think of possibly exposing them to illness or parasites at a show. 😬
> 
> Also Gus thanks you! 😁 He's got looks and personality for sure. He's the only rooster I own who will willingly climb into my lap for cuddles. 😍 The rest of them for the most part don't mind being held, but I guess they don't want to ruin their tough-guy reputations by coming to me for attention like Gus does.  I'm hoping the cockerels from this year will mature to be much the same.
> 
> ...


Oh they do? Wow!


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

robin416 said:


> Have you or the other farms ever talked to them in the Cochin club about your birds? I'd really like to see what their reaction would be. You all could be sitting on some money if you wanted to take them further.
> 
> Have you noticed any obstacles in breeding. No genetic problems? No fatal genes?


I haven't. I'll have to talk to the lady at the farm I got my Blues and Blacks from to see if she has. She works with large fowl Cochins as well, so she may just be part of the club! She and I both think silkied Cochin bantams are wonderful, to the extent that we've discussed that we both kinda just want to keep them and no smooth bantams, but I have had experience with Cochin bantam enthusiasts finding the silkied varieties ugly. A complete shock to me! 😩 I, personally, am not a fan of frizzled Cochins and find them much less practical, yet they're super popular and my precious fuzzies are left in the dark! Oh, well! 🤷‍♀️ I'd love to see them become just as popular as frizzles some day. 😍 They're just so precious to me ❤ 

I've not bred any of the Blues and Blacks yet, though judging from the hatch rates I've gotten from the other farm's eggs, they don't seem to have any issues! My Reds had some fertility issues the last time I tried to hatch them, but it's hard to say if it was just their age at that point or something genetic. Previous hatches were pretty normal for fertility. I'm not overly fond of that particular family of colors in chickens, so I keep the Reds as pets to live out their lives, but I don't intend to continue with breeding them, other than maybe the occasional hatch just for fun. 😊





Animals45 said:


> Oh they do? Wow!


Haha, yup! I mean, their feathers are not _technically_ the same as chick down, but they're similar in appearance and texture, and the birds are quite adorable for it! 😍


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## Animals45 (May 11, 2021)

Wow, amazing!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

fuzzies said:


> I haven't. I'll have to talk to the lady at the farm I got my Blues and Blacks from to see if she has. She works with large fowl Cochins as well, so she may just be part of the club! She and I both think silkied Cochin bantams are wonderful, to the extent that we've discussed that we both kinda just want to keep them and no smooth bantams, but I have had experience with Cochin bantam enthusiasts finding the silkied varieties ugly. A complete shock to me! 😩 I, personally, am not a fan of frizzled Cochins and find them much less practical, yet they're super popular and my precious fuzzies are left in the dark! Oh, well! 🤷‍♀️ I'd love to see them become just as popular as frizzles some day. 😍 They're just so precious to me ❤
> 
> I've not bred any of the Blues and Blacks yet, though judging from the hatch rates I've gotten from the other farm's eggs, they don't seem to have any issues! My Reds had some fertility issues the last time I tried to hatch them, but it's hard to say if it was just their age at that point or something genetic. Previous hatches were pretty normal for fertility. I'm not overly fond of that particular family of colors in chickens, so I keep the Reds as pets to live out their lives, but I don't intend to continue with breeding them, other than maybe the occasional hatch just for fun. 😊
> 
> ...


There are those that think Silkies are the ugliest things going so I'm not surprised there are those that don't like them. 

Well bred Cochins of any type are always fantastic to look at.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Haha, yeah, I'm not the biggest fan of Silkies, myself, but only because I don't really like breeds with larger crests, especially if they're also bearded. I just prefer to be able to see my birds' faces, and that they're able to see clearly as well. ❤ The fuzzy feathering, I can't get enough of. 🤣

Truly, they are! Glorious, round poofs that waddle along across the ground with their little puff-tails held high 😍 I love them so much!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Well, I for one am really curious on where this goes.


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## Animals45 (May 11, 2021)

My sister got some white silkie's not long ago and they were chicks, she sold them I guess cause she couldn't handle them any longer. Here are some pics of them. They were cute, I guess there were just too many to care for.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

LOL What did she do? I didn't even have that many chicks at one time.


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## Animals45 (May 11, 2021)

robin416 said:


> LOL What did she do? I didn't even have that many chicks at one time.


She sold them cause she had too many. She had probably like 35. And I know it's a lot of babies to care for.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

That's a lot of Silkies! Wow!! They are pretty cute as babies, I agree. You can see their faces at that age, though, so I guess they don't bother me as much. 

I think the most chicks I had at a time was 22 or somewhere in that vicinity, back in 2017. Carrying that many birds back and forth every single day from their brooder to their daytime pen and vice versa was exhausting!  And I got a whopping 5 pullets to show for it that year, so I guess my luck with cockerels hasn't changed much!


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## Animals45 (May 11, 2021)

fuzzies said:


> That's a lot of Silkies! Wow!! They are pretty cute as babies, I agree. You can see their faces at that age, though, so I guess they don't bother me as much.
> 
> I think the most chicks I had at a time was 22 or somewhere in that vicinity, back on 2017. Carrying that many birds back and forth every single day from their brooder to their daytime pen and vice versa was exhausting!  And I got a whopping 5 pullets to show for it that year, so I guess my luck with cockerels hasn't changed much!


Haha! I know it really looks weird seeing so many chicks staring into the camera!
I'm just not so sure how many she had, I would have to ask her. 

Yep, I feel like cockerels are at such a high rate when you don't sex them. So let's say you got 25 unsexed chicks from a hatchery, you'd probably get 20 cockerels and only 5 pullets so weird..
Someone I work for has lots of chickens. She always has broody hens and whenever I go over to her house their are always new chicks, they have a lot of roosters.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I've had decent luck with straight run and hatched chicks, just every now and then I have a bad year for it like this year. Usually it's about 50-50. Sometimes I get more pullets than cockerels, usually when I've planned for having fewer pullets out of a batch of chicks.


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## Overmountain1 (Jun 5, 2020)

Fuzzies! Those are such fabulous chickens. How adorable are they?? Yes, definitely something I’d love to add into mine in the future! We love our poofs even without being silkied- they’re hilarious. Our girl has the nickname puppy chicken- which she even answers to now. Ha! 

I just love them- they’re all beautiful.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Haha, thanks much! They are precious, silkied or not ❤ Every time you talk about your poof girl, I just smile. She sounds so sweet! 😊


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## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

Animals45 said:


> My sister got some white silkie's not long ago and they were chicks, she sold them I guess cause she couldn't handle them any longer. Here are some pics of them. They were cute, I guess there were just too many to care for.
> View attachment 42047
> 
> View attachment 42046


That is a LOT. They were adorable.


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## Animals45 (May 11, 2021)

SilkieGirl said:


> That is a LOT. They were adorable.


Haha, Thanks!


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## HSJ07 (Aug 25, 2020)

fuzzies said:


> Haha, yup, they're all fuzz! They are pretty irresistible little darlings! 😍


 Beautiful


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Old man Roscoe was agreeable to a picture this morning. That's two whole pounds of pure manliness right there.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

He looks like a thug! I mean he really does. I can just imagine him making his rounds keeping everyone in line. 

That's a lovely chestnut color. Is chestnut right? That's a red.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Haha, he definitely has his tough-guy reputation and a face to match it! He's a big softie, though. Wish I had more pictures of him with his young sons over the years. He's so gentle with his kids, right up until they start getting feisty with him and then all bets are off. 

Chestnut sounds about right! He is a Red, though a bit patchy at the moment because, like everyone else around here, he's gone into molt.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I've been out of chickens for a while now. How common are the red Cochins? I don't remember them being around ten years ago.

Well, you've got a good reason to keep him around even if you don't care for his color. Birds that are attentive to the young are pretty valuable to me.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I know a lot of hatcheries have Reds. Not sure how common they are with breeders, though. I feel like I see a lot more of the Blues, Blacks, and Partridges at shows, but I'm also a lot more fond of those colors so it could be that I just don't notice the Reds as much. 

Yeah, he's a solid little rooster. ❤ He's living with my one and only Call Duck at the moment because her parents died and I really didn't want to get any more ducks to keep her company.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

LOL That's quite a pic in my head. Big ol' floofy rooster with a teeny duck.


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## Animals45 (May 11, 2021)

fuzzies said:


> Old man Roscoe was agreeable to a picture this morning. That's two whole pounds of pure manliness right there.
> 
> View attachment 42123


What a beautiful rooster!


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

robin416 said:


> LOL That's quite a pic in my head. Big ol' floofy rooster with a teeny duck.


They are quite the odd couple!  Actually, they don't really seem to care much for each other and usually spend their time doing their own thing (her in her swimming pool, him digging in the dirt, etc.), but Crash (the duck) is quiet now with him in there instead of calling all day every day looking for me or other ducks.





Animals45 said:


> What a beautiful rooster!


Roscoe says thank you! 😊


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

The odd couple. 

But something is going on there that has them OK with their partnership if the cries have stopped.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Here they are today, a rare moment when Crash came out of the pool to eat and Roscoe was distracted with the babies in the pen next door.










Not great pictures because of the fence, but here he is interacting with the babies. They are no relation to him and he's never seen them before today, but he was absolutely glued to that side of the pen! He kept poking his head through to look at them, showing them goodies, and letting them poke at his face. What a softie! ❤


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Sometimes roosters are just the best. I know mine used to do that. When peeps got close to eyes I'd be all tightened up worried they'd get an eye.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Right? Fortunately, they lost interest in poking at his face long before they got to his eyes!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

What fascinates me is that they don't even move when they're being poked. It's got to hurt, doesn't it? I mean like little tiny needles poking at tender skin. That hurts me just thinking about it.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I know!! It really melts my heart that he's so patient and tolerant of them 😍


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## Overmountain1 (Jun 5, 2020)

fuzzies said:


> Here they are today, a rare moment when Crash came out of the pool to eat and Roscoe was distracted with the babies in the pen next door.
> 
> View attachment 42304
> 
> ...


Awwwww I love it! My Tiny has done the same with a batch of Ameraucana chicks I hatched- he just adored them and let them peck all over him! Blew me away. And then Chip with his actual babies- he’s like a hen- he lets them ride on his back and is soooo patient w them too. Roosters can really be so amazing.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Ahhh, good roosters are worth their weight in gold! 😍 They sound precious!


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

A hand full of pictures from the junior fuzzies squad this week. They're about 3 months old now. 😊 

Diesel 😍 😍 😍

















This one's a little blurred from them moving, but it's the Blue boys, Hank and Diesel ❤ 











Washburne and her big eyes 😍











Bella with the over-the-shoulder pose 💕











Juniper ❤











One more of Wash. She's the smallest of the bunch, but she's so confident and poised. Look at that face! 😍


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Washburne? LOL Her looks are so far beyond her name. 

What are you all doing to keep the genetics watered down so there are no breeding issues?

How many do you know of that have the "Fuzzies" as you call them?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

robin416 said:


> Washburne? LOL Her looks are so far beyond her name.


Haha, yeah, her name is a bit of a story.  Her egg was messy so it needed to be washed before I set it in the incubator, so she's been known as "Wash" since before she hatched. It kinda morphed to Washburne over time because of a character in a show I like whose last name is Washburne and everyone calls him Wash. 😊




robin416 said:


> What are you all doing to keep the genetics watered down so there are no breeding issues?


My plan is to do spiral breeding with the silkied Cochins. I'm looking at keeping three distinct flocks of them; pullets hatched will stay in their flock, and the best cockerels will go on to replace the males in the next pen over in a spiral pattern. Only thing holding me back from that setup is the cost of building supplies right now, but I'm hoping by next year I can afford to get their coops built and set up, preferably in time to get a generation of breeding in before too late in the year.

I also intend to outcross to smooths occasionally where I see it needed. The nice thing about the silkieds is that they are genetically the same as their smooth-feathered counterparts other than their fuzzy feathers, so just getting some smooth Blues or Blacks in would do the job for an outcross. Breed the resultant silkie-split offspring back to silkied individuals, and the silkied feathering comes back. Neat thing about that plan is I could even get some genetically close color of smooths like Mottled or Lavender and potentially get silkied versions of those varieties eventually, too 😁




robin416 said:


> How many do you know of that have the "Fuzzies" as you call them?


I am aware of just two other farms who actively breed them, and two that have sadly gotten out of breeding them. That's why I get very excited when I see them mentioned like what prompted me joining here!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I'm glad you stuck around even though it wasn't quite what you thought it was. I may not have chickens anymore but I am still fascinated by new. 

It does sound easier to keep the genetics healthy with them than I originally thought. I'd really like to see them recognized by the APA.


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## Overmountain1 (Jun 5, 2020)

I’m super stoked that you’re here- please don’t leave without giving me some contact info if you don’t mind! I’m serious about wanting some fuzzy Cochins maybe next year or even year after- we all know how things can go. But I would be honored to add a few from your flocks when the time comes- they’re beautiful!


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Oh, haha, well I don't plan to go anywhere! I actually kinda like it here. 😊 I'm part of another chicken forum and I like it there, too, but they have many thousands of people posting many thousands of times every day and it can trigger some anxiety for me, which leads to me not really posting much there outside of my own threads. I like the slower pace here, and that I feel like I can actually be helpful because there aren't literal hundreds of thousands of other people who are ready to post essentially exactly what I would at any given moment.

But yeah, sometimes things come up and who knows if I might fall out of activity for one reason or another, and plus it's relevant to a thread about fuzzies anyway, so I'll just post it here that I got my Blues and Blacks from Gopher Hill Farms on Facebook (not the animated Christmas lights page that comes up when you google that, but the other one). That page is run by Erin, who's a great person that loves her fuzzies, too, and loves to talk chicken as much as the rest of us do! 

The other farm I'm aware of is triplecreekfarm on ebay. I only recently discovered them (around the same time I joined here) so I haven't actually talked to them to know if they sell their hatching eggs directly or at all other than in ebay auctions, but they have good reviews on their hatching eggs so they seem trustworthy enough. 😊

And of course there's me, but like I said, I haven't gotten my breeder pens set up yet so obviously my ability to pass on any birds will hinge on how soon I can get that done. You know, unless you just want cockerels--I always seem to have plenty of those around!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That's one of the reasons I found this spot. The other was a mod recommending a terribly unnecessary treatment for a bird. It was just one more black mark and I left years ago.


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## lovely_chooks (Mar 19, 2021)

Oooh coot fuzzies


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## Overmountain1 (Jun 5, 2020)

fuzzies said:


> Oh, haha, well I don't plan to go anywhere! I actually kinda like it here.  I'm part of another chicken forum and I like it there, too, but they have many thousands of people posting many thousands of times every day and it can trigger some anxiety for me, which leads to me not really posting much there outside of my own threads. I like the slower pace here, and that I feel like I can actually be helpful because there aren't literal hundreds of thousands of other people who are ready to post essentially exactly what I would at any given moment.
> 
> But yeah, sometimes things come up and who knows if I might fall out of activity for one reason or another, and plus it's relevant to a thread about fuzzies anyway, so I'll just post it here that I got my Blues and Blacks from Gopher Hill Farms on Facebook (not the animated Christmas lights page that comes up when you google that, but the other one). That page is run by Erin, who's a great person that loves her fuzzies, too, and loves to talk chicken as much as the rest of us do!
> 
> ...


Wellllll oddly enough since I do have my Hensley already I would probably prefer a pair when the time came. But I think your timeline will work just fine for mine also. No rush for me in other words. At all. Lol. 

I know what you mean about the busy forums and threads and chats- I’m just too old to keep up with all that now! If I ever could. Hahaha


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

lovely_chooks said:


> Oooh coot fuzzies


Aw, thanks! 😊




Overmountain1 said:


> Wellllll oddly enough since I do have my Hensley already I would probably prefer a pair when the time came.


Darn!  But seriously, that makes sense and I completely understand. 😊


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## lovely_chooks (Mar 19, 2021)

fuzzies said:


> Aw, thanks!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


And very nice name too


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

The young fuzzy crew sitting with their 'little brothers', the English Orpington boys. Those Orps are a week younger than the silkied Cochins. 😲 I only had to separate them because the Orp boys kept stepping on the much smaller Cochins without noticing them in their path 










Of course, as soon as I lean over the fence to take a picture of them, the fuzzies all come running! 😍 Washburne leading the charge, naturally.










That face, though 😍


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Gimme, gimme, gimme. You've got something, I just know you do.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Haha, funny thing is I have never given them treats or anything! They just want my attention, I guess. 😊

That, or they think the camera lens is food. They do peck at it quite a bit!


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Sorry I've been quiet this past week or so! A lot of the crop farms around here have started to harvest their fields and it's kicked my seasonal allergies into overdrive, so I've not been feeling too well. 😩

Here is a picture from a couple days ago of my silkied Partridge-looking Cochin hen, Abra. That's the feminine for Abraham, so it's pronounced "abe-rah," not like the abra-kadabra spell.  Anyway, her father is Roscoe and her mother is my oldest silkied Red hen, Donna, so I have no idea why she turned out this color and none of her siblings have. She was a very dark brown chick like any of the laced Partridge breeds look at hatch, which is why I suspect she is at least incomplete laced Partridge, though it's hard to tell for sure because of her silkied feathering.










She was getting ready to dust bathe and didn't trust me hovering over her with the camera. 



This is an older picture of Donna, since I don't have any of her posted here yet. She's a bit sketchy of people, so it's not the greatest shot.










Donna and Roscoe were among my very first silkied Cochins that I got about 5 years ago from a breeder in Chicago, who was selling out of them entirely. I got those two along with another Red pullet named Cordelia, who seemed to be an enduring failure to thrive chick and didn't make it in the end despite my efforts, and another Black cockerel named Gus, who also passed away suddenly of unknown causes a few months later. I loved Gus and his name so much that I named my current Gus (technically Gus II) after him.  I'd actually only picked Gus (original) because of a smooth Black Cochin bantam rooster that I'd had and adored even before _that_, and I didn't initially have any plans to actually breed these birds at the time, so I almost didn't even get Roscoe! She had so many extra cockerels at the time, though, that she was giving them away for free, and I'd purchased her last two pullets so I went ahead and took Roscoe as well to help her out. I'm SO glad I did because I love that little hairball! ❤ 

Anyway, that was more of a rambling post than I'd meant to make today, oops!  I guess I'll end it here at that!


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## Overmountain1 (Jun 5, 2020)

You and I seem to do a lot of the same thing- more of a stream of thought post….  

I’ve had my books on here some days too. Sorry I’ve been quiet too- sad to see summer ending already. Feels like I just got excited about it being here, and it almost doesn’t feel right bc even tho it got hot it never got even high 90s here this year which is unusual. So it doesn’t seem possible it’s over already. Idk  

My Cochin has been a broody monster. Idk if you have IG but there are some hilarious videos of the broody poof. She was a mess but she’s finally pulling back out of it today. She was pretty stubborn about it!  But I got her in the end. 


































Pancake brood!


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Ahaha, exactly! Once that train of thought gets going, it's hard to slow it down! 

AAAAH, I love her! 😍 She seems _very _serious. Cochin bantams are the most wicked little broodies, I swear! Donna and her other daughter, Rowena, were broody for like 3 months over the summer, with just a week and a half of a break right in the middle. 😩 I didn't think they'd _ever_ fully quit!!

I don't have IG, but the more it's mentioned to me the more I consider signing up!  Maybe I'll look into that again.

I definitely agree on summer ending. We had a super wet summer here, rain almost solidly from mid-May all the way through early July, and then the mosquitoes were so bad that you couldn't even go out and enjoy the weather once it stopped raining. So I guess we didn't really have much of a summer here, either! I do love fall, but I dread winter every year. 😬 I suppose a few frosts would be nice to knock down the mosquitoes a bit, though!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

fuzzies said:


> Sorry I've been quiet this past week or so! A lot of the crop farms around here have started to harvest their fields and it's kicked my seasonal allergies into overdrive, so I've not been feeling too well. 😩
> 
> Here is a picture from a couple days ago of my silkied Partridge-looking Cochin hen, Abra. That's the feminine for Abraham, so it's pronounced "abe-rah," not like the abra-kadabra spell.  Anyway, her father is Roscoe and her mother is my oldest silkied Red hen, Donna, so I have no idea why she turned out this color and none of her siblings have. She was a very dark brown chick like any of the laced Partridge breeds look at hatch, which is why I suspect she is at least incomplete laced Partridge, though it's hard to tell for sure because of her silkied feathering.
> 
> ...


One of the things they suggested with Silkies is to get them wet. Then you can see the patterning in the feathers.


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## Animals45 (May 11, 2021)

I want some bantams from hatcheries but everything takes so long to ship why is that?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

robin416 said:


> One of the things they suggested with Silkies is to get them wet. Then you can see the patterning in the feathers.


I'll have to give that a shot, if I can convince Abie to cooperate with the idea. 





Animals45 said:


> I want some bantams from hatcheries but everything takes so long to ship why is that?


I'm guessing because most hatcheries are slowing down hatching by now and running out of chicks to sell, so you have to order in advance of receiving them. It would probably be easier to wait until the end of the year or early next year and order chicks for the spring.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

fuzzies said:


> I'll have to give that a shot, if I can convince Abie to cooperate with the idea.
> 
> LOL, good luck with that. Although most chickens do like a good bath.
> 
> ...


Now it's getting dicey with it being warm enough to be shipping day old chicks. Weather might still be very warm where you are but chicks could be shipped from and through areas that are not warm enough to keep them alive.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Been a tough few days for me, starting with a cherished Lavender Orpington hen passing away toward the end of last week, and culminating at the loss of my beloved cat over the weekend. I might be quiet for a bit, as I'm having a very difficult time with these losses right now.

In the mean time, here is a terrible picture of some fuzzies (and a Barred Rock bantam cockerel) poking at some old shavings on their first exploration outside of their baby pen. Diesel stands out right in the middle of the group.


