 Partridge Cochin cock | |
| Conservation status |
|
|---|---|
| Country of origin | China |
| Use | ornamental |
| Traits | |
| Weight | |
| Egg colour | brown |
| Comb type | single |
| Classification | |
| APA | Asiatic [5] : 12 |
| ABA | Feather legged [5] : 8 |
| EE | yes [6] |
| PCGB | Soft feather: heavy [7] |
| |
The Cochin is a breed of large domestic chicken. It derives from large feather-legged chickens brought from China to Europe and North America in the 1840s and 1850s. It is reared principally for exhibition. It was formerly known as Cochin-China.
Like the Brahma, the Cochin derives from very large feather-legged chickens brought from China to Europe and North America in the 1840s and 1850s. These were at first known as "Shanghai" birds, and later as "Cochin-Chinas". [3] : 89 The large size and striking appearance of these birds contributed to a sudden large increase of interest in poultry-breeding in Western countries, sometimes described as "hen fever". [8] [9]
The Cochin was included in the first edition of the Standard of Excellence in Exhibition Poultry, prepared by William Bernhardt Tegetmeier for the first Poultry Club of Great Britain in 1865. The colours described are buff, black, cinnamon, grouse, lemon, partridge, silver buff, silver cinnamon, and white. [10] : 5–12 Bantam Cochins were not listed. [10] : 4
The Cochin, both full-sized and bantam, was included in the first edition of the Standard of Excellence of the American Poultry Association in 1874. [8] [5] The original colours were white, partridge, buff and black; other colours were later added. [5]
The most distinctive feature of the Cochin is the excessive plumage that covers leg and foot. The skin beneath the feathers is yellow.
In the United Kingdom the recognised colour varieties, for large fowl only, are black, blue, buff, cuckoo, partridge and grouse, and white; [3] : 90–93 Cochin bantams are not recognised by the Poultry Club of Great Britain. [3] : 89 However, the Entente Européenne treats the Pekin Bantam as equivalent to the bantam Cochin. The Entente Européenne lists the same nine colours for full-sized Cochins, and twenty-four for the bantam; any of the bantam varieties may be frizzled, with the feathers curling outwards. [6] The American Poultry Association recognises nine colours for the full-sized bird – barred, black, blue, brown, buff, golden-laced, partridge, silver-laced, and white; the same colours are recognised for the bantam, with the addition of four more: birchen, Columbian, mottled, and red. [5]
The Cochin has been bred principally for exhibition, at the expense of productive characteristics. [3] : 89 It is a good layer of very large tinted eggs, and lays well in winter. [3] : 89 [8] The hens are good sitters and good mothers, and may be used to hatch the eggs of turkeys and ducks. [8] The meat tends to be coarse in texture and excessively dark; capons slaughtered at an age of 12–16 months provide a good large table bird. [8]
The Welsummer or Welsumer is a Dutch breed of domestic chicken. It originates in the small village of Welsum, in the eastern Netherlands. It was bred at the beginning of the twentieth century from local fowls of mixed origin: Rhode Island Reds, Barnevelders, Partridge Leghorns, Cochins, and Wyandottes. In 1922–23, steps were taken to fix a standard after the birds began to show a good deal of uniformity. The eggs were originally exported for the commercial egg trade. Some stock was exported to the United Kingdom, and the breed was added to the British Standard in 1930.
The Leghorn is a breed of chicken originating in Tuscany, in central Italy. Birds were first exported to North America in 1828 from the Tuscan port city of Livorno, on the western coast of Italy. They were initially called "Italians", but by 1865 the breed was known as "Leghorn", the traditional anglicisation of "Livorno". The breed was introduced to Britain from the United States in 1870. White Leghorns are commonly used as layer chickens in many countries of the world. Other Leghorn varieties are less common.
The Orpington is a British breed of chicken. It was bred in the late nineteenth century by William Cook of Orpington, Kent, in south-east England. It was intended to be a dual-purpose breed, to be reared both for eggs and for meat, but soon became exclusively a show bird.
The Barnevelder is a Dutch breed of domestic chicken. It resulted from cross-breeding between local Dutch chickens and various "Shanghai" birds imported from Asia to Europe in the later part of the nineteenth century; these may have been of Brahma, Cochin or Croad Langshan type. It is named for the town and gemeente (municipality) of Barneveld, in Gelderland in the central Netherlands. The hens are good layers of large brown eggs and, unlike some other breeds, continue to lay well during winter.
The Dorking is a British breed of domestic chicken. It is named after the town of Dorking, in Surrey in southern England.
