Chickens of the Cochinchin breed
Cochin-Chin is an old meat breed of chickens, which became the ancestor of many modern varieties. It was bred in Indochina at the beginning of the 19th century. In the middle of the century, chickens came to Europe, and 50 years later - to Russia. Now the popularity of the breed has fallen, as there are more productive broilers that gain weight faster. They keep it at breeding stations and in private households. The Cochin Chicken breed is receiving good reviews.
Chickens of the Cochinchin breed
Description of the breed
If you see Cochinchin chickens at least once in a photo or video, they cannot be forgotten. It is also easy to distinguish them from representatives of other species: these chickens are large, massive birds with lush and loose plumage, resembling large balls, but there is a dwarf Cochinchin, such a breed of chickens is much smaller. Their body tilts down a little, because the chickens look a little squat, but this does not harm their appearance at all. The description of the Cochinchin chickens and the breed standard are as follows:
- The head is small.
- The beak is short, slightly bent.
- The scallop is small, leaf-shaped, bright red.
- The eyes are orange.
- The neck is stocky, bends at the transition to the back.
- The chest is broad and muscular.
- The back is short and wide.
- The wings are not very long, the tips are hidden in the tail.
- The hens have a short tail, and the cockerels have long braids.
- The thighs are well muscled and well developed.
- Legs of medium length, covered with thick feathers.
- The plumage is very dense and loose, of different colors.
The character of the Cochinchins is calm and balanced. They walk measuredly around the yard, they never show aggression towards each other, even the handsome Kochin-khin cockerels. They quickly get used to people and behave very friendly.
The disadvantages of the breed are considered to be a narrowed breast and body, an elongated backrest, metatarsus with weak plumage, pale earlobes or protruding eyes, an enlarged and rough comb. Chickens are exhibition decorative birds such as the blue cochinchin, therefore special attention is paid to the features of their exterior, much more than to performance.
Productivity of chickens
The food characteristic of the Cochinchin breed is weak in comparison with other modern varieties. Now these birds are bred more like decorative, and not meat Cochinquins do not gain weight much, because it is much more profitable to keep broilers. Productivity indicators are as follows:
- The chicken weighs 4-4.5 kg, the rooster 4.5-5.5 kg.
- The number of eggs per year is 100-120 eggs.
- The mass of one egg is 50-60 g.
- The shell is brown, strong.
- Chickens begin to lay at 7-8 months.
As you can see, besides the large weight, the chickens have nothing to boast about, but the weight is not their advantage, since the chicks recover slowly. They reach their final size in 5-6 months. During this time, they eat a lot of feed, which makes the Cochinquin breed unprofitable.Cochin Chicken meat is tasty, but too fatty. With modern nutritional standards, it is difficult to classify it as a dietary one, but the broth from such meat turns out to be very tasty. In addition, the egg production of chickens does not decrease even in severe frosts.
Advantages and disadvantages of the breed
Since the Cochinchin breed of chickens still exists, it means that it has its own merits. The pluses include:
- Great weight and tasty meat.
- Good adaptability to cold climates.
- Resistant against any illness.
- Unpretentiousness in feed and to keeping conditions.
- Good egg production both in summer and winter.
- Undemanding walking areas.
- Good hatching instinct.
- Nice appearance.
If everything is so perfect, why are Cochin Chickens so rare? Unfortunately, the breed has many disadvantages that prevent it from being bred on an industrial scale. Here is a list of them:
- Chickens get fat quickly.
- Chickens fledge for a long time and grow slowly.
- When breeding at home, breed characteristics may be lost.
- Even a large mass does not cover feed costs.
- Chickens are expensive, as they are few and far between.
Several decades ago, the Cochinchin breed began to disappear, but amateurs from different countries decided to keep these beauties for Cochinchin chickens at an affordable price. Now chickens can be found in private farmsteads in Europe, America, Asia, they are also in Russia.