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## Animals45 (May 11, 2021)

fuzzies said:


> Been a tough few days for me, starting with a cherished Lavender Orpington hen passing away toward the end of last week, and culminating at the loss of my beloved cat over the weekend. I might be quiet for a bit, as I'm having a very difficult time with these losses right now.
> 
> In the mean time, here is a terrible picture of some fuzzies (and a Barred Rock bantam cockerel) poking at some old shavings on their first exploration outside of their baby pen. Diesel stands out right in the middle of the group.
> 
> View attachment 42762


Wow, beautiful! I'm very sorry to hear about your losses.


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## Animals45 (May 11, 2021)

fuzzies said:


> Been a tough few days for me, starting with a cherished Lavender Orpington hen passing away toward the end of last week, and culminating at the loss of my beloved cat over the weekend. I might be quiet for a bit, as I'm having a very difficult time with these losses right now.
> 
> In the mean time, here is a terrible picture of some fuzzies (and a Barred Rock bantam cockerel) poking at some old shavings on their first exploration outside of their baby pen. Diesel stands out right in the middle of the group.
> 
> View attachment 42762


Wow, beautiful! I'm very sorry to hear about your losses.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

fuzzies said:


> Been a tough few days for me, starting with a cherished Lavender Orpington hen passing away toward the end of last week, and culminating at the loss of my beloved cat over the weekend. I might be quiet for a bit, as I'm having a very difficult time with these losses right now.
> 
> In the mean time, here is a terrible picture of some fuzzies (and a Barred Rock bantam cockerel) poking at some old shavings on their first exploration outside of their baby pen. Diesel stands out right in the middle of the group.
> 
> View attachment 42762


Take whatever time you need. You know where we are. We've all suffered losses like yours and know first hand how hard it is.


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## lovely_chooks (Mar 19, 2021)

I’m so sorry


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Thank you all ❤ Thought I'd check in since it's been a while. When my Orpington girl, Rooska, passed on, I didn't think I could cry any more than I did, and then my precious kitty, Keiko, passed so abruptly that I was reeling for a long time. I spent a good week or so just numb to everything, between bouts of tears, and then it all hit me again earlier this week and I could hardly stop crying. I miss them both so much. Fortunately everyone's been healthy here since, and they've been keeping me busy for sure and giving me a reason to get out of bed and get moving every day. It's getting to be the time of year that I need to make preparations for the coming winter, so it's been a bit chaotic with birds being shuffled around, and as an added bonus that's served as a good distraction.

At the moment the youngster fuzzies are in the main flock to finish growing out. I need to assess combs on the pullets (once they grow more) to see who's best to pair with which rooster. Diesel is my Blue cockerel of choice for starting up my Blue pen. His comb is not great so far, but I love his color and want to try to produce a few more with that color, so he needs girls with really good combs to make up for his shortcomings. Meanwhile, Gus is a solid guy overall so any pullets with some weirdness with their combs should do fine with him. Priority in that pen will be to hatch from Dandelion with Gus first thing in the spring so I can determine if he's carrying recessive white. I don't know if I'm hoping he does or not. As much as I love Dandy, I'm just not big on pure White chickens and not sure if I want to dedicate the space toward a White pen or not. Dandy will always have a home here, but she may not end up producing many chicks, depending on how that test cross goes.

Anyway, that was just current thoughts rattling in my brain at the moment regarding the fuzzies.  If the rain ever stops again here, I'll get some updated pictures of the youngsters to share!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Welcome back. It's always a difficult place to be. Like you, I did find having to deal with those remaining actually helped in a big way. It forced me to live up to my responsibilities and not hide because of the pain.


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## Animals45 (May 11, 2021)

It's always hard having something pass, I know how you feel, my favorite cat died also awhile ago.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I can't seem to catch a break here lately, y'all. Now my little Dandelion fluff has a slight prolapse that doesn't seem to want to remedy itself. I could feel an egg coming when I pushed the protrusion back in this morning, so I'm really hoping she passes it fine and it doesn't make things any worse. 





robin416 said:


> Welcome back. It's always a difficult place to be. Like you, I did find having to deal with those remaining actually helped in a big way. It forced me to live up to my responsibilities and not hide because of the pain.


For sure! I'm definitely grateful to my flock for keeping me moving!

Although I've been working on cleaning out and fixing up an old coop for use and I'm feeling pretty sore from that today, so maybe they've been keeping be going too much lately! 




Animals45 said:


> It's always hard having something pass, I know how you feel, my favorite cat died also awhile ago.


Definitely! I'm sorry for your loss as well ❤


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I already know you're keeping watch. I wonder if she's having trouble moving the egg along and that's causing the prolapse. You might have to supplement her for a while until she can get regulated again.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Yup, I have her in a pen in the office so I can check on her frequently. She passed the egg about an hour ago, seemingly without any issues doing so, so at least she isn't blocked. She is also pooping like normal somehow. I've been to the store now and gotten preparation H wipes to clean her up with and see if that helps. They didn't have calcium citrate for a fast-absorbing calcium supplement, but I already have some calcium carbonate so it'll have to do. On the positive side, she's still talking away like normal, eating, drinking, and she's still just as sassy as ever--she even pecked at me when I reached into her hospital pen to grab the egg!



Editing about an hour later, I just finished bathing Dandy's rear end, blow drying it on warm, and treating her prolapse with preparation H wipes and a few spritzes of Vetericyn for the little bit of pecking that had occurred before I realized there was an issue. Her prolapse was inside again and staying that way when I returned her to her pen for the night, knock on wood. 🙏


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I think sometimes they make us fret just to get the extra attention. 

Glad to read she's back to normal. So many times it does go that smoothly.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

She's prolapsed again this morning.  Still talking to me and acting normal otherwise, though. Hopefully it's just a matter of being persistent about treating her. 🙏


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It might be worth supplementing her to see if additional calcium and D3 will strengthen the muscles to stop this from happening.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Yup! She didn't want to eat the calcium carbonate tab pieces I gave her this morning, so I'm planning to just pop them in her beak the next time I have to clean her up and push her prolapse back in, if there is a next time. I didn't think of it before treating her this morning and I don't want her to be struggling against me opening her beak to give it to her and push herself back out if that makes sense? She is keeping her prolapse in for the time being, anyway, and I don't want to stress her and change that. I also have calcium citrate on the way in the mail because they didn't have it in store yesterday. I'll switch her to that, since it's faster absorbing, when it gets here, hopefully tomorrow at the latest.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Try Calciboost for goats. It's flavored with something, actually smells pretty good. She might even be willing to drink it out of a spoon. I know one of mine did.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

robin416 said:


> Try Calciboost for goats. It's flavored with something, actually smells pretty good. She might even be willing to drink it out of a spoon. I know one of mine did.


Darn, I wish I had known about that before I ordered the calcium citrate tabs! I'll look into that!


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## Animals45 (May 11, 2021)

fuzzies said:


> I can't seem to catch a break here lately, y'all. Now my little Dandelion fluff has a slight prolapse that doesn't seem to want to remedy itself. I could feel an egg coming when I pushed the protrusion back in this morning, so I'm really hoping she passes it fine and it doesn't make things any worse.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thank you! My dog got to my chicks a few days ago sadly also.😣


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## chickenpersoon (Sep 11, 2021)

Animals45 said:


> Thank you! My dog got to my chicks a few days ago sadly also.😣


Oh I know...! That makes me feel so sad, knowing those lives are over in those chickens...


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Oh, no! I'm so sorry for your loss, Animals! 💔


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## Animals45 (May 11, 2021)

fuzzies said:


> Oh, no! I'm so sorry for your loss, Animals! 💔


Thank you!😥 I just can't believe all my babies died.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Dandelion has managed to keep her prolapse in overnight! I did feel an egg in there when I reinserted the prolapsed tissue last night, so I don't know yet if she'll just relapse after laying, but at least for now she is without a prolapse!! 🥳


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Here's the ~4.5 month old fuzzy crew from yesterday! First the Blues:































The girls are super dark, especially with the lighting I had while taking these pictures, but definitely still Blue! In person, I sometimes have to do a double take, but their feet and wing feathers are definitely gray compared to the Black ladies.

The Blacks:






































Last guy is still unnamed and I'm still not sure if I'll keep him or not. I do like his comb other than the double point at the end, but Pete and Gus both have good combs without double points. Pete's comb is only a bit wonky now because he and Hank had it out, so at least that's not genetic; same goes for Hank's comb. That said, if I can form a rooster flock with the three non-breeding boys, that extra body heat would be nice for them in the winter. I guess we'll see what happens there!


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## Animals45 (May 11, 2021)

They're all so gorgeous! I wouldn't ever be able to tell the difference between Hank and Diesel they look like identical twins!


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Haha, they are pretty similar in those pictures! Diesel is lighter colored in person, though, and his comb has those weird, super tall points in the middle while the other three boys have more even points on their combs, so he's pretty distinct.


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## Animals45 (May 11, 2021)

fuzzies said:


> Haha, they are pretty similar in those pictures! Diesel is lighter colored in person, though, and his comb has those weird, super tall points in the middle while the other three boys have more even points on their combs, so he's pretty distinct.


Oh gotcha!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Some of them look like they had just been brushed. A couple look like they have actual barbed feathers. 

I really want to see how far this goes. I'm surprised there isn't a bunch of people clambering for hatching eggs.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Apologies, got a bit busy again! I ended up acquiring another fuzzy animal, this sweet boy who showed up in our woods here about a week and a half ago. ❤ I've scoured the internet for lost cat postings in my area and left his description at the county shelter when we took him over to check for a microchip (he doesn't have one), and so far it doesn't seem like anyone is looking for him, so I guess I have a new cat. I've been calling him Casper. 😍 I might have to make him his own thread because I've already taken a ton of pictures of him. 














robin416 said:


> Some of them look like they had just been brushed. A couple look like they have actual barbed feathers.
> 
> I really want to see how far this goes. I'm surprised there isn't a bunch of people clambering for hatching eggs.


The boys do have some solid feathers in their tails, for sure. I haven't looked too closely at Gus, but I believe he does as well. Not sure if they're being selected for or if that's not even a trait that the other breeders are looking at. I kind of like the look, so I'm not going to select against it, at least not until I have enough birds to select from that I can be more choosy about those things.

The farm I got these guys from does always seem to have a wait list for them, so I think it's just because I'm not set up and established with them just yet.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I'm surprised no one is missing Caspar, he's a good looking boy.

It's common for Silkie roosters to have hard feathers in their tales. No idea why but it's not a negative thing for them.


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## Animals45 (May 11, 2021)

Wow beautiful cat! I love the name you've given him! His coloring is also beautiful!
How are all the Fuzzies doing?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

robin416 said:


> I'm surprised no one is missing Caspar, he's a good looking boy.


It really surprised me, too! When Casper first showed up, I spent hours searching for lost cat postings in my area, and none even remotely matched his appearance. I did leave his description at the county shelter when we checked him for a microchip, so that way they could search their database of missing cat reports, and also if anyone called in afterward then they would be able to match them up with us. I don't want to be responsible for someone else's heartbreak at losing their cat! That was four days ago, though, and no word since. The lady at the shelter told us it wasn't likely that anyone was looking for him if they didn't already have a lost cat report matching his description, since he'd been hanging around my little farm for about a week already at that point, so while I'm reserving getting fully attached to him for a bit longer, it so far seems he's ours to keep.  I'm figuring if we haven't been called in another week or two, then no one's going to call.





robin416 said:


> It's common for Silkie roosters to have hard feathers in their tales. No idea why but it's not a negative thing for them.


Good to know, thanks! I kind of like that bit of solid feathering, it gives their appearance a bit of an anchor point in that sea of fuzziness. 





Animals45 said:


> Wow beautiful cat! I love the name you've given him! His coloring is also beautiful!
> How are all the Fuzzies doing?


He is so pretty, isn't he? I fell in love as soon as he looked up at me with those eyes 😍

The fuzzies are doing pretty great! No relapse with Dandelion and her prolapse, and I'm pretty sure she's molting now, so hopefully she'll have lots of time to recover before she goes back into lay. We've had a rainy spell here recently, so they've all been looking pretty pitiful. Those silkied feathers soak up the water so much faster than regular smooth feathers, and they look like they've been dunked in a swimming pool after only a bit of rain, the poor things. 😩 But, they still run around and play like normal, even if soaked, so I guess they don't mind as much as I do


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## Animals45 (May 11, 2021)

fuzzies said:


> It really surprised me, too! When Casper first showed up, I spent hours searching for lost cat postings in my area, and none even remotely matched his appearance. I did leave his description at the county shelter when we checked him for a microchip, so that way they could search their database of missing cat reports, and also if anyone called in afterward then they would be able to match them up with us. I don't want to be responsible for someone else's heartbreak at losing their cat! That was four days ago, though, and no word since. The lady at the shelter told us it wasn't likely that anyone was looking for him if they didn't already have a lost cat report matching his description, since he'd been hanging around my little farm for about a week already at that point, so while I'm reserving getting fully attached to him for a bit longer, it so far seems he's ours to keep.  I'm figuring if we haven't been called in another week or two, then no one's going to call.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yes he is, I imagine you definitely did fall in love with him with those gorgeous light blue eyes! 
Oh I hope Dandelion will recover quickly! Oh yes, the smooth feathered ones will usually stayed dried, but ones with fuzz I imagine do get soaked!😄


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## Gin (Sep 14, 2021)

fuzzies said:


> More fuzzies from this morning! ❤ These are just shot with my cell phone so not as sharp as the others, but I thought they were cute enough to share anyway. 😊 A curious Harley:
> 
> View attachment 41953
> 
> ...


This little guy is amazing!!!!


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Hey, long time no see!  Been busy lately with preparing for a couple shows (not showing any birds, just viewing) and getting things around for wintertime, and I guess I lost track of things here!

Just wanted to update real quick on a couple things, primarily that I've now gotten my hands on a copy of the current (2020) edition of the ABA standard and it's helped me make some decisions regarding the fuzzy birds for next spring. I have some work ahead of me, but I'm hoping that after scrutinizing the group and making pairings based on a few points, that I can hatch and grow out some great looking birds next year.  The weather's been yucky lately, but as soon as we get a break in that, I'll get some update pictures of my fuzzies to show how they're growing and maturing. ❤

Only other relevant update to topics I've discussed here is that Casper has been with me for a month now with no apparent effort by anyone else to find him, so I had him microchipped and checked at the vet. I guess that officially means that he's my cat now! 😁


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It does help, especially if you don't have someone to discuss issues with. Have you thought about joining the Cochin Club? Not sure how welcoming they would be but they would be an excellent source. And there may be a few there really interested in the Fuzzies. Most probably don't even know about them.

It sound like Caspar chose the right home to show up at. And just before Winter too.

This is the time of year to be getting ready for the season change. I've been out now that it's cool enough to work out there. Lots to do.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Busy again, sorry for being so quiet! It's been a tough month here, lost a few birds to random things (none of my fuzzies, thankfully, but sadly some of my Old English have gone, so I no longer have a usable breeding group of them  ), and my grandmother passed away last week as well so there's been a lot going on because of that.

I have thought about joining the Cochin Club, but haven't gotten much further than thinking about it, haha! Right now, I'm just trying to get breeding groups figured out and places to house said groups put up. The weather has been horrible for setting up pens or really doing anything out there. 😩 We had so much rain here this year that the ground never had the chance to properly dry like it normally would have in the summer, then we had snow come and go over the past couple months and add to that, and now we've had a good few inches of snow slowly melt off over the past few days -- there isn't a single square inch of the property that isn't soggy, muddy, and squishy now, and my birds look awful!  Needless to say, I am *NOT *looking forward to spring, AKA our usual mud season, and hoping that 2022 is a nice, _DRY_ year overall!


Anyway, I mostly just wanted to pop in and say belated happy holidays, and a very happy new year to y'all! 🥳 Here's hoping for a good one!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I was thinking about you the other day, Fuzzies. Because of what you said about not sticking around if others weren't interested in your flock. I thought maybe you gave up on us too.

I am so sorry about your Grandma. It's never an easy loss. It's hardest for her adult kids. 

If you join the club, be aware there are going to be unkind purest in the club. Ignore them. They are people you probably wouldn't want to know in public life if you all didn't have chickens. What you can get out of it are some that know genetics and can help guide you in breeding in ways that will keep your flock healthy.

And then there will be some that will be drooling to have a pair of your birds.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Nah, you're stuck with me.  I just might get quiet sometimes because of other stuff going on. Feels like fall and spring are always so busy for me, though in the spring I _have _to make time to stop by and post baby pictures, of course! Since I can't hatch from my Old English (or rather, it would be ill advised; all I have left are siblings and their ancient dad who's gone mostly sterile as of the last hatch I tried out of him), there'll probably be lots of fuzzy babies to post pictures of this year. ❤

It is tough. My dad is stoic, but I can tell he's feeling the loss. 💔 She was his mother, and I just know he's beating himself up inside for not visiting more often or seeing her one last time. Trying to take things day by day for now.


Good to know about the club. Based on other interactions with Cochin people outside of the club, it doesn't surprise me to be honest. I've been told that silkied Cochins are hideous and ugly, after all. It sucks that some people have to be like that, but oh, well.  I'd only be interested in talking to the people who fancy the silkied variant anyway, as they'll be the ones who can help me keep lines of them going so they don't end up going extinct--and they'll properly appreciate them for how wonderful they are, of course!  I've learned a lot from the ABA standard I got back in November, too, like that combs aren't all that important to practically anyone as long as they're straight (for single combs, at least) so I need to focus on type and color first and combs last. That's a relief because my favorite Blue boy, Diesel, has kind of an awful comb!  But at least it's straight! I really want to produce more birds with his color and breed toward lighter Blues that actually look Blue instead of like the other three Blues who are so dark they look Black at first glance. I'm so excited for that first hatch of Blues, just as soon as Wash and Harley start laying 😍 💙


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Has anyone ever given you any indication how the fuzzies came about? Did you even tell us how you got yours?

Combs are pretty easy to fix so you're right to focus on the hard stuff. Once you achieve that then turning to the comb, which may resolve while working on the other anyway. 

Did that dark blue happen because they used blacks with blues? That's why it's so hard to tell 99.9% of the blue Silkies out there from black.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

From what limited info I can find on them, what I have gathered is that they were spontaneous mutants out of a couple lines of Cochin bantams, similarly to how silkied Ameraucanas spontaneously appeared out of a line of Splash Ameraucanas. It's entirely possible that someone put the monumental effort to breed some out of Silkies, but most of them, as far as I am aware, were never crossed to Silkies in order to create them. The rest that I've gathered is that silkied Blues and Blacks (and consequential recessive Whites) came out of a show line of BBS Cochin bantams, and silkied Reds came out of a hatchery line of frizzled Red Cochin bantams. That's why (I assume) my Blacks and Blues are much prettier than my Reds as far as the standard is concerned. 

As far as where mine came from, I do think I said something about it, but I don't mind repeating.  My Blues and Blacks (and Dandelion) came from the farm I posted about back on page 3 or so, Gopher Hill Farm. My Reds were from someone who got out of breeding them entirely and I bought her last trio of Reds and a Black cockerel she also had available.

Not sure on the Blues being dark, but I have heard that Blue Silkies can be darn near impossible to tell from Black Silkies! I'd read not that long ago about someone who bred two Black Silkies together and got a few Splashes out of them, which is when they realized they actually had two Blue Silkies instead.  So I did sort of expect that they'd be pretty dark when I hatched some Blues. They started out distinctly slate blue as babies, but man are they dark now, except Diesel. I'm really hoping he'll make some lighter Blue babies to keep breeding toward that lighter color. 🙏


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

You're right, you did. Sometimes my memory needs a poke to remember some of what I've read. 

That's what happened with a woman who raised Silkies, she had paints pop up out her birds. She was the only one I know of that had that happen. All the rest were outcrossed to other breeds.

There is a way to test for a true black bird. I had a white that was almost all grey in color. One of the folks educated in the genetics told me to put him with a true black bird to verify he was indeed white. I wasn't even sure I had one but I put the likeliest one in with him. All of her peeps hatched black. So not only was he a white (double silver gene white) she was a true black.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

If you are going to the effort of establishing breeding groups, you might as well join the Cochin club. Just know that it is its own rabbit hole. Robin and I both used to be involved with showing, it can be a great hobby but like everything else, there are all kinds of zealous folks participating.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Hence, my warning about some of the ones she'll run into. 

Sometimes it's just amazing what some of them get go on about.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Whoops, sorry for disappearing again! Joining the club will come eventually, I just don't think I am to that point yet. My breeding pens are more so that I can keep the fuzzies in a line breeding scenario to prevent too much inbreeding occurring over time while maintaining the variety for my own enjoyment.

Just for an update, we sadly lost Hank to a hawk a few weeks ago and the flocks have all been on lockdown since to prevent another attack. I've purchased some aviary netting to cover the pens as much as possible once it's warmed up enough to do so without freezing my fingers off! Just as soon as the weather breaks, I'll also be setting up Diesel with the Blue pullets and probably just all the Black pullets for now. If they EVER start laying, then I'll know he's the only male they're with and I should be safe to start hatching from them right away. I at least am comforted by the fact that I have three Blue individuals still... but I'd rather have a good population of Blues and Splashes just in case. 🙏

Dandy hasn't had a prolapse issue in months now, so she'll also be moving back in with Gus and his girls when the weather breaks. Zinni and Myrtle are both laying again so I'm planning to hatch from them once it's warm enough that I'm no longer gathering frozen eggs from them.

Unrelated to the fuzzies, but I've also lost two of my Old English girls, so it's looking like I'll have to put that breed on the back burner for now. I'm much further from being able to set up line breeding pens with them (I have just two females remaining and all of my Old English are pretty closely related), and with the HPAI outbreak building up now, I'm not sure I want to purchase birds or eggs from too many different sources this year anyway.  It stinks, I had a lot of plans for hatching some breeds to put in my mixed flock this year just for fun, too, but it won't hurt to postpone things a year or two, I suppose.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Should I scold you for being gone? Again.  

Danged hawks. Beautiful birds but they need to stay away from our flocks. They can decimate them so quickly if we're not aware they are in the area. Spring is a really bad time for attacks. 

Yeah, this flu thing is concerning. I think this is the first time we've actually had H5N1 in the country.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I know, I know







If it helps, I do think about posting pretty frequently during my absences, I just get distracted easily and then it's out of my goldfish brain for a few days again. 

