Black Cochin Chicks

Black Cochin Chicken

Cochin Chickens are a chicken breed originally bred in China and were traditionally known as Chinese Shanghai or Cochina China. This exotic breed was first exported the England and America in the mid 19th century and eventually led the craze for the poultry "fancy" movement - chicken breeders new desire for foreign poultry to show and raise as pets.

The Cochin Chicken is classified as a heavy chicken breed, cocks weighing in up to 11 pounds. They appear excessively large due to the abundant amount of soft and fluffy plumage covering the birds body. The Cochin's most notable feature is the amount of frilly plumage covering the leg and foot or the bird, characteristic to only a few other chicken breeds.

Though the Cochin is not known for its strong egg production, laying only a few medium sized brown eggs per week, they yield a sizable amount of meat and will make a great boiler or fryer. Cochin Chickens do make excellent mothers and will even mother baby chicks of a different breed, and their docile nature and beautiful fluffy plumage allow them to make great pet chickens.

Black Cochin Chicken Facts

Cochin Chickens are an excellent chicken breed for breeders and families looking for a colorful and laid back pet chicken. They are known to have extremely loving personalities and were even bred in the 1800s for Queen Victoria who apparently loved the breed.

This chicken breed does in not typically good in extreme cold or poor weather, and owners tend to bring them inside so not to ruin their long fluffy feathers. Breeders of this bird usually clip the long tail feathers of the hens so that they do not interfere with fertility of the bird.