Varieties of the breed
As already mentioned, Kochin chickens can have very different plumage, there are Cochin and red. Now the breeding of the breed is going in the decorative direction, therefore many pay attention to the beauty of the birds. Several varieties of Cochinchins have formed, which differ from each other in color and structure of feathers.
Black Cochin
Cochinchin coal black is a large absolutely black bird. Low tide is purple or green. The color of the nib rod is black. White down is allowed, but it should not show through the integumentary feathers. The Cochinquin's beak is coal black and has black-yellow or dark gray. The color of the legs is yellow or with a green tint. Brown and black coloration of the hocks is not allowed.
White Cochinchin
White Cochinquin has a lush white plumage. Yellowness, marble pattern is not allowed, although feathers may have a silvery sheen. The beak of the rooster and the hen should be yellow, as well as the metatarsus. A slight greenish tint to the legs is acceptable. The horny plates on the metatarsus should not be white. Cochinchin standard white is not very popular, as such plumage looks the least original.
Cochin Blue
Cochin Blue is the most common variety in the Cochin Chicken, as it is considered the most beautiful. This Cochinchin has a blue or silver plumage, evenly distributed throughout the body. There should be no dark edging on the feathers. The rooster has a beautiful blue tail. The head and neck can be nearly black, as can the capsulate on the wings. Silver with white color of the underfloor is allowed. Metatarsus yellow, may have a slight greenish tint. Unacceptable defects - white feathers on the tail of a rooster, brown or red tint of feathers.
Cochin-khin fawn
Cochinchin fawn has a bright and rich yellow plumage. The down, the shafts of each feather, as well as the metatarsus and beaks are painted in a beautiful color. The tail is bronze. Because of this shade of the feather, the variety of the breed was also called yellow Cochinchin. Black feathers or black-and-gray rods, a light shade of color, white bloom on the feathers or white down are considered a defect. Chickens often have darker feathers than roosters. It should be noted that the true fawn color is very rare. Most birds have some color defect.
Partridge Cochinquin
The Cochin Chicken is a bright and beautiful bird with colorful plumage.Feather shades on different parts of the body are strictly regulated, primarily in the male. The partridge cock of the Cochinchin breed is colored as follows:
- The head is reddish brown.
- The collar is golden with brown.
- Each feather of the collar has a black streak bordered in gold.
- The back and shoulders are brown-red.
- The loin is brown or yellow with gold.
- The flight feather on the wings is brown on top, and black on the bottom.
- Each wing has a transverse stripe of a rich black shade with a greenish tint.
- The breast is black and brown.
- The tummy, feathers on the tail and metatarsus are black.
- The pillow is dark gray, almost black.
Partridge hens have brownish-golden feathers. Each has a distinctive multi-row black edging that follows the shape of a feather. The collar consists of black feathers, each with a golden border. The tail is black with a brown tint. The beak and legs are yellowish; a gray bloom is acceptable on the beak. A defect is considered to be bright red and red shades of plumage, interspersed with white feathers, the bordering pattern is indistinct, violations of the arrangement of flowers on the body.
Dwarf Cochinchin
The dwarf Cochin Chin breed of chickens is a separate species that was bred in China along with a large relative. The structure of females, the type of plumage is the same as that of most birds of the Cochinhin mini dwarf breed. In fact, they differ only in size. Mini chicken weighs 650-700 g, rooster - 750-850 g. Laying hens are capable of carrying about 80 eggs with light brown shells weighing up to 30 g per year. or yellow, blue, partridge. Therefore, the dwarf Cochinquin and its characteristics are positive.
Content of the Cochinquins
The breed of chickens Cochinchin is unpretentious in content. Such birds can live in a standard chicken coop... The area should be large enough as the chickens are large. For 1 sq. m should live no more than 2 individuals. It is not necessary to equip a walking area, but if possible, you can make a small area next to the poultry house. Chickens and roosters do not fly, so there is no need to enclose the paddock.