That's for sure on the hawks! I feel like I've drawn them in with the tiny Old English. It was a complete shock when I'd found that Hank was killed, as they'd never taken any of the larger birds until then.  Of course it had to be one of my Blues and not one of the Blacks that I have extras of!

The HPAI outbreak is scary. I remember an outbreak happening back in 2015, H5N2 in that case. I just know I was stressed to all get out while it was happening. I believe you're right that this is the first we've had H5N1 here. I know that Europe has been fighting with it for a while. I just hope we're able to get it under control quickly. 🙏


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I do that a lot with other things. Did it again just a little while ago. 

I had hawks take out several guineas last year. I've made the decision not to replace them as they die out so I'm not going to get too wound up about it. 

Not sure there's a heck of a lot we can do about it other than try to isolate our birds from wild birds. That's pretty much a losing proposition since none of us is set up for that kind of isolation.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I made the same decision with my Guineas a while back. Last one died toward the end of last year and I haven't looked back. They were interesting birds, but not for me. Same choice I made with the ducks, they're just too much mess for my liking so I don't intend to replace Crash once she's gone. I might break on that one, though, because there are ducks with silkied feathering, too.  

From what I've read, it's really only wild waterfowl and other poultry that you have to worry about spreading HPAI, not the little songbirds and sparrows. I still think it's safest to try to exclude all wild birds just in case, especially because they can carry other things as well, but I'm not going to stress about every bird that flies over through our wooded property. I'd go crazy if I did! I do have a plan to tarp over and fence in some space should it hit too close to home, though. The birds won't be happy, but they'll be relatively safe. Frankly, at this point I'm much more worried that someone nearby will get it in their flock and the state will decide that my birds need to be culled just in case. 😥 I'm nowhere near any commercial farms, but a lot of people have their own flocks in this area.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Actually Guineas are one species I really enjoy. But at this point in my life it's time to let all of the outside birds go. Once the Guineas are trained it's really not difficult to deal with them. It's the training that can be frustrating. 

If you don't have flu they won't cull your flock. I would certainly make certain there are some fertile eggs held in reserve just in case.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Well, I've lost Diesel now. He was in a pen with the two Black cockerels, Jack and Pete, for the winter, and I guess he was being bullied by Jack more than I realized and was unable to pull through after I intervened. So much for him heading my second pen of fuzzies and making some Blue and Splash babies.  I've moved Pete in with the five pullets instead, and after a few weeks I'll gather some eggs from the two Blue girls specifically to try to hatch some more Blues. Pete's smaller than Jack, but I like him more overall so I decided he'd be the better of the two to breed from. Guess it's a good thing I didn't sell Jack after all, though, because I still have a backup if something happens to either Pete or Gus now!

Anyway, here's Pete and (most of) his girls checking out their new pen when I moved them in a couple days ago. 💕 


















I say 'most of' because pullet number five, Bella, was busy being dramatic and moping on the perch in their coop.  She was definitely not pleased with me!










Everyone seems to have adapted well to their new surroundings now and I've gotten 1-2 eggs a day from them since moving them! Pete's doing really well, too, although he still needs work on his technique with the ladies--I'm not sure he's actually managed to breed any of them yet!  But he does tidbit for them when he finds goodies and he dances and courts them anyway, so he's doing good on the chivalry front, at least.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I'm sorry about the loss of Diesel. Boys can be terrible to each other. And some girls. 

There is something about the shape of a Cochin that is really pleasing to the eye. And they haven't messed to much with that shape like they have with other breeds.


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## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

fuzzies said:


> Well, I've lost Diesel now. He was in a pen with the two Black cockerels, Jack and Pete, for the winter, and I guess he was being bullied by Jack more than I realized and was unable to pull through after I intervened. So much for him heading my second pen of fuzzies and making some Blue and Splash babies.  I've moved Pete in with the five pullets instead, and after a few weeks I'll gather some eggs from the two Blue girls specifically to try to hatch some more Blues. Pete's smaller than Jack, but I like him more overall so I decided he'd be the better of the two to breed from. Guess it's a good thing I didn't sell Jack after all, though, because I still have a backup if something happens to either Pete or Gus now!
> 
> Anyway, here's Pete and (most of) his girls checking out their new pen when I moved them in a couple days ago. 💕
> 
> ...


I'm sorry to hear about Diesel. 

Your Cochins are beautiful! I love that last pic.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

robin416 said:


> I'm sorry about the loss of Diesel. Boys can be terrible to each other. And some girls.
> 
> There is something about the shape of a Cochin that is really pleasing to the eye. And they haven't messed to much with that shape like they have with other breeds.


For sure, chickens can be vicious little velociraptors when they decide to be.  I'm glad I got Pete out of there when I did. Jack had already started turning on him as well, the butthead. His name is short for Jack, err, a-word for good reason. 

I love them a lot. ❤ Not just the shape, but they have such great personalities, too. The complete package. 




SilkieGirl said:


> I'm sorry to hear about Diesel.
> 
> Your Cochins are beautiful! I love that last pic.


Aw, thank you! Bella's gotten a lot of appreciation for that picture wherever I post it.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Close up headshots are the best. Especially when it looks like what the heck are you doing?


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## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

fuzzies said:


> Aw, thank you! Bella's gotten a lot of appreciation for that picture wherever I post it.


Of course! I can see why! You've got me wanting some Cochins for my satins now. LOL.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

SilkieGirl said:


> Of course! I can see why! You've got me wanting some Cochins for my satins now. LOL.


Oh oh.


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## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

Yeah, I'm hooked.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

SilkieGirl said:


> Of course! I can see why! You've got me wanting some Cochins for my satins now. LOL.


Cochins are great, you should definitely get some! 

I have actually hatched some, err, 'satins' but from a silkied Cochin with a Silkie rooster. They're pretty convincingly Silkie-like, and a lot of people think they're just hatchery-quality Silkies. I mostly did it to test out sexlinked skin color on them, but it didn't work because dominant White (from the Silkie) made all of the pullets that inherited it look like cockerels at hatch. 🤦‍♀️


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## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

I know, I might just do that. 

I hear that they're only called satins until the 6th or 7th generation. Idk. 🤷‍♀️ Yeah, I've heard that. 

Really? That's interesting. 

Is the partridge yours?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Oh, I didn't know that! I don't know much about Silkies and Satins in general, though.

Yup, she's one of the mixes I was talking about. Her mother is a silkied Cochin and her father is a White Silkie.


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## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

Me either. I just learned that the other day. LOL. 

Ohh, what color was the silkied Cochin? Gosh, she's absolutely gorgeous! Are you going to keep her?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I'm not really sure what to call her color, honestly.  Her parents are both Red, but she looks more like a buff-ish incomplete Partridge?










The mix is definitely a keeper! I could never give her up, not only because she's a pretty girl but also because she's got such a great personality.  My best friend named her, too, so I don't know if she would forgive me if I gave her Peanut Butter away.


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## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

I'm not sure either. Red leaking black? She's beautiful!

Darn! LOL. Aw, what a cute name! Definitely fits!


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

How is the bird's temperament?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Not sure which bird you're referring to, but the mix is docile and chill with just a touch of that Cochin sass I love so much.  The Cochin, herself, is a bit more laid back than her sisters, but still kind of sketchy of people and prefers to be admired rather than handled.


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## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

Are you selling any birds, Pip?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Not at the moment, but I could be convinced to part with some eggs in a couple months after I test fertility, depending on where you are. I am not NPIP certified, so keep that in mind if that matters to you.

If it's specifically the silkied Cochins you're interested in, I can also recommend a couple other farms to buy from who are NPIP certified.  I don't mind missing out on a sale, I just love to see interest in these darling birds. ❤


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## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

Oh, okay. It doesn't matter one bit to me, but you'd have to ship, so yeah. 

I'm thinking about having a mixed flock of bantams, and I think they'd make a great addition. Are they standard or bantam? If you could send me a link to one of the farms, it would much appreciated. Thanks!


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I sent you direct links in a direct message, but there's Gopher Hill Farm, where I got my Blues and Blacks, and there's Triple Creek Farm who also has some beautiful silkied Cochins. They are bantams, yes! I have a mixed flock along with my breeder flocks, and my silkied Cochins in my mixed flock get along fine with everyone, bantam and large fowl.


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## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

Thanks so much! I'll check them out! 

Awesome! That's great to hear! I'd be afraid that the standards would pick on the bantams.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

fuzzies said:


> Cochins are great, you should definitely get some!
> 
> I have actually hatched some, err, 'satins' but from a silkied Cochin with a Silkie rooster. They're pretty convincingly Silkie-like, and a lot of people think they're just hatchery-quality Silkies. I mostly did it to test out sexlinked skin color on them, but it didn't work because dominant White (from the Silkie) made all of the pullets that inherited it look like cockerels at hatch. 🤦‍♀️
> 
> View attachment 43901


How was the Silkie dom white? I am curious about this since they are recessive and I wondered what happened with developing the paints. Were the now dom and not recessive?

Or were you thinking his dom skin color could be sex linked? The black Silkie color skin will be dominant in peeps no matter who the parent is.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

His dad is a Paint Silkie so he inherited dominant White from him.  He's technically mixed color because his mom was Porcelain, but he looks solid White.

Dark skin is not sexlinked, but Id, inhibitor of dermal melanin, is. That gene is what causes light colored legs like white, pink, or yellow, as opposed to slate or willow legs. Any male chicken with dark legs crossed with any female chicken with light legs makes a skin color sexlink where the female chicks have dark legs and males have light legs. However, dominant White can make the leg color _look _light, especially at hatch, so I hatched a bunch of dominant White pullets that I thought were cockerels until they were a few months old and suddenly had darker legs.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Well, now I know. How old is that boy? Why I'm asking, I wonder if black will pop up when he molts later on.

From that pair you got the light legs?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

He's like 6 or 7 years old now and never developed the black spots. His dad never had very many black spots, either, and actually lost them as he aged. He was a cull from someone else's Paint project that I took in. 

No, the Paint x Porcelain mixed color Silkies all had dark legs. When I crossed a male from that cross to a Cochin hen, that's what produced light skinned males and dark skinned females, plus the dominant White pullets with light skin at hatch that darkened as they grew up.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Well, I'm glad you took him in because now I know the answer about the dom white.

OK, it was basically the second breeding that brought the lighter colored legs out. I never had any of mine cross back out so I didn't know what the result might be. I know that they all had dark skin with that first out breeding.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I've just set 10 silkied Cochin eggs in the incubator for an Easter hatch! Two of those are from Harley, so fingers crossed for a Blue out of one of them at least. I've witnessed Pete breeding his girls successfully, so those should for sure be fertilized. The other 8 are from the pen with Gus and his girls, and I haven't seen Gus breed yet this year, so hopefully those are fertilized as well and I've just not seen it happen. 🙏


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## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

Yay! We'll need pics once they hatch and as they grow! I wish you all the best!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Babies, babies, everywhere. It's Spring for sure.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

SilkieGirl said:


> Yay! We'll need pics once they hatch and as they grow!


Of course! I'm a compulsive baby picture taker 





robin416 said:


> Babies, babies, everywhere. It's Spring for sure.


Sure doesn't feel like it this morning, 17° F! Brr! But it looks like this was just winter's last throes and we're gonna finally warm up again in a few days.


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## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

Oh, yes! 

Dang, that's cold. It's 45 F right now, and that's pretty chilly.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

16 here, I'm done with this nonsense!


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

SilkieGirl said:


> Oh, yes!
> 
> Dang, that's cold. It's 45 F right now, and that's pretty chilly.


That's shorts weather for me!  But I can understand that being chilly for others.





Poultry Judge said:


> 16 here, I'm done with this nonsense!


No joke, the weather has been such a tease these past couple weeks! Warm, then chilly. Sunny, then rainy. Frozen, then muddy. Make up your mind already!  That's the fun of living in the midwest, though, I suppose.


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## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

Shorts?! I was in leggings and a hoodie. 

Yeah, our weather is finicky here, too.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Looks like there's going to be some butt trimmings in my birds' futures. Just one egg developing out of 8 from Gus and his girls. Both eggs from Harley and Pete are developing, though! They're in with some shipped eggs, half of which were clears and only two of which are still going, so it's looking like a pretty dismal hatch so far. 😅 Just too early in the year up here, I guess!


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## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

Oh, no! That's great, though! Yes, the next hatch should be better once it warms up some. Good luck!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I dreaded having to do that. Not enough still failures, too much and the boy thinks the girl has a new defense mechanism.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I'm not sure what happened, but all but one of the silkied Cochin eggs quit in the past couple days. Temp and humidity in the incubator have been fine, they were all drawing down like they were ready to go, and then nothing. Oh, well.

I got one little one who looks to be Black, darn! But she's a cutie at least, even if she isn't the Blue I was hoping for. 

Here she is snuggled up under the heater with the only other chick to hatch, a naked neck bantam. The naked neck eggs mostly died off early, but they were shipped and the person who packed them put them in on their sides, so their air cells were all kinds of messed up.  Anyway, at least I didn't have a lone chick this time around. My Easter hatches tend to go that way and trying to keep a single chick happy is not fun!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Singles are never fun. It's why I was so glad to have girls willing to foster.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Haha, my broodies are never on the same page as me! They'd rather go full out broody in January during some of the coldest weather we get here, when no one is even laying eggs for them to hatch. 

Here's a couple (somewhat) better pictures of our two babies! The naked neck hatched a full 24 hours before the Cochin and has been very needy, but now that the Cochin is getting a bit more active, they've buddied up and settled down. ❤


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Baby NNs look just as strange as adult NNs. 

Is the one full on Cochin or one of the silkied feathered babies?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Aww, I think they're cute little babies! ❤











The little Cochin is pure, but yes, she's silkie-feathered.  She's from Pete's group, the ones in the pictures in post #114.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I know the silkie feathered ones are pure, I just wasn't sure how to ask the question. 

After all these years I still struggle with the look of the NNs. The bowtie Silkies are even odder looking.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

You're fine, I just wanted to be clear about that! A lot of people think they're mixed with Silkies even though that mix wouldn't have silkied feathering in the first generation.

Have you heard of scaleless gene chickens? They are quite a sight to behold.  I, personally, don't have an issue with most breeds and how they look, and I find naked necks rather charming. I think the only chicken breed I would turn away is the Dong Tao. 😬


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Is that what those totally naked birds are? Scaless. 

I'm actually surprised that no one here seems to have the Dong Tao. They would be right up there with the strange and unusual for many.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Yeah, the scaleless gene causes a lack of scales, feathers being modified scales so they, too, are affected. Their legs are also smooth instead of scaly. It's fascinating to me!

I'm not sure that Dong Tao exist outside of Vietnam yet. From what I've heard, they can fetch hundreds or thousands of dollars for a single bird there, and of course importation, at least to the U.S., is expensive and can be complicated. Fine by me, though, they can stay there.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It is fascinating why those things are and how they happen.

Crazy thing about the Dong Tao, until I spotted an old pic on here I'd never seen them before. Now they seem to pop up here and there. You know what that means, someone in some way will get some into the states.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

robin416 said:


> It is fascinating why those things are and how they happen.
> 
> Crazy thing about the Dong Tao, until I spotted an old pic on here I'd never seen them before. Now they seem to pop up here and there. You know what that means, someone in some way will get some into the states.


Yup...


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Seems like they had a sudden spike in interest over the past year or two. I think a couple of those clickbait companies made videos about them (likely full of misinformation, as always) and that's why they've come further into the public eye. I've seen where some have claimed they have them in North America, but refused to provide proof. I don't believe they're here, but it wouldn't surprise me if it eventually happened. From what I've heard, those who have them in Vietnam don't let go of them easily because of how lucrative it is to sell their meat in their country of origin; they do not want to risk adding competition to the market.


Anyway, back to the fuzzies! Here's our little one's first real photo shoot, along with her naked neck buddy. ❤ She had some hatching gunk on her right leg that I didn't notice until after the photo shoot, but she's since been cleaned up.

















That little NN and her facial expressions just slays me


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

They would be one of those things that I'd just stare at. I don't think I'd could ever get past how odd they look.

If only Cochin baby could keep those markings. What an amazing color pattern that would be.

If you were to put a breed on the NN, what would it be? 

Nice pics, btw. I was never successful in getting portraits of mine.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

A lot of people have commented on her face being so pretty. Too bad it doesn't stay!

Just to be clear, do you mean what breed the naked neck is or what breed I'd cross her to should I breed her? I don't think she's any particular mix or anything as she's just from Dunlap's bantam naked necks.

On the pictures, thanks! It takes a lot of patience, and a camera with a nice, high shutter speed.  That Cochin particularly does _not_ want to sit still for pictures.

And speaking of, here are her one-week-old pictures!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I've never paid any attention to NNs. Although there are the bowtie Silkies that are NNs. I just never looked to see what breed the NNs originated from. Whether they needed special breeding considerations.

You are good with the photos. I love the second pic with the Cochin looking like it's asking are we're done yet?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Yeah, I know that there are 'pure' naked necks, standardized in specific varieties as Transylvanian Naked Necks, but I think most hatchery naked necks are just a mish-mash of genetics, kind of like hatchery Easter-eggers. I haven't done much digging into their history, to be honest, I just find them quirky and interesting.  

That was one of the last few pictures I took in that session and she was very much over it at that point. Very perceptive of you to notice!


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

How has it already been two weeks since this little one hatched?


















Here she is with her weird friend, too 😁


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I so wish she could keep that coloring. It's really stunning. 

I notice you keep saying she for the Cochin. But non committal on the NN. What do you know about sexing Cochins that I certainly don't know? Someone was asking for info on sex on another forum. If you have a secret way to tell I'll post the link.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Haha, no, I've been calling the NN 'she' as well! I just haven't posted as much about her here, so it isn't as obvious. No secret sexing method or anything, just all of my chicks are 'shes' until proven otherwise. 

I can try to help, though, if you post the link!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It's one of the sister forums to this group. This person's peeps are only a week old. 

Here you go: Help sexing my chicks pretty please!


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Ohh, that's why I couldn't find it!  

I don't have an account there, so I can't post, but others who have posted there are correct, they are way too young to guess yet. Bantam Cochins tend to mature faster than other breeds and boys pop combs pretty early on, making them pretty easy to be certain of their sexes by 4 weeks old or so, so they'll only have to be patient a little longer.

That last post about forehead shape has me a bit intrigued, though. I've never heard of that and can't say I've seen such a difference in my birds, though I've never actively looked for it, either. 🤔


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That's a site owned by the same folks who own this one. That's why I could get away with posting a link to it. I am a member there but don't post often because there's a bunch of stuff on there that I would rather not talk about. Stuff like politics. 

I know. I'd never heard of that either. I guess it might be something to keep an eye on to see if there's any validity to it.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Checking in with 3-week pictures of our littlest fuzzy. ❤ Looks like I have a few tags to check in on as well, oops! Will have to do that when I'm done here.






































(Don't worry, she didn't fall! We moved away from the edge of the desk after that picture, though.  )


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That last pic is great. Even if peep wasn't trying to fly down. The NN is a little piggy. You can really see that the crop is full. Never noticed that before.

And the feathery feet of the Cochin!!! Awsome.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

It's so fascinating to me how much of the crop can be seen on that little NN baby.  I'm reasonably sure the Cochin's would look the same if she were shaved, but it being covered makes her look like much less of a hog.

She does have great foot feathering so far! We're also past the three-week mark with no comb popping, so maybe she is actually a she after all? 🍀


One little tidbit of news on my end. I know I said I wouldn't order eggs this year because of the AI outbreak, but I had a moment of weakness and, well, I'll have some silkied BBS Cochin eggs heading my way next week. I'm looking at potentially getting some smooths as well of a variety I love and that would be fairly easy to cross into the silkieds, but we'll see on that. I do need to make sure I actually have room for the extra birds before I get them, I suppose.  I'm hoping to sell off my three English Orpington boys that I hatched last year, and that would open up an entire coop and run for them, so that would be ideal. 🙏


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

OK, not going to smack your for getting the eggs. No way should you turn down the chance to add to your silkied Cochin flock. New genetics can be a good thing in the long run.

I've felt them when they're huge but to actually see one absolutely packed full is enlightening in how much it can hold. 

No comb so far. That's a plus. Isn't it true Cochins can be slower than some birds to show their true sex?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Yes! Also these eggs have a high probability of hatching Blues, and I need me some more Blues!! 💙

It's really going to be interesting how much is visible once the little NN is fully grown and eating like an adult chicken! 😲

Large fowl Cochins are slow to mature in my experience, but bantam males tend to make themselves known pretty early on. This was Diesel at 3 weeks old, for example:










Gosh, looking at this picture makes me feel at least a little more confident that the current little one is a pullet! Had she hatched Blue, I'd have been angling for a cockerel, but since she's Black, and I really don't have a pressing need for another Black male yet, a pullet would be my preference. 🙏


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That is a bunch of comb for so young. I had Cochins for a short while but they were older than three weeks so I didn't have to worry about whether they were a pair or not.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

That's pretty typical of them based on all the bantam Cochins I've raised. The silkied Red cockerels would even crow around 4-10 days old--yes, I meant days!

It's a tough call choosing how to add birds to the flock. It's nice knowing for sure that you have x females and y males with started birds, but availability of the breeds I'm into is hit or miss within a reasonable distance of me and shipping is insane for them, plus you have to worry about quarantining and hoping they didn't bring any diseases or parasites onto your property. There are relatively few things that transmit through eggs so they are safer in that respect and much easier to ship, but of course shipping beats the tar out of them so you only end up with part of them hatching, sometimes none of them at all, and the ones that hatch could all end up being males (as was the case with my Orpingtons last year  ). It's a gamble either way.

Regardless, here's hoping I at least get enough chicks of the right sexes to build up my flocks and get them going for real! Then, next year I won't have to rely on other farms to build up stock.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I don't know why I didn't continue on with raising them. It's been so long. No wait. I do know. Both died by the time they were a year old. I decided that I didn't need to mess around with something that delicate. Even though that's not true. 

