the; ASIATICS. 



males and depending upon these matlngs 10 produce my 

 exhibition males. You cannot have too much feather on 

 your Cochins, providing you do not have any vulture hocks. 

 The only advantages to be gained in the use of cockerels 

 over cock birds is in their greater activity and vigor. I 

 would rather have a few chicks bred from males and fe- 

 males in their second year than double the number from 

 birds in their first year of production. The very best of 

 size, shape and color comes from the very finest two year 

 old hens. You need not hope to have large sized offspring 

 from under sized Cochin hens. 



It is quite as difficult to produce fine color in the Buffs, 

 Blacks and Whites as in the Partridge. You must always 

 select the very best color and under color for the reproduc- 

 tion of all varieties of Cochins. Some prefer a lemon, some a 

 darker, verging on a cinnamon. I myself prefer the very 

 best of rich golden buff, but perfect evenness of color 

 throughout is of the greatest importance. 



There are a few features in the breeding of the fowls 

 that have the same influence with Cochins as with the others. 

 These are bad combs, ugly, ill-formed heads, long ungainly 



wing bow on either your male or your female. Always 

 select good even colored specimens to breed from. Do not 

 have anything to do with mixed or mealy colors. In Buffs, 

 when you know that they were formerly of good even color, 

 any slightly uneven or mottled plumage need not be so much 

 feared. Always mate together nearly even shades, having 

 a male just a little darker than the female. Mealiness and 

 bad color in Buff Cochins come largely from pairing to- 

 gether uneven shade. Undercolor is of the greatest import- 

 ance. A male should always have a good rich undercolor, 

 for color comes largely from the male, and it is always best 

 to have good undercolor in both male and female. A line 

 of Cochins that has been bred with care in the selection of 

 surface and undercolor is much more apt to produce and 

 maintain a good even shade than a promiscuous selection 

 from many flocks. , 



BLACK AND WHITE EQUALLY OBJECTIONABLE 



The Standard tells us that white or black in the plum- 

 age of the Buff Cochin fowl is equally objectionable. The 

 facts are that if there is white in wings and undercolor of 



Two Breeding Pens of Buff Cochins— Owned by J. D. Nevius, 



backs and vulture hocks. These features seem to transmit 

 most readily in the Cochin, but one could scarcely meet with 

 any so neglectful of their interests as to use birds showing 

 such defects in their breeding pens. When you have in 

 view the production of Cochins for the show room, tbe most 

 difficult problem is to unite the three points that are de- 

 manded in all exhibition Cochins — form, feather and color. 

 If you do not have Cochin shape, you do not show Cochins. 

 If your Cochins lack feather, there is but little chance for 

 them to succeed in the show room, and after you have the 

 form and feather, if you lack in color, you again fail. The 

 successful Cochin breeder must unite all three of these qual-' 

 ities if he would be successful. 



There is a natural loss of color in the Buff variety. 

 There is no way to guard again this; every one is fully ac- 

 quainted with the fact that Buff is the very hardest color in 

 the world to produce and to retain. All shades become mo^e 

 or less mottled. This shows more distinctly in the dark col- 

 ored females and is caused by bad molting. We have seen 

 some of these mottled hens, dry plucked at molting time, 

 that grew a very smooth, rich coat of feathers quite unlike 

 that of the season before. 



Never tolerate in any of your breeding stock the red 



either the males or the females, it has a tendency to pro- 

 duce lighter colored offspring. With black shadings in 

 wings or tail this has an influence in the opposite direction, 

 as it is apt to produce dark body colors. Personally I have 

 much less fear for white than for black. I always prefer 

 and select, so far as possible, even, true colors and mate 

 them together. In reckoning for defects in the show room, 

 you must follow the law of the Standard, which says black 

 or white shading in wing or tail shall be considered alike 

 objectionable. 



As to the coloring of Partridge Cochins, what we all 

 aim for is to have the neck color of the male and the female 

 exactly as demanded by the Standard. Bright red for the 

 male, with a distinctive black stripe, the same for the fe- 

 male. But whenever you establish a long line of high 

 quality penciled females, you will find that the shade and 

 color of neck become very much lighter, and ofttimes 

 almost as much penciled as the body plumage itself. We 

 all prefer to have the exact color demanded in the Standard, 

 but I have not met with a half dozen females in the past 

 three years that possessed both the proper color and pencil- 

 ling of body plumage and the Standard demand for color 

 in neck. We must all strive to gain the color and markings 



