Gold Laced Cochins- Breeding advice? Pics on pg2, come critique!

[blaundee]

I got some GL Cochins from DAK yesterday, and I LOVE them! I didn't know LF came in GL! I thought it was only the bantams... so anyway, I am thrilled with my birds! Now, I need advice on what to breed for, as far as HOW to enhance and perfect their lacing, and any other Cochin-breeding related advice.

I've got 2 males and 3 hens, DAK told me that she doesn't consider them SQ and told me why, also she shared some pointers on what to look for in the lacing and coloring. My birds need work on their lacing and on their "fluffiness"- they are fluffy, but not as much as most Cochins

To work on the "fluffiness" (I don't know the proper term!) should I use other cochin colors to try to improve, or will that ruin my coloring/lacing that I've already got? (I don't want to go backwards!)

As for the lacing here's what I've got on the hens. One of the hens has black edges just on the tips of her feathers.



The lacing on the roosters is pretty good, one is too thick according to DAK but the other one is pretty nice.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

I've been working on mine for several years now...not only do they need help with lacing but also with their size & type. I know of another cochin breeder who recently started on his own GLC project and added GLW to the mix to help improve size, lacing, etc.

Honestly, I haven't tried that route but I've been watching his stuff closely and you'd bet that in a few years once he gets them where they need to be--I'll be there trying to buy some! LOL

Do you have any body shots of your birds?

It's good to know that someone else is interested in working on them--they need a lot of work!!

 

[blaundee]

Quote:
No body shots yet, might have some up tonight or tomorrow.

I am REALLY excited about these!!!

 

[cochinman2005]

And there in lies the dilemma in breeding the Laced varieties.

how to get better size and type while maintaining the color.? Not easy. Certainly, you could go the route of crossing to Blacks, but you'll lose the pattern the first year and then have several years to get the color back but you may not be any better off than when you started.

I was working on improving cushions in my Buffs so crossed a White Male X Buff female 3 years ago. f1 produce more or less Brown Red looking large Cochins. Not genetically Brown Red mind you, but Black base color with Buff hackle and saddle and some buff in the chest (male). The female was a dull black color with buff hackle. LAst year, after I had hatched a few more from this female bred to a Buff male (working on getting better cushions in my Buffs), I used that female and crossed a GL male on her which produced basically Buff Columbian looking birds. I had 2 males and 2 females. I used one of the females this year, and crossed her back to GL males, which has produced some very promising mostly GL birds. Good size, good body. Lacing is a bit heavy, but type is greatly improved. Next year will be back to pure GL again. We'll see what turns up. I have some other crosses I did with Partridge (accidentally). Males, but also very promising in the type category and huge.

GL X Buff Columbian (the bird with her butt toward the camera is a Partridge)

GL X Partridge

I will try to take some more pics this weekend.

 

[michickenwrangler]

I know one of the base colors is partridge. What would you breed to partridge to get the gold lacing?

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Here are some of mine....

You'll have to excuse the roo's comb...he got frostbite...

These are pure Cochin.

Some young pullets:

 

[Coopa Cabana]

Quote:
The basic gene pool for the Single-Laced Pattern is Pg +Ml + Co (Patterned plus Melanizer plus Columbian).
Partridge (Pencilled) is Pg. If you add Ml to Pg, you will get Double-Laced (Pg + Ml).
If you add Co to Double-Laced, you will get Single-Laced.

I'm not sure if Buff Columbian has the Melanizer gene, but I think that may be the first cross needed. Although you could end up with Buff Laced rather than Gold Laced.

I do know that Single-Laced is Pg + Ml + Co. Exactly which colors to use - I'm sure someone that has made the cross can help further.

 

[blaundee]

I got pics tonight, and will post tomorrow

 

[punky rooster]

Quote:
these are VERY nice good job!

 

[swheat]

Here is my pair of LF GL cochin pair. I have just started hatching some little ones from them.