I know, it's a real gamble getting eggs. I did get a couple with ruptured air cells to hatch. I always set them. Most failed but I did get two over time. 

A friend bought a Silkie rooster and had it shipped to her from the NE. Somewhere along the line he contracted ILT. Maybe. I still haven't bought that that's what happened. That's what the state told her. He was quarantined without any signs of illness. I still believe it came from the commercial poultry houses that were inoculating eggs with an ILT vaccine that made most of the chicks that hatched positive. Then it got out into backyard flocks. 

Is it easy to rehome those that don't work out for you?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Yeah, I've never had luck with the ones with fully ruptured air cells. I've hatched jiggly and saddled air cells, but I've noticed that if the part that jiggles gets near the embryo too much, it tends not to survive. Not sure of the mechanics or anything, just an observation. If I get too many jigglies this time, I might try rolling instead of flipping the eggs to turn them and see if that improves their odds. I've really only done the end-to-end flipping because of how the rails are in my one incubator, but it wouldn't be too hard to set them up to roll instead.

That's scary on the ILT! I was pretty reckless bringing chickens into my flock when I was a teen, so I'm surprised I never had more difficulty with diseases like that. At one point, I thought I was doing the right thing by 'quarantining' new birds in a cage within the chicken yard. 😬 Thank goodness I got away with that unscathed and learned better!

On rehoming, it really depends on the breed and the price I set them at. My Old English seem to sell well around here--of course, those are the ones that I can't really breed at the moment because of losses. I've not really gotten any strong bites on the Orpingtons, but I set their price a bit high with the hopes that they wouldn't go to someone's freezer. Might have to drop that price anyway to get them out of here.  I've never actually had to rehome any of my silkied Cochins, though, because I've had good male-to-female ratios with their hatches so far. Here's hoping that trend continues! If not, it seems like a lot of bantam Cochins are listed and moved fast on sales sites around here, so hopefully that means I can rehome them fairly easily.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Very few of them do hatch. It kind of tells you how many shipped eggs I used to get. 

I've never understood why AL told my friend her new rooster was the source. It made no sense. TN was more open about what the source of the infection was is the only thing I can think of. 

That's the positive raising popular breeds. It's easy to rehome when/if it becomes necessary. I'm surprised you don't have any takers on the Orps, even if they are roos. English Orps are what it seems people are looking for.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

One four week old fuzzy today ❤



























She ruined her close up by 'blinking,' but here's a nice shot of the nictitating membrane anyway 










And some shots outside. I held her up for her parents and aunties to meet while we were out, too, but they weren't impressed.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I was being so amazed at the foot feathers. Then I see that first pic of the two of them. It's about the most adorable thing I've seen in a while. If only they could remain that sweet looking. 

They're a team, it's going to hard separating them.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

They are precious, aren't they? ❤ Thus far (touch wood) they're looking like they're both pullets, so as long as it stays that way I don't necessarily need to separate them. At least, based on the eggs they hatched from, I feel like their eggs should be distinct enough that there's relatively little risk of me accidentally hatching any naked neck Cochins.  But, of course, if that little naked neck ends up being a cockerel, I certainly wouldn't be able to keep the two of them together without a high risk of mixed breeds occurring.



My eggs ship out today! Here's hoping they have a gentle trip here! 🙏


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Fingers crossed they get to remain sis's from different mothers. 

Are you able to spend a lot of time with them? I just can't see peeps being that good about pics if they aren't used to being handled quite a bit. 

And here we go. Another waiting period to see what hatches. These are all silkie feathered?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I spend a fair bit of time with them. I try to sit with them for at least a few minutes every day. I've found the silkied Cochins of this line to be really tame regardless of how much time I have to spend with them growing up, but of course I love sitting with a lap full of cuddly babies either way, so it's a win-win in my book. 🥰

I ordered one dozen silkied BBS Cochin bantam eggs and one dozen smooth Chocolate / Chocolate Cuckoo Cochin bantam eggs. The Chocolates are just for the fun of it, but I do want to try to cross the color into the silkieds at some point as well, especially if I get a good looking male Chocolate out of them as that would make crossing them in easiest. ❤ But, of course, I don't want to get too far ahead of myself until I have a solid rotational breeding program set up and running for the silkieds!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Chocolate? There's a chocolate Cochin? When did those come about?

It really helps when they like people. That little NN makes me think it likes you just fine since it is so good about you taking pics of it.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

The person I'm getting them from says they developed them from crossing Chocolate Orpington bantams into Cochin bantams, and then breeding for proper foot feathering over the past few years. I did notice light skin on a couple of their pictures of the Cochins, but I'm not worried because that should be fairly easy to breed out since it's dominant over yellow skin. As long as I only breed from the ones with yellow skin, they won't produce light skinned offspring, in other words.

The little naked neck is a kinda sketchy at times, but she's also usually the first to hop into my lap or onto my arm when I sit with them, so I guess she likes me well enough.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Do you have any idea how long it took to get the Cochin characteristics to stick? Thinking of what the two breeds are like it had to be easier than developing paints in Silkies. 

Sure sounds like she's happy with you. It's got to feel good to have her join you physically and not standing back and waiting for you to do something she doesn't like.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

I have the same questions as Robin, what is her motivation for this particular breeding experiment?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

The only thing they said on the length of time developing them was the 'few years' comment. I imagine that you're right, it wouldn't have been overly hard considering how similar the breeds are other than feathered feet. Size might be an issue, as bantam Orpingtons are a bit bigger than bantam Cochins, generally. I don't know what the motivation was for the project, but as a fan of Chocolate plumage, I'm pretty happy that they decided to cross them! 😍


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Well, I'm looking forward to seeing them. I'm really pulling for a great hatch now. 

I just happened to think about this, have you bred smooth and silkied together yet?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I haven't yet, but their silkied gene appears to be at the same locus and behave the same way as a Silkie's silkied gene, so I can predict how it would be inherited and plan future generations from that at least.



The eggs are here already, and of course I don't have the incubator up and running yet!  They weren't supposed to arrive until tomorrow at the earliest! On the plus side, I would have let them rest for a while anyway, so no big deal that I can't immediately throw them in. I think I will set them in the morning after confirming that my incubator is holding temperature and stable.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Since I can't do genetics speak, I can understand it. Kind of. Whenever I had crosses I ended up with soft feathered birds like Cochins but never Silkie feathered. I'm running myself around in circles thinking about this. One hand I can see why they might turn out Silkied since they're not Silkies. But I'm leaning more to the soft feathers of Cochins.

I'll be looking forward to the first candling. Fingers crossed you see lots of development.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

The silkied gene (in both Cochins and Silkies) is recessive, so your first cross to a smooth feathered bird will result in all smooth feathered offspring, but all carrying one copy of the silkied gene. Crossing those back to silkied birds gives you half silkied and half smooth. Crossing to another bird carrying one copy of silkied gives you 1/4 silkied, 1/2 smooth carriers of silkied, and 1/4 smooth without the gene. So yeah, first generation cross of a silkied to a smooth-feathered Cochin will only make more smooths, but getting silkied feathering to come back out is easy on the next generation cross if you choose the right birds to cross. 



I've candled and marked air cells in the shipped eggs. The 14 Chocolate and Chocolate Cuckoo eggs are looking kind of rough, but no completely ruptured air cells at least, just some badly saddled and the rest jiggly.

The silkied Cochin eggs are a different story, though! I ordered 12 eggs and got 15, and of those only 6 or 7 are jiggly and the rest have completely undamaged air cells! If I didn't know any better, I'd think they came from my own birds and hadn't just been shipped from several states away! Beyond impressed! Now, if fertility is as good as the last time I ordered eggs from them, I'll be singing praises for Gopher Hill Farms to anyone who'll hear it!

I'll be setting them all (plus a few from Gus's pen to see if he's finally hitting the mark) here in the next few hours. I underestimated how many extra eggs I'd get with these orders, so I had to really quickly clean my other incubator for more space and it's warming up now. I plan to put the stable eggs in this incubator, as it's an Octagon that you can turn the whole unit to turn the eggs, and I can turn them without having to worry about damaged air cells in it that way. The other is an Ovation that has more floor space so I can put cartons in there to hold the jiggly eggs and turn them gently by hand.

This first week with shipped eggs always makes me super anxious until I see some good development. 🙏 Here's hoping for lots of strong embryos!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

OK, that makes total sense to me on which generation the Silkied feathering shows up. Obviously I never bothered to breed my crosses back to my Silkies or I would have seen that for myself. 

Not too bad for shipped eggs. The fact they came in early fixed it so they were in your hands quicker and not in the hands of others that would bounce the box on the floor a few times. 

I'm waiting on the chocolates. Well, maybe the cuckoos too. Didn't know there were cuckoos in Cochins either but it was never my favorite variety in any of the birds.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

And, we're set! Here's hoping for plenty of babies in 3 weeks!


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

robin416 said:


> I'm waiting on the chocolates. Well, maybe the cuckoos too. Didn't know there were cuckoos in Cochins either but it was never my favorite variety in any of the birds.


Agree, if I'm being honest, and on a silkied bird it's definitely not my favorite. They were a package deal with the Chocolates, though. 🤷‍♀️ Shouldn't be hard to breed away from in the future if I decide I just don't like the look!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Three weeks sounds so far away. Then I realized that's 21 days. But 21 days doesn't sound as long as three weeks. 

Then there's that whole thing of having to wait to see how they fill out.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Three weeks or 21 days, either one is an eternity when you're waiting on eggs to hatch.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It all boils down to, now we wait. And wait some more even after they all hatch.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Oh, boy, I took a peek with my flashlight last night and already saw lots of development even without a full candling! 😁 The eggs from Gus's pen are developing, too, which is a relief! I was starting to think he may have some fertility issue or something!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That's is wonderful news. I just saw you mention the Siilkied Cochins on the other thread and decided to see if you had an update. Glad I waited. 

I almost think I'm looking forward to this hatch as much as you are.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Here's the tally as of last night's day 7 candling:
4 with no development (3 silkied Cochins and 1 Chocolate Cochin)
5 blood rings (2 silkied Cochins and 3 Chocolate Cochins)
5 look kinda iffy (1 silkied Cochin and 4 Chocolate Cochins)
15 going strong! (9 silkied Cochins and 6 Chocolate Cochins)

The two from Gus's pen that were set at around the same time are also going strong! I didn't see anything in the other three from his pen, but they were set a couple days later, so maybe they just need a bit more time? 🍀 


Also, I totally forgot to take the 5-week update pictures of our current little one last weekend, oops! She is 6 weeks old tomorrow and it's supposed to be nice out, so I'll get some pictures of her then!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That's a heck of a lot of blood rings. I never had more than one, even with shipped eggs. I wonder what is up with that. 

I'm reading all the ones you had to pull and I'm getting more and more dejected. Then I see how many you still have going well or really well. I guess it didn't register that you had that many coming in.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

It's not too bad! Considering it was two different batches shipped, it would only have been 2 or 3 blood rings if I had ordered them individually. Usually I have a lot more blood rings with jiggly air cells, but I've been rolling them instead of tilting them to turn them as I usually would and I think it's helping!

Yeah, I've got a few eggs going at the moment. 😅 Reading through the numbers after I tallied them was a bit disheartening, but then seeing the total and the number still going reminds me that we're still in good shape. 😁 I think this is the largest batch of eggs I've ever set at the same time. Won't be the largest brooder batch I've ever had even if the rest of the eggs make it, but it'll come close at least!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I was going to ask if it was the ones with the questionable air cells. You beat me to it by updating the ones that failed.

What day are we on now? I want to see those chocolate babies.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Haha, just day 9 yet. Almost to the half way point, though! I'm excited to see them as well! 😁


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I know you are. Probably doing a bit of hovering already. It's what we do.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Haha, yes! If I look away from the incubator now, I might miss one of them hatching!!  But seriously, I've definitely done some hovering, and every time I hear a bird tweet outside the window while I'm in the room with the incubators, I have a notion to get excited even though I know it's way too soon for them to start peeping in there. 😅

Anyway, here's our baby girl today at 6 weeks old! ❤ Only a couple pictures because it was hard to get down in that pen to get them. I've still got to decide on a name for her and her weirdo naked neck sister. 


















And some pictures of the older birds, too! Someone asked me how big Cochin bantam roosters are in general, so I had Pete pose next to a regularly-sized soda can as a comparison. He was not pleased by the idea. 










Harley, one of the Blue girls. She and Pete are our baby girl's parents. ❤










Washburne, my other Blue girl ❤










Juniper, a Black hen ❤










Coco and Juni on a log, with Bella peeking in at the corner ❤ That's all three Black hens in this pen!










And lastly, some fluffy butts!  You can kind of see the difference between Blue and Black here. That's Wash's big butt on the left, and Juni again on the right.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

LOL Those are some attention getting behinds. It's all that fuzz. 

OK, since Mom and Pop are solid colors that means the little girl is going to molt out her lighter colors on the face. Correct? 

I'm liking the Silkied birds more and more everytime I see them. I find it hard to believe that they are going to remain obscure. They're gorgeous. 

Well, you could do like me. Write down the wrong hatch date. Be on your computer with the incubator on a table behind and start hearing cheaping and find a chick perched on the turner.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Yes, the little one is Black, so she'll lose all her pretty face markings and be solid black like her dad. I don't have any that have patterns, just solid colors at the moment, but I do know of a farm working on Mottled and they're looking beautiful thus far! 

I'm hoping I can help to pull them out of obscurity! I post about them a lot and share pictures where possible. There was a little bit of a stigma against them on one site I'm part of and that seems to have mostly turned around in the past few years since I got my Blacks and started posting about them more! 😁

Oh my goodness, that would be quite the surprise! I got a similar surprise with my first Old English Game bantam hatch because those tiny eggs tend to hatch a couple days early. 🤭 Surprise, babies on day 19 instead of day 21!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Mottled? I love the looks of a good mottled bird. I had mottled d'Uccles. Stunning little critters. 

I think everyone of us has a tale to tell when it comes to artificial incubation. Like the person who tossed unhatched eggs just to later hear cheeping from his trash can. Goes to show being in too much of a hurry can have consequences.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Oh no, trash can babies?!  I'd never be able to forgive myself! I already leave blood rings and clear eggs in way longer than is reasonable, though, so I guess I don't have to worry about that!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I've done the clear eggs for too long but never the blood rings. I'd hate to see the mess one of those would make. Or the stink.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I've never had an issue leaving them in a bit longer to be sure, knock on wood! 🍀 I'm just never confident enough to say they're definitely dead--I don't want to end up with trash can babies!  I pulled all the clears and early embryo deaths a few days ago, though, so no risk of incubator explosions anymore.


Last night was the day 14 candling and we're still looking good!
Of the iffy eggs from last time, most are looking fine! I did lose one of the iffy Chocolates, but the rest are still alive and well!
Of the eggs that were going strong last time, one more Chocolate also quit, darn!
Of the eggs from Gus's pen, the two that had developed are good still, but the other three were clears. Not sure what to make of that. 
So, my current tally still developing in the incubators is 10 silkied BBS Cochin bantams, 7 smooth Chocolate / Chocolate Cuckoo Cochin bantams, and 2 silkied Black Cochin bantams from my own birds, for a total of 19 eggs!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Not bad for shipped eggs. You know I'm waiting on those chocolates. I really want them to do well. The cuckoo? Not so much.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I did want just Chocolates, but when I contacted the seller they said their pure Chocolate pen wasn't laying well due to many of the hens going broody. Typical Cochin bantams!  Most of these eggs should hatch Chocolate from what they told me, they just also have the chance of being Chocolate Cuckoo as well.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

You did mention that early on. 

Cochins, Silkies. Both are like rabbits when it comes to reproducing.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

They sure are! Two of my silkied Reds are in the broody buster now, Donna and Rowena. Those two went broody last summer and were in the buster for literal months before finally breaking. 😩 If I had the space in the coop to divide off for a broody pen, I'd consider letting them raise some of the babies in the incubator now...


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Hmm, do they really need to be separated from the others to raise the peeps?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Those two are in my main flock, so yeah. I have a lot of different breeds in there, bantam and large fowl, not just silkied Cochins. Some of them I'd trust around babies, but definitely not all of them. 😅


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Whoops, not sure why it double posted!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

There seemed to be a gremlin earlier. Very slow loading comments. I'm guessing they fixed it.

I'm so used to having Silkies that I forget or maybe more don't realize that some flocks just are not laid back enough to put peeps with them


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Nope, gremlin is still there. Took a long time for my reply to load.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

We are locked down for hatch! The 19 eggs from the last candling are all still going! I put the silkied BBS eggs in one incubator, and the Chocolates and the eggs from Gus's pen in the other incubator. There's only a slight chance for Blacks out of the BBS eggs, but I want to make _sure _I know which are from Gus's girls, so better safe than sorry! I saw some draw down happening already in some of the Chocolates, so looks like they're eager to join us! 😁 I'll keep y'all posted!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Here we go!!! You know I'll be watching closely to see what happens.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

We have one pipped BBS and two pipped Chocolates this morning!!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Son of a gun. It seems too soon but it also feels like it so long to start happening. 

I know you're hovering now.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

That's for sure!!  I'm trying to keep busy with other stuff, but I just have to keep peeking! We're up to 3 pips on the Chocolates and 5 pips on the BBS eggs now! EDIT: Make that 6 BBS eggs pipped!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Darn, they're in a hurry. I don't think I ever had that many pips at one time in such short order.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I had a long night and not much sleep, but we're sitting at 8 babies as of right now! 5 Blues and 2 that are either dark Blue or Black from the BBS eggs, plus one little Chocolate!  They're resting under the heat plate, so no pictures just yet.

The remaining 3 BBS eggs, plus one Chocolate egg and both of the eggs from Gus's girls are all externally pipped, and I see movement in the air cells of two of the remaining Chocolate eggs. I think the other three Chocolate eggs have quit on us, though, so here's hoping these last three with movement will hatch. 🙏


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I was going to hunt you down if I hadn't found an update by now. 

Please hatch babies. And I know you won't give up on the 3 chocolates quite this fast.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

@fuzzies, new things must have happened by now. What's up?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Haha, yup, I'm checking in with a report! We are sitting at 15 babies with number 16 hatching as I type this! 😁 I do think the last three eggs are goners, but I'll check them later once the 16th baby is out and make sure.

I haven't taken stock of how many are Blue and how many are Black out of the silkieds, but there are 12 of those babies, plus three Chocolates, and the last one working on hatching should be a Chocolate Cuckoo. Once they're all out, dried, and in the brooder, I'll do a mass photo shoot and show them off. They are too precious!!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Not shabby for all those shipped eggs. All of Gus' hatched too, right? 

As much as I want to see the chocolates I'm really curious about the cuckoo too. I didn't like them in Silkies but it might be a completely different look with the Cochins. 

Like you, I'm still holding on to the hope at least one of the other three come through.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Two of the five from Gus's pen hatched. The other three were clears, and I collected them _after _the ones that hatched oddly enough. I suspect that he stops breeding when it gets chilly, as early spring eggs from that pen are also always clears and the eggs that were clear were collected after a cold spell here. Unfortunate, but he finally has some offspring at least!

I tend to agree that cuckoo patterning doesn't look great on silkied feathering in my opinion, although I don't mind it on smooth feathering. I'm not super fond of _chocolate _cuckoo, though, because the cuckoo patterning tends to make the chocolate color really pale, so we'll see on that little one. I'll keep her around in my main flock if she's a pullet, but I probably won't if she turns out to be a cockerel. 😅

She has hatched finally, bringing us up to 16! I candled the last three eggs again and, seeing no movement, went ahead and opened the air cells up. All gone. It looks like they retained too much fluid in their eggs and drowned, sadly. I think I missed this because they had badly jiggly air cells so they sort of 'sloshed' as I was marking them and they must have actually had smaller air cells than they looked from that. Two of the four that did hatch were pretty goopy, too, so I guess I'm lucky they pulled through!

Pictures coming later once the last little one is dried off! ❤


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Not your fault. It was a long shot that they would hatch. The fact they got as far as they did is surprising. 

You know I'll be looking forward to the new peeps.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Here are some group pictures of them! First, all 16! This was absolute madness!  












My tally for colors is 6 for sure silkied Blues:











4 for sure silkied Blacks and one that I'm not sure if it's a really dark Blue or a Black as well. The one I'm not sure of is front and center here:











Three smooth Chocolates and one Chocolate Cuckoo (the one all the way to the right). Not sure how I feel about them thus far; they are beautiful babies, but I don't like how sparse those leg feathers are on some of them, and at least one of them appears to have white legs as I wondered if they would with Orpington in their background. I can work with this, though!











The last of the 16 babies is this little one. I know for sure that only four Chocolate eggs hatched, that the two out of Gus's pen were solid Black because I leg banded them as they hatched, and that all ten of the silkied BBS eggs that made it to lockdown hatched, and I only have 11 Blue and Black chicks (9 from the BBS eggs and two from Gus's pen), so this little one _had _to have come with the silkied BBS eggs. I recall her mentioning on her farm page that she was working on a project that involved crossing Reds and Blacks together, so I wonder if maybe she accidentally sent me an egg from that pen.  That does mean that this little one may not be silkied, and even if it is, will not be useful for my breeding pens. Like the cuckoo, though, I have no problem keeping her in my mixed flock as long as she's a pullet. 🤷‍♀️











I'll work on getting more individual pictures of them this weekend!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Look at the foot feathers on the mystery chick. Way better than the Chocolates. I'm looking forward to see how this peep feathers out, The red head is interesting.

Right now I like the color of the cuckoo better than the chocolates. Now I'm going to want them to hurry up and get their big bird feathers so we'll see their final colors. 

Will that light blue on the far left keep that light blue coloring? That's one of my favorite varieties. You rarely see the same blue in Silkies since they got so mixed up with blacks. 

