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Board
President
H.A.J.Warnshuis
Wasserfurt 2
46286 Dorsten/Lembeck BRD
Phone: 0049 2369 77094
E-mail:
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Vice-president
H.Brasser
Hoge Kampweg 3
1271 HV Huizen
Phone: 0031 35 5242121
Secretary/ Treasurer P.Verhoef
W.Genevestraat 37
3172 VC Poortugaal
Phone: 0031 10 5018560
E-mail:
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Third international Cochinday
On the 8th of september the third international Cochinday was held in Zeddam, Netherlands. Many breeders and fanciers, with or without birds, visited this very special day. Respected breeders were asked to judge the birds. From England there was Michael Hatcher, from Germany Mike Gallasch and from the Netherlands Ronals Vos, Hendrik Timmer and Hans Ringnalda. The winners were picked out by Gijs van den Oever (NL). In his very own way he chose the best male and best female, explaining to the breeders how he came to his decision. Michael Hatcher pointed out the best male and female in Cochins.
An hour before judging started one could hear discusions in different languages while drinking coffee. Very surprising was the visit of a rumanian breeder, Bobo Athes and his wife.They came nearly 2000 kilometers by train( 36 hours trip ).
Now to the birds. Entered were 42 Cochins. It was a pity that 10 did not show up. Six birds in partridge. Winner was Ardjan Warnshuis; second best was a bird of Roland Schmidt from Germany. Two very good mottled pullets from Lüppens (D).From the whites six cages stayed empty. Best white from L.Weckx (B). A nice class of 15 black birds. Best from Lüppens and Lieder (D). Six blue birds of W.Lensing (D) from which a cockerel was best Cochin of the day. Last but not least a pair of cuckoos from which the pullet was best opposite sex.
Entered were 142 bantams in 15 colours. Best wheaten of Andreas Lohman (D). Best silverwheaten F.Hannes (B).Seventeen birds in partridge; a colour that seemed nearly died out a couple of years ago. Best male F.Hannes; best female and best partridge Ardjan Warnshuis. A very good class of columbian birds. Winner D.Ivens (B). In buffcolumbian the same breeder showed the best bird. 15 mottled birds of good quality. Good birds of Sneyer Marien (B best male) and Gerrit Bosch (NL best female). Father and son van Moerkerk (NL) showed six lovely white birds. Senior had best female of the judge and junior had the best juvenile. These birds drew the attention of english breeders. In black very nice birds of H.Don (NL), Weckx (B best black) and Ivens. A very good class of perlgrey (lavender). Winner in both sexes was Claas Dorn (D). The female was the best bantam of the day. One bird in perlgreycuckoo of M.Zonneveld (NL). In buff 15 birds. The best birds showed by H.A.M.Bosch (NL). Three good birds in cuckoo and four in buffcuckoo completed the lot.
After the best birds were picked out throphies were handed out to the winners. Over all it was a great day. Many new faces were there and old friends met again.
A.W.
Breed Characteristics of
Bantam Cochins
From an article of Mr. Van der Horst from Avicultura nr.13 from June 1953 a description of the ideal type and feather-quality of the Cochinbantam.
Type and feather-quality of the Bantam Cochin are so connected, that one can see the bird as a ball of feathers with a round type. They are tilting so much that one can hardly see the legs. The legs should be long enough to walk normally, so the low tilt is more an appearance as a reality. This is due to the rich and overwhelming feathers. It is not advised to breed with birds that are too short legged. The correct tilt comes when the birds bend forward in the hip joint. The tilt we spoke about makes judging often difficult. If the bird keeps its head up too much it loses type. This is usually due to the bird being frightened. Often if you look at the bird later when it has come to ease, it shows a better type. The body of the Bantam Cochin must tilt forward in a way that the head and the tail are on the same level. If the bird leans forward more than that, the body touches the ground, which is not correct. The birds must have a broad breast and the feet standing rather wide. This way the bird looks in such a way that its length equals its height and its breadth.
Another main thing is the very short neck and the broad saddle or cushion. This accentuates the ball shape that is wanted. Also the rather high carried wings and the leg- and foot feathers give an accent to the type. Correctly displayed, all these things build the right shape of the bird. The main thing is the overwhelming mass of feathers. This also means that the birds have to be looked after very well when they are moulting. No hard food and lots of green will help them through the moult.
The head also plays a crucial part. The Bantam Cochin should have a nice, small head with a small comb and small, nicely rounded wattles. That fits a perfect Bantam Cochin. The single combs should be lively red. To show the birds does not take more efforts than for any other breed of bantams. Because of the leg- and foot feathers you have to control the condition of the legs. You can put some vaseline on the legs. That will make the legs more shining yellow.
HISTORY OF OUR BREEDS
To find out more about the history of our breeds one reads old books and speakes with a lot of old breeders and one hopes to find the right information. Often we do not know how it realy started. A lot of stories are told about our breeds in the nineteenth century. Therefore it is not possible to be complete in this. I will try to tell you what is the most possible in the history of Cochin and Cochinbantam(Pekin). I will not give exact dates, because we do not know if they are reliable.
