THE WHITE COCHINS. 



A Useful Variety for Exhibition and Practical Purposes— The Standard Demands for Form and 



Feather— A Bird Worthy of the Breeder's Skill. 



By Edward Wtatt. 



I 



T IS with the utmost pleasure that I herewith present 

 an article upon the justly entitled 1 "Royal- White 

 Cochin." They are royal first, because of the admira- 

 tion our late sovereign, Queen Victoria, had for them 

 when she imported them direct from China into Eng- 

 land, and second, because of their great excellence of merit, 

 marvelous combination of form and color of the purest 

 white. They seemingly possess all that can be expected of 

 any fowl. 



In this short article I will try and give, with the hope 

 of aiding the tyro, the Standard demands of shape and color 

 and the system of mating for best results. Many to-day find 

 themselves shipwrecked upon a sea of wrong mating. To 

 successfully raise the White Cochin for exhibition, one must 

 necessarily be a fancier — a lover of his fowls. He must be 

 an artist in his line, with an eye for the beautiful, for no 

 breed is more beautiful if bred in their pureness of white, 

 with an abundance of feathering to give it the shape of a 

 large ball of snowy white. To breed them to almost perfec- 

 tion, the fancier must be an enthusiast, a specialist devoted 

 to this one breed — this one variety. 



If a person possesses not the taste to become a fancier, 

 or is indifferent as to the proper care of his flock, he had not 

 better undertake to raise this illustrious fowl, or he will be 

 doomed to disappointment. Such arrangements on the part 

 of the indifferent have hatched out many disasters and been 

 the chief cause of repressing the great merit of the whole 

 Cochin family, constraining themselves and many others to 

 believe that, this variety is of little use except for exhibition 



Second Prize White Cochin Pullet, at New York, 1904 

 Bred by Edward Wyatt. 



purposes. But, my dear readers, learn from me this truth— 

 the whole Cochin family have stood the storm of criticism 

 from jealous breeders for many years, and have come out 

 of the controversy as one of the best all-round breeds in 

 use to-day. They stand upon their own merits and are rap- 

 idly becoming the favorites in every clime, country and 

 state. True the Buffs are the most popular, but they do not 

 excel the whites on any point save as a matter of taste on 

 the part of the fancier. The writer frankly admits that the 

 White Cochin is his first love and the fowl he most ardently 

 admires, and he has been breeding them for ten years. 



The typical White Cochin is a majestic fowl, a beauty 

 in itself, and stands upon the canvas of the past distinct and 

 vivid as the king— an exhibition fowl par excellence. Its 

 lovers and breeders, though not so many as those of the Buff 

 and Partridge, are on the Increase and will be as long as 

 the love of raising poultry warms the "heart of man. The 

 White Cochin is also one of the practical every day workers 

 and money makers in Canadian and American yards to-day, 

 provided, however, they have the proper care and food. 



The up-to-date White Cochin, similar to its sister varie- 

 ties, is a massive, profusely feathered fowl, the more heav- 

 ily feathered the better; broad, blacky, globular in every 

 outline. This presents a most grand and imposing form. 

 Under the present Standard, the most grandly formed, the 

 purest white, the fullest plumaged birds win the honors. 

 To obtain the plumage one must breed for it. It can be had 

 only by selecting each season for mating those showing pro- 

 fuse side fluff, massive front and rear hock and foot plumage 

 and great length of underfluff. This will gradually approxi- 

 mate that broad cushion or saddle, which properly should 

 be as broad as or broader than the widest point of the fowl. 

 This and the desired full breast are only seen at our best 

 shows and are hard to obtain. The full plumage will give 

 the required almost horizontal tail. The profusely feathered 

 Cochin does not carry any more weight in feather than does 

 a Light Brahma of like class. The feathers are longer and 

 fluffier — that's all. 



The Standard color is a pure white — something beautiful 

 indeed. Too much stress should not be laid upon color. In 

 my opinion shape comes first. The neares.t and best illustra- 

 tion of a pure white is the newly driven snow as it descends 

 from heaven. On the male bird the wavy, metallic lustre of 

 the neck, wing and saddle is almost identical; While on the 

 female, of course, it lacks life and gloss. The White Cochin 

 is the easiest of all the Cochin varieties to breed as regards 

 color, for in them there are no discordant colors as in the 

 others. As for shape, they are all on a level, the shape of 

 one variety being that aimed at in the others. 



To breed White Cochins is work for an artist and a 

 great repast for thought and study. They represent the 

 world's greatest artistic work in serenely combining form 

 and color, and as a result for exhibition qualities as a fowl, 

 they reign supreme. So mucb for the White Cochin, and. 

 long may they reign. EDWARD WYATT. 