How can you fix the foot feathering on the chocolates? Is there a variety you can cross them with to improve them or is that going to be it with them?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I'm hoping the light Blue stays light! One thing I want to work on with them is lightening the Blues. I think it's an issue with silkied feathering in general where darker Blues just look like they're Black. My two Blue hens are so dark it's hard to tell them from the Black hens in the same pen sometimes. That's one reason why I was excited to put Diesel over them, because he was a lighter Blue who was very obviously blue at a glance and hopefully would make more like him, but sadly he passed on before I could do that.  If this little one is a super light Blue, though, then I'll at least have a lighter one to work from again! 🙏

Foot feathering is caused by several genes, mostly dominant but some recessive as well, that cause feathering on different parts of the legs. The Chocolates do have at least some of those genes, and hopefully they are still carrying at least some of the recessive genes as well so crossing them to any of my other Cochins will bring those back out. One of the Chocolates has pretty good foot feathering as is, so if he's a cockerel and turns out to be pretty nice looking as Cochins go, I'll put him over some silkied Black hens and go from there!

I did take pictures of all them individually today! That was... not easy.  Since there are so many of them, I just put them in a collage so as not to bog the page down with that many pictures. Here they are! I tried to put them in hatch order within their respective colors as best as I could remember it, but many of them hatched when I wasn't in the room, so... close enough, I guess! The ones marked 'G1' and 'G2' are the Gus babies. Also, I do think that the one I wasn't sure about (not the mixed color baby, but the one I wasn't sure whether it was Blue or Black) is a Black at this point, but I guess we'll see as she feathers! I have her listed as Black Baby 3 here.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I wish Maisey would get out of my lap so I could look really closely at the pics. sigh. Until I can get rid of her and do some real looking I do have a question.

In Silkies, you can put a white bird with a questionable black/blue. If the peeps all hatch black, then the questioned bird is black. But white in silkies is recessive and I don't know if that trick can work with Cochins.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Maisey is out of my lap. It's hard for my compromised eyes to see a lot of detail although I did pick up on a bit more foot feathering. 

It looks like you've got to fairly light blues. Or did you already say that? 

And so far, the cuckoo is still my favorite of the chocolates. And the detail of the red head is lost in that small pic but I got to see it and hope it stays there.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

fuzzies said:


> I'm hoping the light Blue stays light! One thing I want to work on with them is lightening the Blues. I think it's an issue with silkied feathering in general where darker Blues just look like they're Black. My two Blue hens are so dark it's hard to tell them from the Black hens in the same pen sometimes. That's one reason why I was excited to put Diesel over them, because he was a lighter Blue who was very obviously blue at a glance and hopefully would make more like him, but sadly he passed on before I could do that.  If this little one is a super light Blue, though, then I'll at least have a lighter one to work from again! 🙏
> 
> Foot feathering is caused by several genes, mostly dominant but some recessive as well, that cause feathering on different parts of the legs. The Chocolates do have at least some of those genes, and hopefully they are still carrying at least some of the recessive genes as well so crossing them to any of my other Cochins will bring those back out. One of the Chocolates has pretty good foot feathering as is, so if he's a cockerel and turns out to be pretty nice looking as Cochins go, I'll put him over some silkied Black hens and go from there!
> 
> ...


Great pictures!


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

robin416 said:


> In Silkies, you can put a white bird with a questionable black/blue. If the peeps all hatch black, then the questioned bird is black. But white in silkies is recessive and I don't know if that trick can work with Cochins.


White in Cochins is recessive as well, but the only White bird I have is Dandy, and with all her prolapse troubles I'm hesitant to breed her. However, I also know for sure which of my adults are Black and which are Blue, so I can always breed her to a Black and get the same result. I do think she's Black, though, as she just seems _too _dark to be dark Blue.




robin416 said:


> Maisey is out of my lap. It's hard for my compromised eyes to see a lot of detail although I did pick up on a bit more foot feathering.
> 
> It looks like you've got to fairly light blues. Or did you already say that?
> 
> And so far, the cuckoo is still my favorite of the chocolates. And the detail of the red head is lost in that small pic but I got to see it and hope it stays there.


You can click and drag the picture to your URL bar to look at it bigger, or right click it and open in a new tab. On mobile, hold your finger on the picture until the menu pops up and then tap open in new tab. That lets you zoom in a bit and look closer, since it had to shrink them down to fit in the post. 

Yes, I got two Blues that look pretty light. Number 4 is the super light one from all the way to the left in that picture with all the Blues. 2 has a darker back (she's actually the one right next to the lightest Blue in the Blues picture), but is still lighter overall than the rest of the Blues. Here's hoping they both stay light!

I do like the color on the Chocolate Cuckoo baby now, if only she would stay that color. The picture of the mixed color baby is actually the same one that I posted before. I cheated a bit on that and reused it because it was a struggle to get the rest of them to cooperate. 




Poultry Judge said:


> Great pictures!


Thank you!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That did help. I never even gave that a thought. With the pic being smaller it's hard to see the red on the head of the mixed color peep. I would like to see it keep that color combo as it matures. Of course it's your baby and you might have other ideas. 

Of course I'm seeing the tones on a computer screen so I could be way off on how interesting the cuckoo is if I saw it in person.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I get the feeling that little one will end up black with red leakage, so sparse red feathering in a few spots on an otherwise solid black bird. We'll see! Like I said, I'll keep her in my mixed flock if she's a pullet, but I really don't have the space to keep a mixed-color cockerel that I have no real purpose for, unfortunately.

In person, the cuckoo is the same sort of solid chocolate-brown as the others, but a few shades lighter, plus her head spot of course. Not sure if that's what you're seeing or not. It is a pleasant shade of brown, though!



A quick check in today with our little lady from Easter, who's about 8 weeks old now! ❤ I still need to decide on names for her and her naked neck buddy. She's living outside now, so don't mind the less pretty backdrop than usual. 😅
























And just for fun, here's the naked neck, too, my little weirdo


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I'm seeing the lighter color of the cuckoo. They're all going to have to get bigger to really appreciate their looks. 

Easter, Esther. But she's stunning at such a young age. She's going to be amazing as she gets older. 

That poor NN is so ugly it's cute. It's actually quite adorable in these pics.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Sorry for not checking in for a few days! We had strong storms late Monday night that led to a 34-hour-long power outage, and things got a bit crazy! As long as I've had chickens, I'd never had a power outage last that long with heat-dependent chicks still in the brooder. Thankfully, our gas stove still works without electricity, so I was able to warm up water bottles to keep the babies cozy and everyone pulled through just fine. ❤ 

They're about a week old today, give or take a day, so we'll see if I have the patience to pull off another set of individual shots of them a little later.  At the very least, I'll get more group shots if I can!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Don't be sorry, it's that time of year when everyone is busy or exhausted. And you've got several full plates with the newest additions. 

That must be the same storms that hit us but we didn't lose power. Did you get the storms we had from last night yet? 

Smart thinking on the warm water bottles but that had to keep you pretty busy just keeping warm bottles in there for the peeps.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Yeah, June is generally my busiest month, between babies, usually older chicks as well (in this case, just the two, so not that big of a deal), and everything else I have going on. It's a lot! I'm actually only here to post real quick and head to bed for another long day tomorrow.

I don't know if they're the same storms! We're in northern Indiana here, the storms swept in from the Chicago area and through to north / centralish Ohio. I'm not sure how far they went into Ohio, though, because the power was gone by then. We only got a bit of rain first thing this morning, no actual storms since Monday.

The water bottles lasted roughly 2-3 hours, so it wasn't too bad. Mostly, I just listened for them to start being more vocal than usual and then warmed up the next ones to switch out.  It worked out really well!


Here are our babies today! We'll just call them all close enough to one week old for the purposes of the pictures. I did collages again, but this time in groups so it wouldn't shrink them down as much. You can always open them in a new tab to view closer still, though! I'm still not 100% convinced that Black baby 3 is Black, although her little wing feathers are quite dark so far... Also, interestingly enough, the mixed color baby _appears _to be feathering in silkied so far! She still won't be any good for breeding, but I wasn't sure whether to expect silkied or smooth from her!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

And I thank you for the updated pics. I know it's got to take time you don't have.

I can see why black baby 3 has you guessing. Although the wings don't look dark to me on this side of the screen.

Looking at Gus's peeps, it's surprising to see so much color on black babies. And the different color of the beaks. 

And the blues. I'm in love. OK, baby 4 has top spot. But then there's baby 2 and baby 5. Might as well just choose all of them as my favorites. 

Now chocolate baby one is my favorite. The cuckoo has fallen to it's OK but look at it's head dressing. Is that for real or an illusion?

Going to have to wait to see what the MC baby does variety wise.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

No worries, I set aside the time to do that on the 16th so it didn't take any time I didn't have available.  I'm free all day today, too, so I have a lot of places online to check in and let everyone know I'm still alive. 

Yeah, in person Black baby 3 has what definitely look like black feathers coming in on those little wings, so I do think she's Black after all. I held her up in sunlight to be sure, no bluish-ness at all.

Gus's babies have me thinking maybe they both had the same mother. Zinnia had a lot of white on her as a baby, where Gus and Myrtle, the other hen in that pen, didn't have as much. That would also explain why three of the eggs didn't develop at all, if all three of those were Myrtle's eggs and she's not letting Gus breed her for some reason. Myrtle definitely has more junk in the trunk, so maybe it's just that I need to do a more thorough trimming on her than on the other two to be sure they can actually breed.

Anyway, this is the parent group of the two Gus babies as babies, themselves, for the comparison. Zinnia is the little one with the red leg band, all the way to the right. Gus had the green leg band, the baby in the middle of the three Black babies. Myrtle is the Black baby in the background at the middle, and of course our Dandelion is all the way on the left. ❤ Dandelion is the only one of these birds I know for sure was not a parent because she's no longer in that coop.










Here's baby Zinnia on her own. She was even lighter than the current babies!










And, Zinnia now! 











I have such high hopes for Blue baby 4 being a light Blue. Thus far, she's feathering in pretty light! Male or female, that little one is a keeper for sure! Other than 4, I'm partial to Blue numbers 2 and 6, personally. I love 2's marbled face, and 6's little goggles.  I also love that a lot of the Black babies have distinct white eyebrows over their eyes. They're all such sweet little babies, though, as always! ❤

Chocolate 1 has the best leg feathering of the group, although looks to have light skin like an Orpington instead of yellow skin like a proper Cochin. The Cuckoo baby has a lighter cast over the back of her head from the cuckoo head spot, is that what you're seeing?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Zinnia was absolutely over the moon adorable. I can see why you'd be happy to see her peeps now that she's an adult. 

I'm glad the baby pics are still on the page. I can scroll back and look at what you're seeing. OK, you love the mottling and the bandit eyes but they won't keep them. Sadly 

When you have time running it by me why blues 2 and 6? I think I see why with conformation but that's in a pic. I could be way off base in person. 

In the pic the cuckoo looks like it has all this peep fuzz only on the back of it's head. Sort of like those bald guys that only lose their hair on top.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Oh, my preferences at the moment are based almost entirely on chick down despite that it won't stay  Blue baby 2 is feathering in pretty light thus far, so that's an added point in her favor. Number 6 is just the cutest little tiny baby and her face markings are adorable to me, so that's why I like her a lot. I won't pick based on conformation until they're much older. By then, I'm sure my preferences will have shifted anyway based on other factors like how they're feathering in and how their personalities have developed.  

Zinnia is a favorite, so yeah, I'd be thrilled if they were her babies! I love Myrtle a lot, too, and she does have better conformation overall, but Zinni's such a sweetheart and I'm sure her babies will be the same way. ❤

That's funny on the Cuckoo baby!  I think I see what you're saying! That's the head spot that signifies future barring that you're seeing giving that baby that effect.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It's hard isn't it? Especially if they turn out as special as they were as chicks. 

How long has you been raising the Cochins? I don't think we ever talked about that.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Cochins in general, I think I got my first one in 2013? But that was just one cockerel and he died before he even turned a year old because I forgot to close his coop one night.  The next ones I got were large fowl in 2016, and that's also the year I got my first set of silkied bantams later in the fall from someone who was selling out of them entirely.

As far as how long I've been breeding them, that's far more recent, technically this year as last year I didn't have any hatch from Gus's group despite trying. So I'm relatively new to the aspect of selecting for the standard for them, but have had Cochins just for fun in my mixed flock for a very long time now.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

The breeding part is work. It's good you've also got those that are just part of the flock. I think that's the only reason I stayed with the Silkies as long as I did. Those pets. 

Did you keep the large fowl or did you realize you didn't care for them? One person I knew that raised them was absolutely over the moon about them. I kept thinking I needed some but never got around to getting any.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Oh, I still have them! They're just hatchery birds, a Blue and a Splash, but they are gloriously fluffy, calm, docile birds. When I got them, I was much younger and never would have thought back then that I'd reach the point of actively breeding chickens one day, honestly. They were purchased as pets and remain as such.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I wonder how many started that way. I got three silkies as pets. Next thing I knew I was buying hatching eggs from known breeders.

Those first birds are the special ones. And you've still got yours after a decent amount of years.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I suppose one would almost have to start with chickens in some capacity before deciding to breed them.  That doesn't seem like something you'd just jump into without some experience with the birds beforehand.

Yeah, my mixed flock has a lot of old, old birds in it. My oldest is 12 years old, an Easter-egger from Tractor Supply Co. Then I have eight or so random breeds ranging between 9 to 11 years of age after her, and around ten birds at 6 years old including the two LF Cochins. Anyone who ends up in that flock (and doesn't cause problems) stays here until they pass on naturally.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That's what you'd think. It would make perfect sense. But there's those out there seeing highly bred birds selling for large amounts of money and they jump in thinking they're going to make tons of money. 

That is not shabby at all to have that many senior birds in your flock. Not shabby at all. It makes me wonder, if I had stayed in longer would I still have them hanging out with me like that. I only kept the few birds that were important to me so there weren't that many to hang out for so long.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Phew, sorry, such a busy week! Next week will be packed, too!

I did take a moment on Wednesday to take pictures of the babies at 2 weeks old! I didn't have the chance to crop them and label them until today, though, so here they are.


























We did lose the Chocolate Cuckoo baby Wednesday night, sadly.  I really think something was wrong with him internally or something, because he never was quite right. He also had a squinty eye and a little knob on his navel that never fell off or healed over properly. By the time I was taking pictures, he was just so weak that he just laid out in my hand. I did go ahead and take a picture of his wings, but couldn't get a good side shot like the above.










I do think he was a cockerel based on how he was feathering in. That's not really much of a consolation because I was interested in seeing how he'd feather out, but at least it's one fewer cockerel I have to rehome later on.  I hardly ever lose babies at this age, literally he's only like the 6th one in many, many years of raising these birds, so it sucks. However, I really don't think anything I could do would have made a difference.

The rest of the babies are thriving, though, and rapidly outgrowing their brooder at this point! They also stopped using their heater entirely this week and sleep in the corner of the brooder instead, so at the ripe old age of ~16 days old, they are off heat and thriving at room temperature. So much for 95 minus 5 degrees a week, huh!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Darn, I was so looking forward to see what he looked like. I'm with you though on there not being anything to be done. When they're that small there just is not enough info to treat. 

I'm surprised at how much color the black cochin babies have. My Silkie babies hatched black. No neat colorations anywhere on them. 

I think I might be liking the chocolate babies more. Is it the pic or is that mixed baby showing a lot of type already?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

That coloring has been pretty typical of Black (and Blue) Cochin bantam chicks in my experience. Genetically, I'm not sure what's going on there unless it has to do with that Silkies have additional genes that darken their skin as well. I'm not super well-versed in the genes behind chick down coloration other than that a lot of it is explained by what they have at the e locus with slight modifications from other genes like blue or mottled possible as well.

Part of the chicks just froze where they were, and others immediately started moving around looking for their buddies. I think the typiness you're seeing is just from the chicks freezing in place as they were when I set them there to take the picture.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Now you understand why I'm so lost when it comes to hard feathered birds. Sometimes I recognize a birds breed when mixed but most of the time not at all. What you posted about the two birds on the other post was very enlightening for me. 

Well, I'm waiting on what they all do. I want to see the chocolates with their adult plumage. And whether the light blues keep their light blueness. 

Are you pleased with Gus' peeps?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Sorry, I was so busy all last week and then ended the week not feeling well at all. Guess that's what I get for keeping so busy all last month!

Gus's peeps, I'm happy with them, yeah, other than that I'm starting to suspect they (and many of their broodmates) are cockerels. 😩 It's always a gamble with hatching, though. I suppose that means we'll find out whether they sell well in my area this fall when I list all these boys!

I'll have to get pictures of them at some point this week when I'm feeling better. They've gotten so big already! I feel like as busy as I was and then not feeling well for a few days here, I've missed so much of their growth, including blanking on taking their 3-week pictures on Thursday, darn. I sat with them for a moment this morning after refilling their feeder, though, and they're still just as friendly as ever, so thankfully I've still managed to socialize them properly, it seems.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Are you going to keep one of Gus' peeps if it is a male. Didn't you lose him? 

Taking time for yourself is so important. Wear yourself to a nub will leave everyone short that depend on you. I had to live a long time to learn that important bit of information.

Do not worry about this forum. It's supposed to be a fun break from the routine, not a chore.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Gussy's still around! He is named after another silkied Black Cochin cockerel that I did lose years ago, though. I may keep one of his sons, depending on how they turn out. His sons would go to the next flock over for rotational breeding, and both other flocks will have fairly young males leading them still by the time these chicks are mature, so I don't necessarily have a reason to hold on to a son from him yet, unless they're exceptional. Gus is a pretty good looking guy, so that is definitely a possibility!

Oh, don't get me wrong, I don't consider it a chore to check in or anything! I just want to be clear that I'm not avoiding sharing pictures with y'all, I just haven't really had the energy to take any this past week or so.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

That got me wondering if I had any pictures of the original Gus saved still, and sure enough I do! He was one of my very first silkied Cochins, along with Roscoe, Donna, and another hen I named Cordelia who has also since passed on. The original Gus was pretty young when he passed away, maybe 8 months old at most, so he never got the chance to really fill out, but he wasn't too shabby looking overall. This was him, way back when.











The current Gus is 2 years old now, and quite the hunk  Love this big guy!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

They're both stunning! Looking at Gus II, he almost looks like he could be combed out. His feathers look more fur like than the Silkies did. 

No I know. It's just I don't want you thinking you should feel guilty for not posting new pics. Heck, I rarely do. So I have no room to complain.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Phew, I guess not feeling well really took it out of me more than I thought it would! I've accomplished next to nothing all week! Finally got around to getting updated baby pictures today. They're about 4 weeks old.
























I am confident that Black 3 and Blues 2 and 6 are pullets, and that Blues 1, 3, and 5 and Chocolates 1 and 3 are cockerels. I'm _pretty sure _Blue 4 is a pullet and that Blacks 2 and G1 and the mixed color baby are cockerels. The rest are sort of in that gray area where they could go either way, or in the case of Chocolate 2 I just am not familiar enough with the line to be confident either way, honestly. I'm _really _hoping that a few more of them are pullets, but we'll see. Also pretty sure I already have a cull or two, but I may hold onto them anyway, depending on how many are male and how many are female, just in case.

Let me just say that regardless of whether she's actually a pullet or if she turns out to be a cockerel, I am SO excited to finish growing out Blue 4 and see how she turns out! She is already *beautiful*, and thus far everything I am hoping to accomplish with my Blues!  The other Blues are unfortunately quite dark already. Hopefully with Blue 4 in the mix, I'll get more light Blues over the coming years to fill out that flock with. 🙏

Also, mixed color baby is thus far feathering in as a dark Blue as well. I imagine he'll end up with some red leakage based on his chick down color, though. Oh, and don't mind Chocolate 3's eye, he just blinked. His eyes are perfectly fine!

Anyway, there they are.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Is this a bad thing if I agree with the ones you've picked out so far as being boys? I saw those combs and I thought oh, oh. 

That mixed color baby looks awesome though. Very heavy down on it and the foot feathering is amazing. 

On black 3 and couple of others, are there feathers on their shoulders? They look nude and making the pic bigger didn't help.

Do you think you might have had covid?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Haha, not a bad thing at all! Those Blue boys are undeniable, the red in the face of the two Chocolates is pretty damning, and the Blacks are tougher to gauge in this set but BOY OH BOY have most of them developed COMBS! It was bound to happen eventually, though, because I've had amazing luck with high percentages of pullets in every silkied Cochin hatch I've had since getting into the Blacks in 2020. Guess this is the hatch that tips me back toward the 50-50 split between males and females with them. 😬

The mixed color baby does look nice and fluffy so far! He and Blues 5 and 6 are all a bit light on the middle toe feathering, but I'm hoping that changes as they grow. It's too bad he's looking like a cockerel as I just won't have the space to keep him while prioritizing breeding males.  A pullet at least I could justify integrating into my mixed flock and holding onto there.

Yes, everyone is starting to develop feathers on their shoulders if they haven't grown in feathers there already! It's a lot more obvious on the Blues because of their light chick down and dark feathers, but the Blacks have them as well.

No, I'm fairly confident I didn't have covid. I was not sick in the traditional sense, more just that fatigue and stress caught up with me from being so busy for so long and my body kinda revolted against me for it.  I think I'm okay now, which is good because I have some things I need to get done with the birds that I've had to put off for too long, like new fences to put up, coops to get cleaned out, etc. I finally sold my two big Orpington boys yesterday, too, so the coop they were in needs to be cleaned out (and maybe fixed up and rearranged a bit, especially the perches) to accommodate my third flock of silkied Cochins. 😁


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

The second time I had Covid it was just fatigue. Lots of extra long naps. A little heart involvement in the early days. The first time I had it, the fatigue and non stop sleeping was unreal. The heart and brain involvement was really tough. 

Just think of what happened to me once, 17 eggs, 15 males. At least you have a 50/50 going at this point. I was fortunate though since they were paints and easy to rehome at that time.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Yes, I'm aware that could be a symptom. Let's just say I know beyond a doubt what caused me to be so worn out and it was not covid. 😅

The funny thing is that every time I look at the ones that aren't obvious, I change my mind.  One day I'm sure I have a million cockerels in there, and the next I feel like some of them could actually be girls after all. I wish they'd just make up their minds before I go crazy waiting to know!!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Actually, it's a good thing. They don't like it when we keep contracting it. Seems it takes a little bite out of us each time that we never get back.