The Cochinbantam(Pekin) is said to come from the Emperers Gardens from Peking. The story goes that british soldiars brought the little buffcoloured birds to Europe. Beside the colour they did not have much in common with the birds of today. Part of them had no feathers on the leg, some had five toes and they did not have yellow legs. Once in England, and from there to USA and other europian countries, developments of the breed drifted apart. In England one bred a small bird with much feathers on the leg. This was to become the Pekin. A small bird that does not have the same type as the Cochinbantam. The americans bred the real ball of feathers. The hughe mass of feathers which gave the bird its type. On the continent, specially in Holland and Germany, one started with the small birds from England. Here they also tried to create the ball of feathers, but only import from USA helped to accomplish that goal. In Germany the birds have the best rounded shape. The dutch birds are a bit inbetween the german and english birds.In Germany one has succeeded to breed that many feathers in saddle and cushion that the hackle goes straight into the cushion and gives a perfect line of the back. Because of this overwelming mass of feathers the wings rest on the thighfeathers and do not make the tail look like an extra ball, but as part of the whole. This fenomanon we sometimes see in european Cochinbantams.About how colours were created, we do not know much. Obviously other bantambreeds helped here. It is possible that two persons, without knowing of eachother developed the same colour in Cochinbantams. If they have used different breeds to create them, and these lines come together, the outcome might be a positive or negative surprise. This is due to the total different ancestors of the birds. After there were white, black and buff coloured birds in Holland, there were created some more colours. Partridge, blackmottled, bluemottled, goldbirchen (brown-red), cuckoo, blue, perlgrey(lavender) and the last colour is buffmottled. Some colours came by excedent, others by selected breeding. All columbianvarieties, porcelin(mille fleurs), silverpartridge(dark), all wheatenvarieties and buff- and prelgrey(lavender)cuckoo were bred in Germany. In Germany and Denmark crele were bred.
The standard Cochin has ist roots in the region where today we find Laos, Cambodja and Vietnam. Quiet reliable is the information that the first birds came to England as living provisions for sailors who did bussiness with that part of the world. The two Sturgeon brothers got the first birds in buff, cimanon and game(partridge)colour. One of them started breeding the buffs and a friend of his the partridge. Here as like in the bantams, the first birds had, beside the enorm size, not much in common with the Cochins of today. Some had no feather on the leg. Also they showed many different combs. The Cochin was bred with a single comb. It is said that the birds with other combs were used to breed the Brahma. After the „Cochinmania“ was over, breeders started to develope the Cochin of today. How different colours were created is realy unknown.In the Netherlands the cuckoo was created in the seventies of the last century. In Germany the mottles were first bred. In Belgium one of our members made bluemottled out of the mottled. In the United States one can see birds in whiteblack-columbian, gold- and silverlaced and brown-red.In England and and Belgium there are buffcuckoo and years ago our member Jef Paris said he had seen salmoncoloured birds in Sweden.
Characteristics of the Cochin
The Cochin is one of the largest poultry breeds we know. They belong to the giant breeds, like Brahma, Langshan and Jersey Giant. From these breeds the Cochin is the one with the fluffiest feathers. This makes them look even bigger and heavier than they really are. The weight of the hens is 3-4 kilograms; cocks weigh up to 5 kilograms and more. They have a mass of soft, fluffy feathers. The body is broad and deep. They carry their breast forward and downward. The saddle or cushion should be as broad as the shoulders and end in a broad soft-feathered tail. The implant of the main tail feathers has the shape of an upside-down U. They should be as soft as possible, so that the saddle- or cushion feathers can push them downward to give the tail is characteristic round shape. They have overwhelming thigh- and foot feathers. The legs should be well spread. Cocks show a higher stand as hens. They should have broad heads, with the eyebrows becoming more and more obvious as they get older. Rather small combs and well rounded wattles make the head complete. The forward tilt is not as strong as in the Cochin bantams, but should be visible in both sexes. A bird with such a mass of feathers should have a good feather quality. The feathers should be as broad as possible. One-third of the feather is visible. Two-thirds make up the fluffy part which is not visible. When the feathers are getting narrower, they don’t cover up the fluff-part, especially in the saddle or cushion. This breed regularly needs fresh blood to keep them vital and big enough. One can breed different strain and every now and then cross the different lines. Also one can get fresh blood by crossing in a bird from another breeder. This is not very easy, because most birds in Western Europe are somehow related. Many breeders have already exchanged birds in the last two decades. The Cochin is fairly calm and docile and does not fly. They can be kept in rather small space, although free range keeping makes them develop better bones and muscles which is good for these giants. The breed is recognized in black, white, buff, blue, cuckoo and partridge. All over the world people are trying to create new colours.
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