MATING BUFF COCHINS. 



The Influence of Past Ma-tings— How to Overcome Prominent Defects And Maintain the Required 



Size and Proportion. 



By A. W. Bell. 



THE proper mating of any buff breed to produce the 

 most desirable shade of buff is a question yet in a 

 very transient and unsatisfactory state. Of course, 

 if one has the room to produce chickens of any one 

 variety in the hundreds, doubless he can by proper selection 

 obtain a sufficient number of good birds to exhibit and sell 

 his customers. But if on the other hand his space was limited 

 to about forty or fifty chickens each year, then comes the test 

 of his resources. This is as true in any of the buff varieties as 

 in Buff Cochins. I have visited the yards of a large number 

 of prominent breeders of other buffs, and have found where 

 they are raised in large numbers, all shades of buff from a 

 light lemon to a color bordering on cinnamon. 



What is the cause of this? 



No doubt they are cases of reversion to some ancestors 

 of these shades, going back to a time when they mated these 

 dark birds to a lighter one to produce a good under-color, 

 and whilst that purpose was accomplished, it has left a taint 

 in the blood of their progeny that Will take years to breed 

 out, but to a certain extent will be continually cropping out. 

 In these days so much more specialty breeding, that is, 

 mating a male with one or two females, is done than for- 

 merly. 



In all articles, in mating one most universally finds 

 statements like these that the male bird gives the color to 

 the chicks, and the female the size and shape. I do not be- 

 lieve this is the case, but on the contrary, that the female 

 has as much to do with the color as the male, and not only 

 is this so in color, but also in shape, i. e., one parent has as 

 much to dt> with producing color and shape as another. 

 Breeders of other stock do not lay as much stress upon color 

 from the male and shape from the female as we do in 

 poultry. 



This was brought to my notice very forcibly the other 

 day when discussing this subject with a breeder of horses 

 for a number of years, and he showed a pair of horses, filly 

 and gelding, the former a brown and the latter a bay. The 

 dam was a bay and the sire a bay. He told me that all this 

 stallion's colts were of the same color of fillies, whilst the 

 geldings almost unlversially in color took after the dam. 



But can all the characteristics of breeding In one line 

 of stock be found or carried out in another? This year I 

 bred a very heavily hocked male with much foreign color 

 in wings and tail to females solid buff in these particulars, 

 and whilst we would expect to get bad winged birds, yet 

 the females take mostly after their dams, whilst the cocker- 

 els follow the sire. 



The chief obstacles to overcome in breeding Buff Coch- 

 ins are color, shape and size. In color, we have the uneven- 

 ness not only in surface color, but also in under-color, for 

 if you have the latter you will undoubtedly have the former. 



To overcome these, .select in both parents stock of as 

 uniform a color all over as you have, one whose hackle, 

 back, saddle and body shades are all the same. These prop- 

 erly mated will give you birds that will be a pleasure to 



behold. Under no circumstances use dark surface colored 

 birds for present day exhibiting. 



I do not object to a little black in tail or wings, in 

 breeders, as you must have this to retain your rich surface 

 color, and if your birds are too dark, a little white in the 

 wings will soon tone this down, though many look upon 

 white as a most serious defect, yet if one's birds are inclined 

 to be too dark, the presence of white will in a season or 

 two work wonders. 



Another serious color defect is shaftlness. This, to me, 

 is the hardest point to eradicate, but if one will persist in 



A Buff Cochin Female of Rare Shape and Color, Winning First Prize as 



Pullet at Boston (Novice Class) ; Eastern Ontario and Chicago. As 



Hen, First at the Eastern Ontario and Ontario Shows, also 



at Chicago and New Yor^. Owned by A. W. Bell. 



using those birds with good under-color, not too dark, and 

 the quills of the feathers buff both on the surface and under- 

 neath, which can be easily noticed by looking at the wing 

 spread out from the under side. 



Endeavor to breed from birds having a rich buff 

 (not red) quill, superficially, and one will be highly satis- 

 fied with the result. 



Mealiness is most prominent on the wing bows of 

 females, but is very seldom seen in first-class birds of 

 to-day. This was caused by formerly breeding dark males 

 to light females to produce under-color, but as this is not 

 practiced at present to any extent, it is not much seen. 



In breeding for shape, I like to employ birds as short 

 in every particular, save length of feather, as I possibly can 

 obtain. 



A Cochin should have a short neck, short in back, which 