I've been there a few times. Probably the one that had me guessing for so long was Chicklett, a Silkie. Until she laid that first egg at several months old I was uncertain about her being boy or girl. 

You know what they say, our first impression is probably the right one.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Phew, I hope that's not the case--my first impression is always 'oh no you're a boy aren't you?'  

I did compare the Chocolates to one another yesterday and I think that Chocolate 2 might be a pullet after all... Her feet are smaller than the other two and she has hardly any comb development or color thus far... But, of course, there's always the possibility of her being a slower to mature male, so I just can't say confidently.

Blue 4 has me going back and forth again, she had a touch of color in her comb this morning... But I wouldn't mind at all if she was male, honestly, it's just that I don't have very many pullets if she does go male on me. 😅


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Are you one those that goes for the negative and hoping to be pleasantly surprised later?

I had one group of whites that if the peeps hatched out grey, I knew they were males. For some reason the double silver gene only showed up in the boys. 

Who would be more apt to pass down the lighter blue color? The male or the female? Or does it matter which is the lighter shade? 

I sure don't see the comb with chocolate baby 2 from the side like I can on the other two.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

robin416 said:


> Are you one those that goes for the negative and hoping to be pleasantly surprised later?
> 
> I had one group of whites that if the peeps hatched out grey, I knew they were males. For some reason the double silver gene only showed up in the boys.
> 
> ...


Haha, not intentionally, but that's usually how it works out! 

Genetically, I don't think it matters whether the lighter Blue is a male or a female for the purposes of passing that trait on. I do think a male would be more beneficial overall, however. A male would be passing those genes to _all _the chicks produced from the flock he leads, whereas a hen would only be passing it through her own eggs and the other hens' eggs from that flock would not have any means of receiving those genes. That's my point of view on it anyway. I can be selective and try to hatch only from the lighter Blue if she is a pullet, but that does limit how many I can hatch to the number she lays in a given time versus the number that a few hens would lay in the same amount of time.

That said, if she is a male, that only leaves me with three silkieds that I'm _sure _are female and not many left beyond that that could also end up as females, so that would be a bit unfortunate. 😅 Three females would be enough to make a flock with him, I suppose, but ideally I'd like enough that I can be a bit more choosy about who goes into the breeding program and who doesn't. A couple extra pullets to add to Gus's flock would be nice as well.

I do hope that Choco 2 is a girl, if only because that will give me one less cockerel to worry about. She'd go into my mixed flock, not any of the breeding flocks, though.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

And here I was thinking you'd have a pair of chocolates to breed. 

I hadn't thought about the fact if it's the female with the light blue genes it would restrict how far they were spread out.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Haha, well I'll always have her around and could always separate her away from the main flock roosters for a couple weeks if I wanted to hatch more Chocolate Cochins. I hadn't planned on maintaining a breeding pair or flock of them, though. Just hatched them for fun, and the possibilities with breeding them into the silkieds. 😁


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It's probably a good thing we don't live close to each other. I'd do the wrong thing and buy them from you. Just out of curiosity to see what they become. 

I got out though. I need to stay out.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Aw, haha, if we lived closer to one another I'd fix you up with all sorts of Cochin bantam beauties!  Only if you actually wanted them, of course!  

I feel the same way about ducks, honestly. I'm tempted sometimes by some breeds and their beauty, not to mention there are silkied ducks as well! But I don't want to get back into ducks. I did not really enjoy having them, though. I do still have my one call duck, but once she's gone I'm out of ducks, at least for a long, long time.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

When the quail and Guineas die out I'll be done completely. I've got another year at least before the quail start dying off. The Guineas are a whole different thing. 

And I have been tempted more than once but stuck to my guns about no more chickens. At least not in the long term. I would get chicks for one hen that kept going broody so she could raise them, then I gave them away to a friend.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I braved the mosquito swarms to go out and take pictures of the babies today, about 6 weeks old. They are spending days outside now, so not as pretty of a backdrop for their pictures, but I didn't want to haul them all inside and then haul them back out just for pictures.  I meant to take a picture of Trixie, the pullet from Easter, as well, but by the time I got through all 15 babies, she was dust bathing, and I'd already been chewed up so bad by the mosquitoes that trying to get her to cooperate would have just been too much. 😬 I'll have to grab a picture of her another time.

For now, here are the 6-week-olds! Very excited for how some of them are developing! It's hard to tell with the Blues in pictures, but Blue 3 is a decently lighter Blue color compared to 1,2,5, and 6, which I'm happy about. Blue 4 is still the most beautiful baby to me and just keeps getting prettier.  The mixed color baby is also a nice shade of Blue, though unfortunately with that brown on his chick down I can't be sure that he won't throw weird genes into his offspring, so he still won't be a keeper for it. Such a shame.  Hopefully he starts showing leakage soon so I won't feel so bad for putting him solidly on the not-a-keeper list.

























I'm feeling more and more confident that Black 3, Blues 2, 4, and 6, and Chocolate 2 are girls and the rest of them are all boys. 😩 Oh, well. Including the two pullets from Easter, I got 7 pullets and 10 cockerels from this year's hatch, so not too bad overall.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Blue 4 is a girl? Never mind, I just reread what you said.

Did you lose one of Gus's peeps? I only see two and they both look like boys.

I'm not liking the chocolates. The mixed baby is more typey than they are. But they're young. They do still have filling out to do but compared to the rest?

Have to ask, don't you use DEET? I got bit by chiggers earlier and learned my lesson. Now I spray down.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Yeah, I think Blue 4 is a girl. She's the only one that I've really been going back and forth on, but I feel like she's a pullet at this point. The ones I'm sure are boys have larger combs and are getting attitudes, both of which she's lacking.

There were only 2 Gus babies.  I tried to look at them optimistically with the hopes that there was a pullet there, but yeah, they're both boys. They take after their dad, a bit slower to get their combs in compared to the other boys.

Yeah, agree on the Chocolates, I've been thinking that for a couple weeks now. They're also HUGE compared to the silkied Cochins, or at least the two Chocolate boys are. They have lovely type... for Orpington bantams.  But I knew that was a possibility given that they have Orpington in them. If I do cross them into the silkieds, they will be kept as a separate line until I'm sure that any type issues have been addressed, especially with foot feathering. I do have a line on another farm with the Chocolates as well, so maybe I'll look into getting a batch from them next year and see if they have any better type.

I don't have any DEET. The mosquitoes have been remarkably bad this year compared to usual, so I usually don't need to bother with repellents or anything. Might have to invest in some this year, though. They are _so_ bad out here right now!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Does it make you feel better that me, who depends on you for sexing, thinks it's a girl too? 

Chocolate 1 doesn't look like it has either breed in there anywhere. Although it could be the way it's standing in the pic too. 

I don't why I thought there were three of his. 

You know I'll be following your process as you keep growing your flock. I'm really intrigued by them. Which isn't a good thing because the "I want" is rearing its ugly head.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Haha, maybe a bit! I really was torn as to whether I wanted her to be a pullet or cockerel, but I'm happy with her either way. 

Chocolate 1 is a very slooooow featherer, which is probably why he looks off. He's built like Chocolate 3 in person, just not as feathered in. He is slightly smaller, though, which makes me like him a bit more. Chocolate 3 just towers over the rest of the chicks. I'll try to grab a shot of him mixed in the crowd today, it's pretty funny to see.  

Ah, man, I definitely know the 'want' feeling. Any time I see a pretty chicken, I get that feeling. Have to keep reminding myself that I don't really have the space for more birds if I seriously want to work on these silkied Cochins. I can't grow out chicks if I fill all my space up with other pretties. It really is too bad coops cost so much money to make! 😩 But I understand that your situation is different in that you don't want to have chickens at all anymore. Hold strong! I'll keep posting pictures and updates so you can watch my birds grow up and fill out instead. ❤


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Trixie! I totally forgot to mention her. I didn't forget her though. You hadn't said anything about her in a while so I'm relieved to know she's growing and doing well.

I just did a deeper look at Chocolate 1. Is that his feathers I'm seeing on his back or is that from another one hiding behind him? I didn't even notice those before and would explain to me why he looked weird. 

I forgot you wanted Blue 4 to be a boy. Sorry about that. But the other blue, 3, looks to be a boy. So it looks like you have one of each. Maybe.  

I have been told to stay out of the heat. LOL I live in S AL. Heat you say? Anyway, bad heart. Even if it wasn't bad hot I can't do stuff like shoveling out the coop. I guess that's like shoveling snow.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Haha, yeah, Trixie's in the big flock at the moment with her yet-to-be-named naked neck buddy. She's doing great, just harder to get pictures of now because she's got a lot of space to roam and all the other chickens want to see what I'm doing so they get in the way. 

Chocolate 1 has downy feathers on his back that are showing through because his proper feathers haven't come in yet over top of them. So yeah, it does make him look super weird.  He's not the first chick I've had feather in like this. They look so odd for the longest time, and then suddenly they're feathered in and look like any other chicken and you'd never know they were such an oddball as a baby.

Blue 3 is a boy, yes. I have 3 boys and 3 girls in Blue in this group (not including the mixed color baby), but Blues 1, 2, 6, and to an extent 5 are all that super dark shade of Blue that I hope to breed away from.  A real shame because just look at Blue 1, he's so round and fluffy already!

Oh, yeah, sounds like good reason not to give into 'I want'. So sorry you have to go through that! We don't get much super high heat here, but cleaning coops and moving birds around sure is a workout, so I understand the caution.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

No name yet for NN? 

Yep, that's what it was. I did see the down at all or looked past it which made him look nothing like a nice round Cochin. 

It is what it is. I got out of my Silkies before I knew this was going on. I recognized that the constant care was dragging me down which was probably because my heart was unhappy. Now I find workarounds for the things I'm not supposed to do. Luckily the Guineas and quail are easy keepers. Once they die out that will be the end of it.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Not yet. I started to call her Daphne, but it didn't seem to fit her just right, so I'm still looking. It's got to be perfect for such an awe-inspiring bird.  

I could see that! No, he's definitely built similarly to the other two, just not feathered in as much. His brother gave me a bit of a startle about an hour ago by trying to find his big boy voice. I thought something had gotten into their pen and was attacking them or something, but nope, just Choco baby 3 sitting proudly on their little baby perch crowing his little heart out.  Little stinker!

Glad you figured out what was dragging you down, at least. And that your Guineas and quail are easy for you to take care of! The Guineas always gave me a hard time, but I think it's because I tried to keep them like the chickens and they're just not that kind of bird. I won't be replacing them now that they've all gone. Same with the duck once she goes, as I've said before. I'm just a chicken person, I guess!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I don't know why I like that little fart. Maybe it's the pics you take of her. She just looks so adorable.

I remember that first time for me. Just like you I thought something had gotten into my birds. That strangled, garbled sound is attention getting. Just wait, C3 will be crowing like he's been doing it all his life. I think you might need some ear protection pretty soon with all those new little guys finding their voices.

I always warned those that were getting Guineas after having chickens that they were not the same and they had to be able to adjust how they were cared for. Mine are trained, probably better than my chickens ever were. They will come when I call but they also know there's more than likely a treat waiting for them. Trying to micro manage them is a losing battle. Losing for the human, that is.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Guineas are akin to herding cats, noisy cats.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Here's Trixie today, a little over 14 weeks old ❤

























And our little naked neck bantam, just for you, Robin.  She looks more and more like a turkey every time I see her, I swear.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That swept back hairdo on the NN is so silly. I actually feel bad for those little buggers. Life is already challenging for the birds. That's just another hit.

Trixie is continuing to fill in beautifully. Are the wing feathers as close as they get to barbed feathers?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Aww, nothing to feel bad about! She looks silly, but I promise she does everything the same as the other chickens and doesn't know she's any different.  

Yes, their wings are mostly solid at the base of the feather and then they fray more and more up to the tip. I'll see if I can get one of them to cooperate for a wing picture some time to show what they look like. Silkied breeds with distinct tail feathers like Seramas tend to have the same sort of semi-solid feathers in their tails as well. Cochins don't really have tails whether silkied or not, of course, so their butts are all fuzz either way.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That pic with Trixie stretching is why I spotted the almost common feathers. Silkies can be the same way. Roosters will have actual barbed feathers in their tails too. 

You said turkey, I'm thinking vulture. Poor baby.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Yeah, the boys definitely have more solid feathers in their tails, but they're not hard like the wing feathers. The girls are all fuzz, though.  

Haha, a lot of people say vulture for them, but to me, this little lady so strongly resembles the Australian Bush-Turkey that I just default to turkey for her. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_brushturkey It's really uncanny!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

If she had the red neck skin coloring she would look very much like them. At least for the head and neck. 

Now I'm trying to remember. It's been a while though. It seems the feathers in the wings were not as hard as the feathers in the tails of the Silkie males.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

The feathers on my Silkies' wings are partially smooth like on the Cochins, but they are pet quality so that could be the difference.

I did get a wing shot of one of the girls today to show what they look like. There's some solid feather to them, but it's mostly frayed at the tips. Not as pretty as the rest of their fuzzy feathering, but they keep them folded most of the time so they aren't visible, so I guess it's fine.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That is different from Silkies. Wings could be a problem to get right with them so some did have the almost normal feathers.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I got a picture of Dandelion's wing because she recently molted, and this is more what I expect when I look at their wings. I think the other hens are in need of a molt so their wings look rattier than usual. The secondaries are pretty much fully silkied, if a tiny bit more solid than the body feathering, and the primaries are solid feathers with silkied tips.










According to my ABA standard, Silkies should have 'well shredded' wing feathers, but are not disqualified for having non-silky feathers in the wings. I _assume _'well-shredded' are more like Dandy's secondaries in that picture than like her primaries, and that her primaries would be considered non-silky. I think I personally prefer the solidity of the primaries on Dandelion overall. The rattier look of the other hen (I didn't see who that was, someone from Pete's group--Bella, maybe?) is definitely less desirable. I will have to take a look at them after they molt and see if that improves. Just another thing to consider when spring rolls around and I start looking at hatching from them, I guess!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I've forgotten so much. Yes, the right side of Dandelions wing is what they're supposed to look like. 

Making the choices is not easy. Especially since there are genetics in there that could show up with the pairing. You've got something going on with the breeding I could no longer do. I get to live vicariously through your adventures in growing the Silkied Cochins.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

There are so many things to look at with these birds! I definitely underestimated that when I got started in this past year or two. This is my first foray into actively selecting breeding groups for the betterment of a variety and it is a LOT! But I definitely want to do it right and keep these birds in such a way that it improves their chances of being added to the standard some day.

The plus side for me is that if I'm very attached to a hen with a flaw I don't want in my breeding groups, I can always just move her to my mixed flock rather than sending her away. It's harder with the boys I've grown attached to, like Gus who will have to be culled if fertility in that pen doesn't improve, because there are only so many boys who can go in the mixed flock and it's complicated by whether they'll get along with each other or not, and on and on... That's going to be the hardest part for me, actually culling birds, whether by rehoming them or sending them to the freezer. I've to date only sent a couple boys to the freezer who weren't aggressive and it really tore me up, so I'm hoping rehoming will work out for these boys. 🙏 They're too cute for the freezer!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

One of the things about faults, if they're not major they can be worked with when paired with the right bird. Some are easily fixed. Some might take a couple of generations. At least I remember that much.

If you can pair a boy up with a female in the mixed flock, you know you can have an easier time rehoming them without them being culled in a way you really don't want to do. I could at what I raised so I get how you feel.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Yup, I've been trying to pair them up with birds who are strong where they aren't! 

That's the hard part for me. If they're in my mixed flock, that means I'm attached to them and don't _want _to let them go! 😅 Generally, I get attached to all of my birds by the time they're old enough to tell their sex, it's just that I know I simply can't keep all the boys so it's at least a little easier to justify to myself letting them go. I do know they'd sell easier if I let some of the girls go with them, though. That's why it's so hard!!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I know. Evidently even with time you didn't develop the "OMG! I have too many birds!" mentality. I did. I was overrun with about 100 of them. That was too many.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Haha, no, instead I developed the 'I have plenty and don't need whatever random breed they have at the feed store' mentality. 😁 I see posts all the time about people who got chicks because they couldn't help themselves, they went in for feed and heard peeping, making up excuses about how they 'jumped into my cart' even though their coop isn't big enough for the addition, etc. I've never had that problem. When I get chicks, I know I definitely have the space for them and the time to rear them, and I only get the specific breeds that I want, not whatever is on sale. When I buy eggs to hatch, it's only when I know have the space for all the possible hatchlings, and I plan for at least half being male and have plans and backup plans for what to do with them. I haven't hit 100 yet, but if I get to that point, it'll only be when I am ready for that many birds and have the space for them.  It is hard to let some of them go, but I so enjoy the hobby that that little bit of difficulty is worth it to me.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Oh, I had the space. Plenty of it. That's how it got so out of hand. It's also probably why I realized it was time to get out. I was spending far too much time just on them and nothing else on the place that I should have been dealing with.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Oh, what I more meant is that every single addition I make is planned for, obsessively, with backup plans. No bird is added to my flock who I am not ready to care for for at least a few months while they grow out. So I never reach the point where I have too many because I am more than prepared for each addition. Space is a big issue for a lot of people as well, though, which is why I brought it up.



I had to really quickly evaluate the babies last night because the mixed color baby is losing his face fluff now and getting hard to tell from the Blue babies. I was able to confidently confirm which one was him and band him, so that shouldn't be an issue from here on. Thankfully the two Blues he's most similar to have bands, so it wasn't too hard, and the last one is Blue 1 who has a pretty distinct comb so I could pick him out easy.

Oh, and I got a picture of Jack a couple days ago while I was out with them and it occurs to me I never posted it here! He's my current 'spare' silkied Black male and the one to which the growout Blacks will be compared to to determine who stays. I have room for one, as the Blue cockerels take priority and I haven't decided if I'm keeping two of them or all three. Jack's not too shabby looking, actually. I think he might be a bit better looking that Pete, even. I only didn't have Jack head that flock because Pete is better behaved (let's just say Jack got his name for a reason  ), but should the fertility troubles in Gus's pen continue next year, he might have himself a flock there... unless one of the cockerels grows out with more promise than him.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

He is a good looking boy. 

One time I had a young boy that terrorized the girls. OK, fine. Be that way but I have someone you need to meet. I put her in with him. He did his usually terrorizing by rushing her. She immediately pounded him into the dirt. He tried again, rinse and repeat. After that he was a very nice boy.

I was bad about not taking enough eggs from the girls when they went broody. And you know how they are when it comes to hormones saying they need to hatch and raise something. I tried to break one once. Brought her into the house. Gave her a banana as a treat. I thought she had eaten. Nope. She was brooding the hunk of banana.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Jack's been more a terror toward _me_, which I definitely don't like, but I also lost both my Blue boys in short order last year so I was afraid not to have a spare for the Black boys just in case. He has calmed down quite a bit since he's matured, but I still have to be careful about reaching into his pen because he'll charge my hands sometimes, the butthead.  Pete and Gus will come over and peck my feet sometimes, but they've never really been aggressive about it, and Pete at least lets me pick him up and handle him without biting or anything. Gus just runs away if he thinks I'm going to pick him up because he is a big strong man who definitely doesn't want cuddles. He's the one who hops in my lap if I sit down in their pen, but he definitely, definitely is too tough for cuddles. 

That is hilarious about the broody! My three silkied Red Cochin hens have been broody since late May now, non-stop. Thus far they're just brooding dirt in broody jail and not snapping out of it despite not having a nest to sit in, man are they ever determined! I guess I know not to give them any banana now, though.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Ah, it's his attitude towards you and not his girls. There's almost always one in the flock like that. 

LOL I was so happy she liked the banana. Problem was, it wasn't as I expected.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I went through and re-banded the rest of the cockerels last night since the ones who have had bands were starting to outgrow them anyway. Took a good look at a lot of them while I was handling them. I think I've decided I'm going to keep all three Blue males, as Blue 5's toe feathering has improved quite a bit as he's feathered in. He will remain a backup because the other two are better overall so far, but I just don't want to risk not having any Blue males if something were to happen to the other two like what happened with the last set. The Black boys all have pretty rough combs, but it's hard to judge type yet on them because they're all partially feathered still. At least all of them have good middle toe feathering!

Guess it's about time I put feelers out to see if anyone would be interested in a cute little cull cockerel in the next month or two... Suppose anyone on here is near enough to northeast Indiana and might want one? 😅

Oh, I also read something quite intriguing the other day, but haven't been able to find any literature or other experiences to back it up. The claim was that breeding Blue to Blue would naturally cause more and more dilution in their color, eventually making them lighter shades some generations down the line, which is why on smooth feathers it's suggested to breed Blue to Black sometimes to prevent that. I'm wondering how true that is! If that's the case, then it shouldn't matter how dark the parents are, and that means Blue 1 could be back in the running for the chosen male for the Blue group! He is such a handsome little guy already, despite that he's a super dark Blue.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I would think that if that were true Silkies breeders wouldn't be so desperate to find blues and not blues that look black. That might be why you're not finding any confirmation to back up what you read. 

Well, you know I'm out of the running. Not only am I not nearby but I'm out. Actually none of the folks we see from time to time are near you. PJ is probably the closest.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

That is a very solid point, darn. It shouldn't be as much of an issue with Silkies as it is if that were true.  And I haven't found anything to back it up, but I also can't find _anything _about breeding for a particular shade of blue in Blue chickens, either, just the same info over and over again about the inheritance of the Bl gene.

Editing, I am consulting with other more knowledgeable poultry genetics people about this, hopefully one of them knows something and I get a response reasonably soon. 🙏 I will post what I learn from them here.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

There was one breeder I depended on for genetics info. Instead of doing the alphabet she put it in English so that even I could understand it.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

That's something I'm afraid I'm not great at. 😅 I try my best to explain things clearly when asked, but the letters help me to follow the genes, so I tend to lean on them a bit in my explanations.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Sue was awesome at it. I'm one of those people that has to see things to understand them. Being able to take what she said and see it in my birds helped me a ton.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Hello, checking in again! I lost track of time a bit, there, but the babies are 2 months old and I took pictures of them, so I knew I needed to stop by to post those. 😁


























After a lot of searching and speaking to genetics folks, I have learned that there is an accumulation effect when breeding Blue to Blue, in that the Blues each generation start to be a little bit paler than the last after a while. I have no idea why dark Blues are such an issue with Silkies, unless it's just that breeding Blue to Black is more common with them, as that will darken the Blues in further generations. At any rate, this is good news for Blue 1, because I'm pretty sure he's my chosen male for my Blue pen now, and good news for the darker Blue girls as well. I'll hold back Blue 3 as well, just in case, and probably Blue 5, too, just because I'm still afraid of random freak accidents and ending up with no Blue males. 

