Dwarf Cochin

This was a first for me, a dwarf chicken.  I have no bantams, so when this little Blue Cochin pullet stayed small, I realized she must be a dwarf.  She is quite sweet and friendly but gets a bit trampled by all the big hens in the pen. I don't know if she will ever lay an egg. So far she hasn't, but then not all of her sisters are laying yet either.
Here she is next to a regular sized Blue hen.  Has anyone else raised a dwarf chicken?

The big 'un looks kinda worried about the little 'un.

Wonder what would happen if you bought her a bantam rooster?

she's a cutie pie. I took someone's runt bantam and maybe she is a dwarf bantam! will take picture tomorrow. She's a red cochin bantam who is a runt or dwarf. I'll try to get her with the regular sized cochin bantam pullet. She's called Ruby. Quite the stroppy little girl, can hear when she's coming cause she stomps all the way, like she is going somewhere in a hurry and with major purpose. love that 'tude   . I got her from someone who raised chicks from McMurray's, all the others were regular sized bantam cochins. I wonder if she'll lay an egg . . . too soon to know yet.

Aw she's cute.

That's crazy! Don't the big commercial breeders use dwarfing genes like that in their breeding?

that's interesting bboy. I wonder why would they do that? to do with food consumption?

So that they dont need to feed breeders as much, and as some insurance so that others cannot breed a useable bird. Or at least that is my understanding.

if I understand correctly, that's frustrating practice, especially for folks who hold the SOP near and dear. multinational corporation stuff.  

Very interesting KathyS. Need to find my chicken books, that haven't made it out of a box yet. I believe Sigrid writes about this in her newest book.
Thanks so much for sharing. She would be interesting to use in a bantam project.

Oh sweet, she sure is a cutie pie, wonder what does cause this dwarfing. I had a cochin that I had to put down. She was pretty, she had the most beautiful lacing, and she was very dwarfed. She just never grew very well, about half the size of her nestmates, even at about 24 weeks old. She was not well, that could be seen. Her not well feeling lasted for a couple of weeks, just huffy, puffy sometimes, eating OK and drinking OK. But just not well. I picked her up and she was just skin and bone. She had been outside when it had been snowing, that was clear, there was ice particles on her back, like little snowflakes, and a bit of ice on her chest. Not good. I don't think her oil glands were working properly and clearly she was not preening. I gave her my love, and took her to a place where I know she would be warm and loved by others of her kind. She was dwarfed, absolutely, but I think it was because she was not converting food properly. Keep an eye on that little girl, she may be not well, and that is why so small. Check out how she feels when yo pick her up. But then, maybe as you said, she is just a dwarf. Have a wonderful day. CynthiaM.

I had one Buckeye like this from a hatchery once. It was the same kind of thing but at maturity it ended up around 3/4s the size of the normal birds. I sold her with a batch of culls as layers so don't know what eventually happened to her.

She really is adorable. So interesting that they are both supposed to be the same size, and this is what came up. You should work with her and see if you can get some breeding true.........Another project....  

Ha ha! Another project is definitely NOT what I need!   I do like her, but she gets a bit lost in the shuffle amongst all the big hens. If I Could find a nice home for her with other gentle bantams like Cochins or Silkies, that would be my goal for her. She seems healthy and eats and drinks well. She just doesn't quite fit in here.

Well if you want to find her a home, I'm here. You can always e-mail me.

I was chatting with a gentleman whom is breeding a miniature chicken. He was lucky enough to be able to import some eggs from Europe and has gotten a beautiful line started.

If you were closer Kathy I would have loved to take her off your hands. She would fit right in with my banty cochins

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This is interesting, Tara. It makes me wonder if perhaps this little gal does have another condition rather than dwarfism.
My male line of Blue Cochins dates back to 2010. I've used either the original rooster or one of his sons for each of the last 3 years and this is the first time Ive had a mini-chicken. I was checking my records, and I hatched 62 B/B/Sp Cochins in 2011, 68 in 2012 and 72 in 2013, all out of the same male line. I did sell some of these chicks to other people during this time, but no one ever mentioned getting a bantam out of the deal. So out of 200 or so offspring, only one did not reach the normal size. So I'm not too worried. As far as hidden defects go, I think there are worse things. But this is good information to have, and good to be aware.
Lady Leghorn, thanks for offering. If you have gentle-natured bantam hens and you think they would be accepting of a new-comer, that would make me happy. She is very shy and quiet, so I just want her to have that kind of environment if possible. Also, she is used to being in a heated building. I don't think she would manage well in harsh temps.

I have a 5x8 heated coop, with some other banties. All friendly. Would "love" to have her. She's adorable.   

Kathy I have had the one stunted/dwarf chick pop out of both of my large fowl breeds before. Only ever came across one from each breed. Like you said they seem healthy just never grow.

At my work last year we hatched out one stunted/dwarf LF Australorp pullet (from a long well standing breeder of just Australorps). She was the cutest little bird. Sadly a hawk got her. As far as I knew she had never laid an egg. Using the same rooster and females this year and no stunted/dwarf Australorps this year.

There are two types of dwarfism.

The sexlinked dwarfism (dw {IMSM}) is used with some types of broilers for the hen parent line. When bred back to a cock of full size the offspring produced will be full sized. Dwarfed sexlinked hens are used in some broiler breeding programs because they take less to feed but produce broilers the same size as an un-dwarfed hen

Hey Kathy, hope Lady Leghorn has your little girl.  She's a cutiepie for sure.  I'd have put my hand up too had we lived closer, I love the bantam cochins.  Here are the pictures of my little runty Ruby Red.  She and Mrs Cochin (the black bantam in the photos) share in this coop but I can't get them very close together so these two pictures are as good as I can get.  Ruby is a bantam bantam     Hard to see how much smaller she is than the bigger pullet but I'd say at least 1/5  smaller? I don't know, can't gauge it very well.  I wonder if she will lay an egg, I thought she had one day but it was probably more likely Mrs Cochin had laid two.  

I will be picking her up at the Feb. show. Can't wait to see her. Your's are real little sweeties too. I "Love" the fact you have no snow.   

We just have to get out there this year, I can't take all this snow anymore. Even Hubby complained about it awhile ago. He doesn't usually do that.

Just a matter of timing I guess. I like your little hoop runs. But couldn't do that here either, they'd be lost in snow.

Enjoy that clear ground for us.   

Oh Lady Leghorn I know how badly you are not into the winter over there. Here's some inspiration for making it this way (but who knows if this is just messing us around weather or not, repeatable?) but today my husband came home after 12 night shift and said it was 3 degrees and raining. Must be 5 now and snow is sliding off the roof in great whumps!

Love to see some photos of your new banty with her new family once she has settled in :-).

Will try and send some when she's here. OH, you really popped my bubble, "snow" ??????????? What's with that???????

Doesn't matter, will get there somehow. Wouldn't be anything compared to here. One day we will meet.

sorry for popping your bubble LLeghorn. Feel I was being unkind now. I know you would enjoy the Okanagen valley. There are lots of swap people in this valley. Will have to meet up one day for coffee :-).