Cochin Chicken

     The Cochin is a breed of Chickens originated in China in the early 1850s. They were first known as the Shanghai or the Cochin-China chickens. As a very distinctive breed of chickens, they apparently created a bit of a craze among poultry lovers in the English-speaking world. Cochins’ most notable features are the excessive plumage that covers their yellowish legs and feet, and the very large volume which makes them one of the largest breeds of chickens.

     Cochin chickens have moderate-sized single combs and wattles, and red earlobes. They are quite similar to the Brahma chicken breed, but the latter species differs mainly in the shape of head, and having a pea comb instead. Interestingly, Cochins are available in a lot of color-varieties which include; buff, black, partridge, blue, silver-laced, golden-laced, splash and white. They can also be frizzled, with the feathers curling outwards.

     Cochin hens are well known as good mothers, even as foster mothers for other chicken breeds. They can lay many eggs (150 – 200 brown tinted eggs per year), but usually not for extended periods of time, and are excellent broodies too. The chicks are strong when they hatch, but take 22 days rather than the usual 21 to emerge from the eggs. A bantam form is also available for the Cochin chicken breed, but this should not be confused with the separate and true Pekin Bantam.