I do think that I'm going to have to cut Blue 6 from my breeding stock, though. This picture doesn't show it, but her middle toe feathering is _dreadful_. She barely has stubble on them! I hate to cull a pullet when so few have hatched, but I only want to put the best forward, and she's not the best. Man, this is hard!

Chocos 1 and 3 have been acting a bit off lately, though Choco 3 seems back to normal for the most part now. We've had a lot of rain lately so I have them on amprolium just in case of coccidiosis, but I'm beginning to suspect that Choco 1 is just weak because I've weaned the babies onto pellets and he doesn't want to eat them. I gave the babies the dish of feed dust from the bottom of the big girls' feeders this morning and he is eating that like he's starved, so hopefully that will help. I'm honestly considering not keeping either of the Choco boys at this point, more because of their type and foot feathering than the health issues, and getting a new batch of Chocolate Cochin bantam eggs from the other farm I came across to try my luck again next year. I think I'll send a message through to them and see if they'll send me some pictures of their breeding stock to look over at least.

And the mixed color baby... Oh, what a heartbreaker. Look at him! Lighter Blue, no leakage so far, good type, decent comb... But I _can't_ risk holding onto the genes he might be hiding and letting them get into my lines, ugh!


Anyway, I also grabbed some shots of Trixie while I was out there, and of course Gwenyth the naked neck was being nosy as well.  Those two are just over 16 weeks old now. Here they are:

















Nosy naked neck


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

If Gwyneth was a Silkie she'd be a bowtie Silkie. She's still adorable. I hope she had the personality to match that strange look. Trixie is filling our really nicely. 

As I'm looking at the pics I was thinking I'm glad I'm not you when I saw the blues. Turns out, except for the one, they're all keepers. 

I'm with you, I don't like the Chocolates but that mixed baby is pretty stunning. Too bad about the color genetics. It would have been a nice add.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Gwennie's a sweetie, if a bit sketchy. You can't approach her too fast or she runs away, but if you crouch and let her come over she doesn't mind if you stroke her feathers. Trixie's usually the attention hog of the two of them, though. She sees a camera lens and must look at it as closely as possible. 

Yeah, the Blues are looking lovely.  The Blacks as well, but man, I just have too many cockerels. If I don't keep a Chocolate male, I'd have room to keep one of those Black cockerels, two max but that'd be pushing it. The hard part is picking which one. Other than his droopy comb, which might correct as he matures, I think I like Black 2 the most, but it's a really close call between all of them. I already have Jack, too, who is already a good looking guy, so I guess I don't feel like I urgently need to pick one of those Black cockerels to keep just yet.

Yeah, the Chocolates are colored pretty and all (the pictures really don't capture their color well), but they have sooo many issues for their breed. They definitely look more like Cochin x Orpington mixes than like pure Cochins.  It really makes me feel like I should keep looking for better stock rather than introduce a lot of issues to my silkied lines that I'll be fighting to get rid of. Getting them when I did was a moment of weakness, what can I say. 😅


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Chocolate 2 would be off my keep list. I just realized it was the only girl. 

Have you got the space to do one test breeding with the mixed color peep? It might be worth a try. If it fails, then sell them all.

Other than those two I can't help you at all. With Silkies it could be two years before they fully filled out. How long is it for Cochins. I know obvious faults need to go, sooner rather than later. But things might change a ton in a year if they're like Silkies. 

I had a couple over time that were nothing to me. No awful faults but just didn't come close to looking like my avatar. Fast forward a year or so later and I couldn't tell they were the same birds.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Yeah, the Chocolate pullet was already a cull from my breeding groups because she wouldn't be very efficient at introducing the chocolate gene to the silkieds anyway, it being a sexlinked recessive gene. The debate with them really is only whether I use one of those males to introduce the gene, or wait until I get my hands on Chocolates from another line and hope they look better.

I suppose I could maybe squeeze the mixed color cockerel in with the keeper boys and test cross him next year. I'd already planned to try to hatch a few from Blue 3 over the Blue girls just to compare to Blue 1's babies and see how much of a difference him being so dark would make on their Blue offspring...  I'll have to think about this.

With the Cochins, they seem to look mostly like what they're going to be at around one year old, they just may not have reached their full weight yet. Sometimes they fluff out a bit more as well, but by a year they're pretty much how they're going to look type-wise in my experience, or at least enough so that I can make a strong prediction at how they'll end up. They don't have any beard or crest to develop, so that might make the difference, I don't know how Silkies tend to develop. I haven't noticed a huge difference between about 18 months and now on the oldest ones (who are just under 2-and-a-half now), so it seems like that's when they've really finished growing. I can generally have a good idea how they're developing when they hit 5 months old or so, though, so that's probably when I'll make my last picks on the Black cockerels just because of space constraints preventing me from holding them much longer than that.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

What is the market like in your area? Can you pair off any of those you don't want to use for breeding and sell them? 

Someone told me it could take two years for a Silkies to fully fill out. I was like, right. I didn't believe it until I saw it for myself with my own.

And I need to see if I can find a pic of Dwarf. Ugliest little bird in the world but she had the heart of a lion. Shoot, I don't have one on this computer. Anyway, she didn't grow a tail until she was five years old.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

The market for Cochin bantams seems favorable. The few I've listed went pretty fast. At least better than the market for English Orpingtons apparently.  I suppose I could pair them off, but I only have 2 pullets that are for-sure culls and more than twice as many cockerels to rehome. 😩 

Yeah, I think most people don't realize how much growing these birds still do after the first year. Even hatchery stock bulks out a bit in the second year. I wouldn't call any chicken truly fully grown until at least 18 months of age.

Talk about a late bloomer! I've had a couple Marans hatch that never grew their tail feathers in the whole time I had them, but I had both of them for less than a year. They both had tails, just no tail feathers sprouting out of them. Makes me wonder if they would have grown them in given enough time. One I didn't have room for so I sold him (I'd tried to hatch some pullets for my mixed flock and he was the only one to hatch, of course). The other was one of the meanest cockerels I think I've ever owned; he and his two brothers would jump me if I set foot in their pen and I had to carry something to defend myself if I ever needed to go in there. They all became soup because they were just not safe birds to keep _or _sell to someone else.

This was the one I sold, not long before someone bought him. He was about 6 months old, and that's all the tail he ever had while he was here.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That looks just like Dwarf's bum. She truly looked like a ball with no tail. 

That really does sound like the only good thing was to make those boys soup. That kind of aggressiveness where protection was needed would be more than I could take too. And I try to save everything.

When did the market for English Orps dry up? I didn't think that could or would happen. 

Is it difficult to rehome/sell Cochin boys?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Yup, I've had chickens since childhood, almost 20 years now, and never before (nor since) have I had roosters as aggressive as those three were. No idea what caused that, I raise all my birds the same way, and they weren't the only males I'd hatched from that pair not to mention their father is a gentle guy who eats out of my hand, so it couldn't have been pure genetics. I'm the same way, which is why I'm currently doctoring Choco 1 even though I'm pretty sure I'm not even keeping him, but those three were just too aggressive to save.

I don't know on the English Orpingtons. It sure seems like people still rave about them online. Must just be my area where no one wants them. 🤷‍♀️ A lot of people here are more old fashioned and go for the utility breeds over the fancy ones unless they're bantams, so that's probably just it. I only finally got someone to buy them after I took off the 'English' part and said name your price because I needed them gone.

I haven't had any trouble with selling the Cochin boys, but I've only ever sold a few of them in the past, so who knows. I did run into a reseller on the last one, though, who put an ad up for the exact rooster I sold to him within a week of me selling him.  But the pictures showed him happy, foraging on green grass, and with a hand full of red sexlink hens to himself, so I guess I can't be too upset about how he was treated after he left my hands.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Knock on wood, most of mine were pretty good. I did have two or three that would launch at me but being Silkies I'd just laugh and give them a boot. 

I wonder if they fed off each other on the meanness. 

I'd probably run into the same thing here. Everyone is into the game birds or bantams of one kind or another. The rest are for meat or eggs. Few keep them like we do. 

That's not too bad for that rehomed boy. A friend of me gave away two unwanted roos. The guy that took them didn't have a cage so they let him borrow theirs. Her hubs went to get the cage and found the two birds still in the cage two weeks later. Needless to say, he snatched them up and brought them in the cage. 

Any improvement with the choco boy? And ask me if I'm surprised you're trying to get him feeling better.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Haha, that's how it is with the Cochin bantams like Jack who try to get mean with me! I don't necessarily boot them, but I'll push them away, or ignore them if they aren't at risk of being stepped on. I think that must be why Jack settled down after a while, because he figured out he wasn't getting anywhere with me. 

Yikes on your friend's birds! 😬 I can't imagine thinking it was fine to leave them in a tiny cage like that for two weeks, let alone for any longer than to travel home with them!

No real improvement, sadly. He's down, not walking around anymore, so I'm tube feeding him so that he stays hydrated and gets plenty of calories. I'll give him a couple more days to see if anything changes, but I might have to put him down if not, which is the hardest part for me. I especially hate when they're so young. Barely got a start to life, the poor little guy. That will make two chicks out of these Chocolates that seem to have just failed to thrive for no outward reason, so I'm certainly not very happy with this line of them beyond that they simply aren't very good type for Cochins. It'd be one thing if all the chicks were sickly, but my Gopher Hills babies and the two from my own birds, all under the same care with the same feed in the same environment, are absolutely thriving.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Bobble, the defective Silkie roo, lived to be 8 years old. He never got beyond the let's attack Robin phase. It did get old after a while so he got punted. That was usually enough to get him to quit until the next time I went in his pen. 

She didn't care that they might be going in the freezer but being treated like that until they were was a step too far for her. 

That failure to thrive is ringing a bell with me but I can't remember if it was here. Someone I know or what. But it was several chicks from the same place.

I so completely understand the babies and not getting to live life. You've given him a chance. But you can only do so much to try to bring him back.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I agree with that sentiment entirely, about them being treated well even if they're going to the freezer. Even my three evil boys were given plenty of food and water and a spacious pen with lots of greens to forage through until it was their time.

Yeah, failure to thrive can be a genetics issue, or even a feed issue, so multiple from the same place in a brood that's otherwise fine... kinda says there's an issue from the source... I did send a message through to the other farm I'd come across that has Chocolate Cochin bantams and they've responded that they don't have current pictures of their breeders but will try to get some good ones this upcoming weekend. Here's hoping they look nice! The rest of their Cochins look pretty good in the pictures they have up of them, at least! 🙏 

I was doing the math for about when any eggs I set now or reasonably soon would be ready for full time outside, and as much as I'd like to get more Chocolates going as soon as possible, there's just no way I could hatch out any more this year in time to have them outside for when we start getting frosts and freezing weather. I'll have to wait until spring to hatch any more. No way I want half-grown chickens in the house until March or April when it finally warms up again!


Oh, and... No improvement with Choco 1. Actually, he seems a bit worse today. 😟 Gonna have to brace myself for the inevitable with him, I think.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I hate to imagine if that person had any other animals, like a dog. Too many people just can't get their heads around that they have feelings. That they need us as much as we need them. 

It's bugging me that I can't remember who it was struggling to keep their chicks alive. It had to be here because as they provided information I realized the problems were probably coming from the parents.

Ha, you have to wait until spring? Can't say I blame you. I had so many half grown birds in my house in the first few years it wasn't funny anymore. 

I'm sorry he isn't doing better. I'm really sorry that you're going to have to make the decision.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I don't necessarily _have _to wait until spring... But it would be terribly unwise _not _to wait until spring... Guess it'll depend on how pretty their birds look in the pictures they send me!  Chickens make an awful lot of dust and mess in just the few weeks they're in the house when they're little, though, let alone half-grown and for months! 😬


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Trust me, I know. I really got my start by hatching peeps and of course they were in my home office. I had no idea what a mess they could make.


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## Farmer Reese (5 mo ago)

Animals45 said:


> It's so funny how they are bigger and all fuzz and no feathers.


Gus is gorgeous!🥰


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Farmer Reese said:


> Gus is gorgeous!🥰


Just so you know, hanging out with fuzzies can be addictive. 

And I want to know what you think of Gwyneth. The white naked neck bird. I actually have come to decide she's quite charming. Poor thing.


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## Farmer Reese (5 mo ago)

robin416 said:


> Just so you know, hanging out with fuzzies can be addictive.
> 
> And I want to know what you think of Gwyneth. The white naked neck bird. I actually have come to decide she's quite charming. Poor thing.


Yes, I definitely like Gwyneth!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I feel sorry for her because she's so odd looking. So of course I think she's extra special.


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## Farmer Reese (5 mo ago)

robin416 said:


> I feel sorry for her because she's so odd looking. So of course I think she's extra special.


I like odd looking!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Good, then if Pip (fuzzies) ever turns loose of her she has two homes to go to. I've got first rights.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Farmer Reese said:


> Gus is gorgeous!🥰


Aww, thank you! He's a favorite around here, too.  Poor boy's molting right now, though, and covered in pins.




robin416 said:


> And I want to know what you think of Gwyneth. The white naked neck bird. I actually have come to decide she's quite charming. Poor thing.


Heehee, she's quite something, isn't she? ❤ Such a busy little thing.













Farmer Reese said:


> I like odd looking!


I'm the same way! 😁 I love so many chicken breeds that most people consider ugly or weird-looking and am not as fond of many of the more popular breeds like Polish.

I draw the line at Dong Tao, though, those are too weird even for me. 😬




robin416 said:


> Good, then if Pip (fuzzies) ever turns loose of her she has two homes to go to. I've got first rights.


Sorry, no can do, I like her too much. 😁 I've got to try to hatch some of her eggs next year and get more of these little weirdos running around here.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Really? We're going to see more like Gwyneth traversing your grounds?

I completely missed @Farmer Reese reference to Dong Tao birds. Nope. Can't go there either. They look diseased.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Yes, I just haven't decided who to pair her with. I should be able to tell her eggs from the Cochin's eggs, so my temptation is to put her with the silkied Cochins when I move Trixie in with them as well. Naked neck Cochins, anyone? 


They didn't reference them, those are just where I draw the line at too odd for my tastes.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I've never dug into what it takes to breed NN's. Is is just one parent carrying the gene that produces them? 

That was you that brought up the Dong Tao! It's really strange. Until I spotted one on the forum somewhere I never knew they existed. Now i've seen them several times and had people mention them. Is it a sign?


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## Farmer Reese (5 mo ago)

fuzzies said:


> Aww, thank you! He's a favorite around here, too.  Poor boy's molting right now, though, and covered in pins.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Awh, I want to rub her soft neck.


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## Farmer Reese (5 mo ago)

Farmer Reese said:


> Awh, I want to rub her soft neck.


The Dong Tao though looks like their legs are swollen from infection or elephantitis disease. Ewh...🤢


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It is one weird looking bird. Where I'd cuddle Gwyneth, I'd give a Dong Tao a wide berth.


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## Farmer Reese (5 mo ago)

robin416 said:


> It is one weird looking bird. Where I'd cuddle Gwyneth, I'd give a Dong Tao a wide berth.


Me too!


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

robin416 said:


> I've never dug into what it takes to breed NN's. Is is just one parent carrying the gene that produces them?
> 
> That was you that brought up the Dong Tao! It's really strange. Until I spotted one on the forum somewhere I never knew they existed. Now i've seen them several times and had people mention them. Is it a sign?


Naked neck is a partially dominant gene. In Gwenyth's case, she has one copy of the gene, which is why she has that little clump of feathers on the front of her neck. Two copies makes them completely bare on the front of the neck. So breeding Gwenny to a fully feathered male would make 50% naked neck with the feather tuft on the neck and 50% fully feathered offspring. I'd have to get a naked neck male in order to make fully naked neck chicks from her.

I think a couple random websites posted articles about Dong Tao not that long ago, so they've come into the public eye a bit more. That's probably why you keep seeing them mentioned!




Farmer Reese said:


> The Dong Tao though looks like their legs are swollen from infection or elephantitis disease. Ewh...🤢


They do! I also noticed in the few videos I've seen of them that they seem to walk on those legs like they're kind of tender, so it seems like a pretty sad existence to me. 😟




robin416 said:


> It is one weird looking bird. Where I'd cuddle Gwyneth, I'd give a Dong Tao a wide berth.


Haha, aww! ❤ Gwenny's more of a shoulder sitter than a cuddler, but I agree as well.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

So, that's how they got the bow tie Silkies. I never paid much attention to them other than they looked so odd. If you were to breed to bow ties wouldn't that give the two genes to create a complete NN?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Yes, bowtie to bowtie would make roughly 25% fully naked neck, 50% bowtie, and 25% fully feathered neck in the offspring.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

OK, my brain is struggling here. Does that mean both or at least one of the parents must carry two copies of the NN gene to make them all NNs?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

If you want all of the chicks to have some level of naked neck, bowtie or full, then yes, one parent has to be fully naked neck, carrying two copies (N/N). This is heading into alphabet soup territory, but I'll try to explain as clearly as I can.

You know that each gene is in a pair, and out of each pair, one comes from the mother and one from the father. The gene for naked neck is not sexlinked and so is inherited equally in both sexes and from both parents.
If both parents are carrying two copies (N/N), either can only pass on N so all of their offspring will be fully naked necked (N/N).
Full naked neck (N/N) to bowtie naked neck (N/n+) makes equal amounts of full (N/N) and bowtie (N/n+) naked necks because the fully naked neck parent can only pass on N and the bowtie parent passes on equal amounts of N and n+ genes.
Full naked neck (N/N) to fully feathered neck (n+/n+) then makes all bowtie naked necks (N/n+) because the fully naked neck parent can only pass on N and the fully feathered parent can only pass on n+.

If neither parent is full naked neck, then at least some portion of the offspring will have fully feathered necks. This is because in that scenario either parent has a chance of passing on an n+ gene, and part of their offspring therefore will inherit an n+ from both parents.

I don't know how much this will help, but try thinking of it like breeding Blues, where fully naked neck is the equivalent of Splash and bowtie is the equivalent of Blue.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I'm getting it. Maybe. Do all full feathered necks carry the n+/n+? 

I guess being out of the breeding end of things doesn't end the curiosity of how things work.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Yes, n+/n+ is fully feathered. N/n+ would be bowtie, and N/N fully naked neck. The gene is partially dominant, meaning it has a partial effect when one copy is present (leaving the little tuft of feathers on the front of the neck for bowties) and a full effect with two copies (removing that tuft of feathers).

Something about genetics is just really fascinating, or at least to me it is. 😁 Even varieties I have no intention of owning, I take an interest in the genetic components that make them. I can understand still being interested even if you're out of breeding these birds!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I wonder how long my brain will store that information before something else that catches my attention pushes into the back with all the other stuff.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I've just been added to a wait list for silkied Chocolate Cochin bantam hatching eggs for next year!! I had no idea this farm already had them silkied and that saves me a couple generations of breeding right off the bat!







I'm so excited!!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Is this one that you already knew had silkied Cochins? Or a new one and you're discovering another source of the Silkieds?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

One I knew of with BBS silkieds, I just didn't know they had already done the work to breed in Chocolate to the silkieds like I wanted to do as well! It is one that I came across earlier this year, though, not one that I've mentioned before on this thread I don't think. Fluff-n-Stuff Farm in Alabama. 😁 They're the ones I was going to get more smooth Chocolates from to see how their birds looked for foot feathering and such compared to the Triple Creek Chocolates I got. I may end up getting more from Fluff-n-Stuff at some point, too, depending on how well they ship their eggs, because they also have silkied Mottled in a few colors.  But, I don't want to spread myself too thin with all these varieties, so I'm trying to resist the temptation and only getting the Chocolates for now to focus on BBS and Chocolates. I figure Chocolate is not even in the standard for smooth Cochins yet, so it'll just be a pet project on the side because I love me some Chocolates.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Too bad Hazel Green is so far north. They might have let me have a looksee of their critters. 

I don't know how I feel about the mottled Cochin. That's one of those that might have to grow on me. And I like black and white birds. The chocolates are amazing! 

But splitting back to splash? How does that work? Or is it more about being a work in progress and getting the characteristics of the Cochin to more predominate?


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## Farmer Reese (5 mo ago)

fuzzies said:


> I've just been added to a wait list for silkied Chocolate Cochin bantam hatching eggs for next year!! I had no idea this farm already had them silkied and that saves me a couple generations of breeding right off the bat!
> View attachment 45253
> I'm so excited!!


So sad though, my favorite black silkie choked on something today, flopped around and hit his head on a tree, i thinkit broke his neck, and he died...😪


fuzzies said:


> I've just been added to a wait list for silkied Chocolate Cochin bantam hatching eggs for next year!! I had no idea this farm already had them silkied and that saves me a couple generations of breeding right off the bat!
> View attachment 45253
> I'm so excited!!


My favorite black skie choked on something today, he flopped around and hit his head on the tree, i think it broke his neck, and he died.😭


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## Farmer Reese (5 mo ago)

fuzzies said:


> I've just been added to a wait list for silkied Chocolate Cochin bantam hatching eggs for next year!! I had no idea this farm already had them silkied and that saves me a couple generations of breeding right off the bat!
> View attachment 45253
> I'm so excited!!


I'd like a chocolate silkie slso!


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

robin416 said:


> But splitting back to splash? How does that work? Or is it more about being a work in progress and getting the characteristics of the Cochin to more predominate?


I'm not sure what you're referring to with splitting back to splash?





Farmer Reese said:


> So sad though, my favorite black silkie choked on something today, flopped around and hit his head on a tree, i thinkit broke his neck, and he died...😪
> 
> My favorite black skie choked on something today, he flopped around and hit his head on the tree, i think it broke his neck, and he died.😭





Farmer Reese said:


> I'd like a chocolate silkie slso!