Perches in the poultry house they arrange at a low height so that a heavy chicken can jump on them. The house should be well lit, there should be 1 window with an area of 1 m2 per 10 m². In the evening they turn on 60 kW lamps. The ideal temperature for a poultry house is 10-15 ° C. In summer, it can rise to 25 ° С, and in winter, it can drop to -2 ° С. But too strong changes should not be allowed: the chickens will start to hurt. If the winters in the region are very cold, it is better to install heating in the chicken coop.
The humidity in the chicken coop should be 55-65%, be sure to install ventilation or regularly ventilate the room. Caring for Cochinchin chickens, their cultivation is simple. Need to be changed regularly bedding, make sure that it is not too dirty and the humidity does not exceed 25%. To care for feathers in a poultry house or on a walking area, you should put a container with wood flour. Birds will take dry baths from time to time. In the pen where chickens walk, there should be no dirt: they can stain their fluffy feather panties.
Feeding chickens
This unpretentious chicken with a good appetite eats almost any food. Her diet is based on grains. It is best to give wheat, corn, barley. This breed is prone to obesity, so it is better to exclude oats from the menu. Legumes will also be useful for chickens: peas, lentils, vetch. In winter, you can include wheat bran, sunflower cake or soybean cake in the diet.
In summer, Cochinchin chickens can graze in an open area, nibble on grass, and look for worms and insects. At this time, the diet is enriched with fresh herbs, plant tops. Chickens are given zucchini, pumpkin, cucumbers and other vegetables.In winter, fresh herbs are replaced with grass flour, boiled potatoes, carrots, beets are given, kitchen cleaning such feeding will provide the flock with all the necessary vitamins.
Proteins enter the body along with meat and bone or fish meal, meat broths. There are many proteins in legumes. Be sure to include mineral additives in the menu: shells, chalk, table salt, gravel. To increase egg production, Premix and other vitamin supplements are given. There should always be fresh water in the chicken coop.
Chickens are fed 2-3 times a day. In the morning they give one third of the grain, at lunchtime - wet vegetable mash, in the evening (at 16-17 hours) - 2/3 of the grain. Be careful not to put on a lot of weight. Feeding too late in the evening can lead to obesity in birds. If a cochinquin rooster or chicken grow fat, the diet is reduced, trying to give less high-calorie feed.
Breeding chickens
Chickens of the Cochinchin breed are wonderful brood hens. The rooster, both dwarf and standard, fertilizes eggs well. It is important to monitor the weight of the parent flock, overweight layers and males reproduce poorly. For breeding, individuals are selected that fully correspond to the breed. It is very important to preserve all the signs of color, body structure, weight and egg production as in the video.
Eggs can be incubated artificially or put under a hen. Chicks hatch after 21 days. First, they need to be kept warm at a temperature of 28-30 ° C. You also need round-the-clock lighting. In the early days, young animals are fed with a boiled egg, chopped herbs, cottage cheese, then they give porridge or steamed millet, barley and corn grits. From the second week, raw wheat grain is connected. Walking chickens can be released from the age of 7-8 days.
The main task of breeding is to replenish the genetic fund. At home, without proper experience, this is not always possible to achieve. For hatching chickens, you can buy a hatching egg, small chickens or adult chickens. Chickens of the Cochinchin breed fledge late, typical signs in females and cockerels can be distinguished only at 10-12 months.
Buying chicks and eggs for incubation is always fraught with risk, it is difficult to say how high-quality the material will turn out to be. It is best to purchase adult chickens right away, create a parent flock of them and independently breed when the layers begin to lay. The price of an adult chicken is 800-1500 rubles, depending on the size of the batch and the quality of the breed. Daily chicks cost 200-250 rubles per head, monthly chicks are sold for 300-350 rubles, hatching eggs - for 70-100 rubles. A dwarf cochinchin costs the same as a large one. The implementation is carried out in cities such as the capital (Moscow region), Rostov-on-Don, etc.