The Brahma is an American breed of chicken. It was developed in the United States from birds imported from the Chinese port of Shanghai, and was the principal American meat breed from the 1850s until about 1930.
The Pekin Bantam is a British breed of bantam chicken. It derives from birds brought to Europe from China in the nineteenth century, and is named for the city of Peking where it was believed to have originated. It is a true bantam, with no corresponding large fowl. It is recognised only in the United Kingdom, where the Cochin has no recognised bantam version; like the Cochin, it has heavy feathering to the legs and feet. The Entente Européenne treats the Pekin Bantam as equivalent to the bantam Cochin.
The Malay is a breed of game chicken. It is among the tallest breeds of chicken, and may stand over 90 cm high. The Malay is bred principally in Europe, and in Australia and the United States. It was derived, partly in Devon and Cornwall in south-west England, from birds imported from Indian subcontinent or South-east Asia in the first decades of the nineteenth century, when large birds of this type were widespread in northern India, in Indonesia and in the Malay Peninsula.
The Sussex is a British breed of dual-purpose chicken, reared both for its meat and for its eggs. Eight colours are recognised for both standard-sized and bantam fowl. A breed association, the Sussex Breed Club, was organised in 1903.
The Japanese Bantam or Chabo is a Japanese breed of ornamental chicken. It is a true bantam breed, meaning that it has no large fowl counterpart. It characterised by very short legs and a large upright tail that reaches much higher than the head of the bird.
The Marans, French: Poule de Marans, is a breed of chicken from the port town of Marans, in the département of Charente-Maritime, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of south-western France. It was created with the local feral chickens descended from fighting game chickens carried from Indonesia and India. Those original Marandaise fowl were "improved" for the table through recombination with imported Croad Langshans. A favourite at poultry shows, it is a dual-purpose fowl known both for its extremely dark eggs and fine meat qualities.
The Wyandotte is an American breed of chicken developed in the 1870s. It was named for the indigenous Wyandot people of North America. The Wyandotte is a dual-purpose breed, kept for its brown eggs and its yellow-skinned meat. It is a popular show bird, and has many color variants. It was originally known as the American Sebright.
The Blue Andalusian, Spanish: Andaluza Azul, is a breed of domestic chicken indigenous to the autonomous community of Andalusia in south-west Spain. It is distributed through much of the countryside of Córdoba and Seville, and is concentrated particularly in the area of Utrera, which is considered the heartland of the breed. In 2009 the population was estimated at 10000 birds.
The Minorca, Catalan: Gallina de Menorca, Spanish: Menorquina, is a breed of domestic chicken originating in the Mediterranean island of Menorca, in the Balearic Islands to the south-east of Spain. It is a well-known exhibition bird in many countries of the world, but in the island of Menorca is an endangered breed and considered to be at risk of extinction.
The Sebright is a British breed of bantam chicken. It is a true bantam – a miniature bird with no corresponding large version – and is one of the oldest recorded British bantam breeds. It is named after Sir John Saunders Sebright, who created it as an ornamental breed by selective breeding in the early nineteenth century.
The Dutch Bantam is a breed of bantam chicken originating in the Netherlands. It is a true bantam, a naturally small bird with no related large fowl from which it was miniaturized. It is kept mainly for exhibition, and has been bred in many color varieties; it is a good layer of small eggs.
The Yokohama is a German breed of fancy chicken, with unusual colouring and very long tail-feathers. It was created by Hugo du Roi in the 1880s, and derives from ornamental birds brought to Europe from Japan in the second half of the nineteenth century. Some of these were shipped from the Japanese port of Yokohama, and so were known by that name. In Germany, the Yokohama name is used only for white or red-saddled birds; in the United Kingdom, it is used also for the birds known elsewhere as Phoenix, in various colours.
The Modern Game is a breed of ornamental chicken which originated in England between 1850 and 1900. Purely an exhibition bird, Modern Game were developed to be most aesthetically pleasing and to epitomize the visual appeal of the gamecock or fighting cock.
The Nankin Bantam or Nankin is a British bantam breed of chicken. It is a true bantam, a naturally small breed with no large counterpart from which it was miniaturised. It is of South-east Asian origin, and is among the oldest bantam breeds. It is a yellowish buff colour, and the name is thought to derive from the colour of nankeen cotton from China.
The Booted Bantam or Dutch Booted Bantam is a European breed of true bantam chicken. It is characterised by abundant feathering on the feet and shanks, which gives it a "booted" appearance; and by vulture hocks, long stiff downward-pointing feathers on backs of the thighs, from which the Dutch name Sabelpoot ("sabre-legged") derives.