So sorry to hear about your Silkie! ❤ Fluff-n-Stuff does have Chocolate Silkies listed in their breeds as well as the silkied Cochins, maybe you should get some hatching eggs from them, too.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Isn't that what they said about the chocolate? That he was out of splash and chocolate? 

Of course that question moves dangerously close to talking the alphabet.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I didn't see what you're referring to, but did they maybe say split to Mottled? Mottling is a recessive gene that can be split to.

Or maybe the bird being referred to was Mauve? Mauve is the effect of both sexlinked Chocolate and Blue at the same time, so breeding Chocolate to Splash would be one way of making the variety.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I was reading their sale page so you probably didn't notice it. I'd have to go back and look to see what they said specifically. It was just confusing on why the back split. 

And just to dive deeper into it. How did they bring in chocolate?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Most (maybe all?) Chocolate Cochins came from breeding Chocolate Orpington bantams to Black Cochin bantams and then breeding back to the Cochins for type. I believe Fluff-n-Stuff's Cochins had the same origin as they also have some issues with white skin instead of yellow as Cochins should have. The birds I've seen from them have nice type and foot feathering, though, so hopefully that's a good sign for the type on the birds I hatch from them. 🙏 Anyway, from there it's only a matter of a couple generations breeding to the silkied Cochins to introduce the silkied gene and produce silkied Chocolates. I then skip those couple of generations by getting already silkied Chocolates, so I only have to worry about selecting type and proper skin color from then on. 😁


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Well, that was a lot simpler than I anticipated.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I went out with the calipers to measure the boys' legs and get an idea of what size proper leg bands I would need for them in the future, and Washburne was veeery interested in my phone as I took pictures of each measurement to remember them.  










I find that the zip ties, while useful for switching out and adjusting for size when they're young and still growing, wear out pretty quickly and fall off, so I'm thinking of going for the spiral leg bands in multiple colors as those seem more durable. Thinking I'll do a system where one color tells me which pen a bird originated from and another what year they were born in so that I can tell at a glance. I'm still figuring out the details, but it seems like a usable system. I looked at numbered bands as well, but it seemed simpler to do a two-color system than to try and figure out numbers.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

What do you have? Give me. 

I never did come up with a good banding system that I could keep track of. I ended up numbering my pens to also help keep track.

If you use the slightly thicker zip ties they should last. I didn't cut Head Tuck's off until she was 12 or 13. It was stupid for it to be on there since I knew who she was and there was no danger of her going anywhere.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Good to know on the zip ties!

I think I've figured out the colors I need to remember the pens at least; green for Gus's pen since his baby band was green, red for the corner coop with Pete since that coop is all red, and blue for the third group since they're my Blues. I thought brown for the Chocolates initially, but then I realized that unlike blue for the Blues, brown will actually blend in and be kinda hard to see on the Chocolates, so maybe something like white to stand out more? It's the years that are puzzling me a bit, but I figure I'll at least know who all's the same age so that I don't accidentally retire someone too early or something.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Since I went for predominately white birds it got a little more complicated since I had so many pens of whites. 

Yellow might look good on chocolate. That's what Head Tuck wore most her adult life.


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## Farmer Reese (5 mo ago)

fuzzies said:


> I'm not sure what you're referring to with splitting back to splash?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thank you, I will go take a look at the site.


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## Farmer Reese (5 mo ago)

fuzzies said:


> I'm not sure what you're referring to with splitting back to splash?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thank you, so much, I just messaged them! So excited.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Checking in real quick with the babies this afternoon! They're about 3 months old now.
























The lighting was all over the place for the Blues, so their colors look a bit off in these pictures, but they're the best I could do. Really loving how some of these boys are filling out... It really is too bad I can only keep so many of them. 😩


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

The chocolate coloring is stunning. I think that's the first time I really got to see it. 

I keep scrolling back and forth on which ones I like but that's not fair because not all of them are posing where they're type really shows. Although I can't resist saying Blue 3 is top of my list. 

And chocolate 1. But the blacks are not really posing well enough for me to choose. Although Gus's 1 looks very interesting.


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## Farmer Reese (5 mo ago)

fuzzies said:


> Checking in real quick with the babies this afternoon! They're about 3 months old now.
> 
> View attachment 45308
> View attachment 45310
> ...


If you lived near me, I would take 1-2.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

robin416 said:


> The chocolate coloring is stunning. I think that's the first time I really got to see it.
> 
> I keep scrolling back and forth on which ones I like but that's not fair because not all of them are posing where they're type really shows. Although I can't resist saying Blue 3 is top of my list.
> 
> And chocolate 1. But the blacks are not really posing well enough for me to choose. Although Gus's 1 looks very interesting.


The chocolates are beautiful. I hope I'm able to hatch plenty of silkied Chocolates next year to work with!  

Yeah, it's tough to get them to pose. The boys especially are in that phase where they want to be big tough guys and fight off the scary box that keeps flashing light at them when I'm taking their pictures.  At least they're not like Mal, the little OEGB boy I have who actually jumps feet-first at the camera lens with his hackles all flared if I get too close while trying to take his pictures! He's a bit of a butthead, but at least it's only toward the camera and not toward me!

Black 1, Black G1, Chocolate 1, and the three Blue boys are all shaping up really nicely when seen in person, at least in my opinion. I can honestly say the only thing I'm seeing in any of them so far is minor comb things that a couple of them have that I don't like as much as the others. Blue 3, I've been calling him Wyatt. I'm torn between him and Blue 1 (still unnamed) again for my breeder male for the Blue pen, as they're both good looking dudes.  I was so confident it would be Blue 1 based on how they looked a month ago, but I guess it goes to show you shouldn't settle on your picks too soon as you never know who's going to have an ugly duckling story! Either way I decide to go, both are certainly sticking around so that I have a backup Blue just in case. Someone on another site suggested I should hatch some from both of them just to see what they both produce, so maybe I'll just do that.




Farmer Reese said:


> If you lived near me, I would take 1-2.


Well, if you're ever in northeast Indiana, let me know! I usually have a few extra cockerels hanging around anyway.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Well, evidently some of those looks are showing through in their pics since we seem to agree for the most part. 

It goes to show what I mentioned about Silkies. I had a couple that no way no how was I keeping them but no one wanted to buy them either. About a year and half later you couldn't tell they were the same birds that were so ugly.

Giggled about Mal. That has to be a shocker when he launches and you're looking to take the shot and not at him.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

robin416 said:


> Giggled about Mal. That has to be a shocker when he launches and you're looking to take the shot and not at him.


It was a surprise the first couple times! Now I know what to expect from the little squirt so it's easier to get his picture without this happening:


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I wish I could replay that. Get a little better idea of what he looks like. 

Seems he's living up to the game bird part of his breed.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Man, I just really don't have any good pictures of him on my laptop! This was one of his brothers, though. They're very much alike except Mal generally holds his tail at a lower angle.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

OMG! (I don't use that often.) He is absolutely stunning. I'll take a dozen of that variety. I would if I was healthier. In a NY minute, whatever that is.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

They are beautiful little birds! I've had an unfortunate string of hawk attacks over the past couple years resulting in most of my females being killed off, so I've had to shelve breeding them for the time being. I want to focus on the silkied Cochins for now anyway. But I do want to work with the OEGBs again, some day in the future when I'm able to build more secure housing for them. They're one of my absolute favorite breeds, along with the Cochins


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I get needing to focus on one breed. But dang woman, that little guy is beyond stunning.


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## Farmer Reese (5 mo ago)

fuzzies said:


> Man, I just really don't have any good pictures of him on my laptop! This was one of his brothers, though. They're very much alike except Mal generally holds his tail at a lower angle.
> 
> View attachment 45343


Wow! So gorgeous!


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Checking in again with pictures! I've sat down and really looked at my birds and come to several decisions on which birds to keep and which to move on. What I've concluded is this: I will be keeping all three Blue males that hatched this year, plus Black 1. I will not be keeping the mixed color guy, either of Gus's sons, Black 2, or Jack. There were a number of reasons I came to this decision, but suffice it to say it took a lot of mental back-and-forth before I settled on it and I'm happy with what I've decided on.

I have also decided that Washburne, Juniper, and possibly Bella will be culled from that breeding group after really sitting down and assessing them compared to the standard. Wash's type has always been less than stellar, so she was the obvious one to pull. Bella has some comb issues and beyond that just little things that bug me overall, which is why she's a maybe, and the same issues go for Juni, but Juni's eggs tend to be funky so they wouldn't be great to hatch from anyway, which is why she was the second obvious pull. I haven't taken their pictures in a long time now, but molt is starting to set in so they aren't as pretty as they could be. Actually handling them, though, and really looking them over in person, I feel like this is the right choice for that group. This will also make room for Trixie and Gwenyth to move to that pen, assuming I can tell Gwennie's eggs apart from the Cochins' eggs well enough that I'm confident I won't accidentally hatch from her. If they are too similar, then I'll have to pull her from that pen before I start hatching in the spring.

I did take pictures of the younger crowd yesterday, but the boys have moved to Rooster Row and are a pain in the butt to take pictures of now (well, always, but more so now), so I gave up after I got decent shots of the keeper boys. Since there are fewer pictures, I didn't bother to put them into collages as before. The youngest are about 4 months old now, and Trixie is just shy of 6 months old. I'm thankful I got those leg bands I'd been talking about and put them on Trixie and the younger Black pullet right away, because they are darn near impossible to tell apart now without them!!

















The first one is Trixie! The younger Black pullet (Black 3) I've been calling Boba or Bobo, short for Hellebore. She needed a flower name because she'll be going into Gus's group when she's mature to bulk out the numbers there a little bit, and all of Gus's girls have flower names. 

Out of the Blue pullets, I've been calling the lightest one (Blue 4) Athena, and the darker girl with good foot feathering (Blue 2) Inara.

















The darker Blue pullet with poor foot feathering (Blue 6), ugh, look at her type!! If only her middle toes weren't so barren of feathering! I started calling her Ottilie 🥰 I know, I know, I shouldn't keep her, but I got so few pullets this year and she's so adorable! She'll live in the mixed flock, as a non-breeder / cull.











As for the boys, I have the Blue boys named (Zeke for Blue 1, Wyatt for Blue 3, and Levi for Blue 5), but not Black 1 yet, I'm still brainstorming on him. Anyway, here they are in that order:


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

OK, I don't agree with you about Ottilie. Unless Cochins are way different foot feathering is a lot easier to fix than type. And she's got type all day long. I would put her with a boy that has the foot feathering you're looking for. 

I'm not crazy about Zeke's wing set. It looks weaker when compared to the other boys. 

I'm disappointed all of Gus' boys are going but I understand the need to let them go. What's the decision on the Chocolate?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

robin416 said:


> OK, I don't agree with you about Ottilie. Unless Cochins are way different foot feathering is a lot easier to fix than type. And she's got type all day long. I would put her with a boy that has the foot feathering you're looking for.


Is it? Recall I am pretty new to selection for breeding, so I guess I just assumed bad trait = immediate cull. She is such a typey little thing already, though, isn't she? ❤ All of the other silkied Cochins have great foot feathering, so if it's that simple, I can absolutely put her in one of the breeding pens! The genetics for foot feathering should be the same between Silkies and Cochins; several genes, mostly dominant with a couple recessives, that cause feathering in different parts of the leg and foot. I guess just from that I should have realized that foot feathering wouldn't be too tough to correct 




robin416 said:


> I'm not crazy about Zeke's wing set. It looks weaker when compared to the other boys.


Yeah, Zeke started off as my pick, but now I'm seeing less about him I like and more about Wyatt and Levi that I like... I've recently heard that 5-6 months of age is the earliest to finalize picks for breeding in bantam Cochins, so I'm holding out until then, but it's looking more and more like it'll be one of the other two. I'm keeping all three so that I have backup Blue males, so who I end up picking for the Blue pen really won't make any difference to the pen arrangements anyway.




robin416 said:


> I'm disappointed all of Gus' boys are going but I understand the need to let them go. What's the decision on the Chocolate?


I know, I am, too. They just aren't great for type and have remained scrawny where the other boys have grown and filled out nicely for their age. It's a shame, Gus is such a handsome guy, but between this and the fertility issues I've had with that pen, he's just not turning out to be that great of a breeding rooster.

The Chocolates were a bust, honestly. Choco 1 is in the mixed flock now because the other cockerels pick on him, and he can stay there as long as he gets along with the older boys as he matures, but he's limping again and I've already decided if his legs get worse like before I'm not going to mess around with that, I'll have to put him down.  Super weird. Hopefully the silkied Chocolates from Fluff-N-Stuff hatch well next year and have better type and leg feathering. 🙏


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Even Zeke with his weak wings could be fixed over time with the right breeding but his fault would be much harder to fix. Putting her with a boy with great foot feathering should show great improvement with the resulting peeps at the first breeding. 

And it's just a fault, it's not a DQ. 

I guess it's now to the point to shut Gus' pen down if he's not even giving you good progeny after all that work to finally get something from him. 

That's a shame on the chocolates. The color is stunning but you're right, no sense in adding to the work with one that can't carry itself.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

robin416 said:


> Even Zeke with his weak wings could be fixed over time with the right breeding but his fault would be much harder to fix. Putting her with a boy with great foot feathering should show great improvement with the resulting peeps at the first breeding.
> 
> And it's just a fault, it's not a DQ.


This is all very good to know, thank you so much! Ottilie is fortunately the only silkied Cochin I've hatched so far that's had weak foot feathering like this, so I have a lot of options as to who to pair her with. I guess I don't have to feel guilty about holding onto a cull, then.  Thankfully I didn't pair her off and sell her with one of the extra cockerels as a result!




robin416 said:


> I guess it's now to the point to shut Gus' pen down if he's not even giving you good progeny after all that work to finally get something from him.


Yeah, it might come to that. That's one reason I wanted to have plenty of backup males as well. I think I might try to hatch from Gus again next year, but if I'm still having lousy results by late spring I'll have to switch him out for one of the backups. This is the hard part for me; I really like Gus, but if he can't produce solid offspring, then he's a hindrance toward my goals with these birds.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

You've got this genetics thing down, this is your chance to really put it to use fixing the foot feathering. 

Do you have the standard for Cochins? If you did it might help you to decide what to keep and what to sell out of the flock. 

Foot feathering, combs are a couple of things with judicious breeding that can be fixed in one generation. Things like type and wing set can take much longer. 

One of the things you never did was get rid of a Silkie that had wonky feet. Whether missing a toe on one foot or duck footed because they were so easy to fix if everything else about the bird was spot on. 

Is it Gus or the girls he's with?


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

robin416 said:


> Do you have the standard for Cochins? If you did it might help you to decide what to keep and what to sell out of the flock.


I have the ABA standard. I'm _hoping _to get the APA standard as well once the next edition comes out (which is supposed to be next year, I think?), just because there are large fowl breeds that I'm also interested in that obviously the ABA doesn't cover.

I referenced the ABA standard a lot, especially when deciding on who to keep and move out of Pete's pen (that's the group with Wash, Bella, and Juni). Unfortunately, it doesn't really go into what is harder and easier to fix, just what is or is not desired, so now I'm questioning everything. 




robin416 said:


> Is it Gus or the girls he's with?


I thought about this as well right when I posted that last post, honestly. Zinni and Myrtle lay plenty of eggs, so they clearly aren't having problems with the fertility part, but they are half of the genetic equation with the offspring as well. If my hunch is correct that both of the chicks from that pen were Zinnia's, then maybe it's possible she's imparting their lack of strong growth at this point.... though both she and Gus grew up just fine, themselves.  I guess I'll take it in stages; if I _still _have problems after switching Gus out, then I guess I'll scrap the girls, too, and start over entirely with new birds. Or, alternatively, if I can hatch plenty of strong chicks out of Boba's eggs with Gus but not out of Zinni's or Myrtle's, then that would kind of answer that question as well and I would know the issue lies more with the girls than with Gus. A lot is kind of up in the air until I start trying to hatch next year, I guess.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Something to keep in mind with Gus' boys. There is a chance they are just slow to develop. I had it with a couple of mine. One boy was beyond awful. I didn't even try to give him away he was so ugly. Poor type, poor feathering. Fast forward a year and he was unidentifiable as the same boy at six months. 

That's where being a member of the Cochin forum would help you. You don't have to post. You don't have to say a danged thing about your birds. Or you can ask questions if you can't find an answer from one of the other breeders. 

You can learn a bunch of breeding tips from them. It's how I learned what I did with the Silkies.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I think the big reason why I decided not to keep them is that they aren't just behind, developmentally, it's like they're almost sickly. Like, they don't have any outward symptoms of anything, it seems like besides just being smaller and less filled out than the others, they also just don't seem to have as much energy or interest in exploring the pen. But, they're eating, drinking, pooping normally, no one is bullying them, and no one else has any issues. I don't know, I just don't like it. I suppose I can give them a little more time to see what happens, but I'd rather go forward with the boys that are already strong, healthy, and starting to look good, I guess. But again, I'm fairly new to all this selection business, so I am open to changing plans as I go along.

I have lines in communities with Cochin people in them, it's just confusing because it seems like they all act like poor middle toe feathering is so horrible, which is why Otter was on my do-not-breed list. 😅


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

When you don't have a lot of really typey females to use for breeding, keeping one with a fault won't hurt your breeding program. 

OK, I get. I guess I just had a thing for Gus' first peeps.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

I'm pretty limited in what I have at the moment for breeding females, just the four pullets and 7 adult hens (that's not including Dandelion), so it is a relief to know I won't have to cut one of the pullets out of my already pretty small selection. 

I understand, I did, too. I was so excited for Gus finally to have some babies! We'll try again in the spring and hopefully it'll go better. 🙏 He was among the first to hatch in my foray into breeding these guys, so I'd really love for him to leave a legacy behind in my flock.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I kept quite a few with faults during the years I was breeding Silkies. But don't ask me now how well it turned out. It must have been OK since I rarely sold any of those birds. 

It was when I wasn't paying attention anymore that I knew it was time to get out. I just did not have enough time and energy leftover to keep up with them. 

Yeah, well you just learned one of my weaknesses. Sometimes I just had to keep that one because (fill in the reason here). 










Here's one. Her name was Dwarf. Ugliest little Silkie but packed with personality. She didn't grow a tail until she was five.


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## Farmer Reese (5 mo ago)

robin416 said:


> OK, I don't agree with you about Ottilie. Unless Cochins are way different foot feathering is a lot easier to fix than type. And she's got type all day long. I would put her with a boy that has the foot feathering you're looking for.
> 
> I'm not crazy about Zeke's wing set. It looks weaker when compared to the other boys.
> 
> I'm disappointed all of Gus' boys are going but I understand the need to let them go. What's the decision on the Chocolate?


They all so gorgeous, hard to decide lol.🥰


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Hey, folks! Checking in again, sorry for the absence! I've just been busy with other things, and at one point had the flu as well, so that slowed me down for two weeks. 😬 It's been a whirlwind of a month, can't believe we're already almost half way through November!! I just wanted to make sure I kept you all updated with the fuzzy babies.  Did I have them all named the last time I posted? I don't remember, but they're all named now. I've sold off my extra boys finally (to someone in Michigan who sounded like she wants to breed them, too!!), so we're down to just the keeper birds again until hatching starts next year.

Anyway, here's Trix at 7 months old:











And the younger birds at 5 months old:

Dean, previously Black 1:










Boba, previously Black 3:










Zeke, previously Blue 1:










Inara, previously Blue 2:










Wyatt, previously Blue 3:










Athena, previously Blue 4 (she's a tough one to get a good picture of because she really wants me to hold her all the time 🥰 )










Levi, previously Blue 5:










Ottilie, previously Blue 6:









Now I have a million alerts to catch up on--apologies to those who've been waiting on me!


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Oh, I forgot! I also took pictures of Gus and his girls the other day! It'd been entirely too long since I'd taken good pictures of them (since they were under a year old, actually!), and they're just finishing their molts now so in as good of shape as they'll ever be.

The man himself, Gus:











Myrtle:











Zinnia:


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

So I don't forget, Zeke and Trix are my faves of the first group of pics.

I absolutely can see why you've got Gus and his girls in a breeding group. Maybe things will go better this breeding season with them. 

No, most were not named. 

Don't worry about it. Life comes first. Just happy to know all is well with you and the crowd.


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## fuzzies (Jul 27, 2021)

Trixie is a good looking little lady! She's the sassiest little squirt in the flock right now, though! Don't pet her without permission or you'll get a pinch!  

I'm still going back and forth between Wyatt and Zeke, but Zeke _was _my initial choice... Man, it's tough to choose! With the extra boys gone, the coop they'll be living in is empty now, so I've just got to clean it out and maybe cut another window or two in there (it's kinda dark in that coop as-is), and whichever cockerel I decide on and the pullets can move out there together. They have another month before that minimum 6-month age I read about for really choosing, so I'm trying to be patient about it. Emphasis on _trying_. 

I certainly hope I have better luck with Gus's group next year! I'll be trying to integrate Boba into that group, so maybe a younger girl in the mix will help with that. 🙏


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I can see why you're struggling between the two of them. I went back and forth trying to decide why I chose Zeke.

They say pay attention to what pleases the eye for symmetry. I think with Zeke it's that little peak of his back for me. But it's a pic. It's not seeing them moving around and being birds.

And I'm a year person. I get the six month wait for really close calls. I had one Silkie boy ugly as sin. I kept him because he was so ugly he was fun to watch. He hit a year old and that ugly boy just went poof. Doing side by side pics you wouldn't know it was the same bird.

Trixie knows she's special and she's making sure you're aware of it.

BTW, I adopted an older dumped Chi-mix and named her Trixie. Your Trixie has her beat in the looks department.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Get a handful of the older APA standards, it seems like I have them from the beginning of time. Also some of the European standards make for interesting reading and offer a lot of history and context for specfic breeds. Check Ebay and sites like Bookfinder to build your library. And while the standards don't change much, things do evolve, albeit slowly. Look at the trends in South America and Asia.


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