Silver laced Cochin bantams

Silver laced
Cochin bantams
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The making of...
Silver laced
Cochin bantams
Text:
Hans Ringnalda (Holland)
Photos:
Hans Ringnalda, Sigrid van Dort
A hen from 2002.
By Hans Ringnalda
e-mail: [email protected]
The start
The distinct laced pattern of the Sebright bantam, (as John Sebright
created 150 years ago), is liked by many. In America breeders also
wanted this pattern on large fowl. The first attempts to make large
silver laced were the very start of a breed that was later called the
‘Wyandotte’.
In 1984, Mr.Ardjan Warnshuis asked if I was interested in silver laced
Cochin bantams. As far as I knew they were only in the United States,
made from crosses with Sebright and Wyandotte bantams. Always
interested in something new plus the
challenge, I said yes! Later it appeared to
be the ‘remains’ of an import from the
USA. These remains: two hens. Pretty
well patterned but very small and dark
feathered in the abdominal and saddle
region. I was happy with them, I had the
pattern on birds of the correct type. What
I didn’t know at that time, was that this
colour variety would keep me busy for
more than twenty years!
And then...
You can’t make much from two hens. A
cross with something was necessary in
order to get cocks, after which the real
breeding could start; or even better, to
improve the colour pattern and preserve
this variety on the European Continent. I
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Left: hen in 1997 considered as very well at that
time.
Top: a 2008 pullet showing the clean saddle.
calculated the advantages and problems of several crossings and the
three best options were: A. cross with a cuckoo cock, B. cross with a
white or C. cross to a silver laced Wyandotte bantam.
A cock from 2000.
I decided for the first option because its possible to cross all colours
with cuckoo. F1 has all colours of the rainbow mixed with cuckoo,
but F2 gives the original colour. I made some phone calls for a
cuckoo cock or cockerel but there were almost no animals in Holland.
Actually they were looking more barred than cuckoo. Finally I found
an impure cuckoo cockerel. Of course I got lots of cuckoo offspring
and the second year something that looked like silver laced, but
again... no cockerels! Just continue...
After three or four years I had a couple of
very dark silver laced and another two years
later, pretty patterned and a bit less dark birds.
However, they were very small! I decided
to cross them with a nice ‘huge’ white cock
from Jan van Scherrenburg. And after another
four to five years I had larger silver laced with
a nice pattern. One hen was showed in the
‘creators show’ called the Mirror of Breeding
in Utrecht in 1997. This Mirror is a show in
which all kinds of new creations are showed
to the large public which is impossible in a
‘regular’ show in Holland. In Holland, there
aren’t classes for ‘all other varieties’ allowed in
England and the USA.
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One year later, in 1998 the colour pattern
improved more and their size became larger
too. I collected the gold laced that
were thrown occasionally and
together with lots of silver laced,
dozens found a new home, also in
other European countries. One serious
breeder applied for acceptance in
Germany with good patterned birds
which I gave him, but the next year he
was gone! Never heard of him again,
nor from the birds...
I continued breeding but never had
A 2000 cock. Gold was gone, now
it was autosomal red spoiling
the silver by giving it a yellow
sheen and orange markings on
the male shoulder. The first pure
silvers without yellow were born
the next year after breeding
with the cleanest cocks. All male
chicks had to grow for at least
six months, waiting for their
hormons to hit them, in order to
select the yellow ones out. Photo
on the right and below shows the
difference in shade.
enough ‘good’
birds to do
something with
them. And the
basis was very
narrow. At that
time another breeder crossed with silver laced Wyandotte again.
I got some of those birds from him. They didn’t differ much from
mine, just a bit less foot feathering and more narrow in type and longer
legs, but they had different blood! Fresh blood was worth ‘gold’ in
such a genetical narrow line. For that reason I already crossed one time
with lavender cuckoo, resulting in a few lavender laced animals.
As things go, I bred a few, gave a few away to interested breeders,
showed them to gain more interest. But suddenly something happened
which gave a tremendous boost. A Belgian breeder showed on the
Dutch young animals club day a few animals that attracted attention
by their large size. They originated from an undetermined German
breeding. In Germany all the Cochin bantams are huge compared to
the Dutch and they are giants compared to the UK Pekin bantams. I
bought a few hens from this Belgian breeder. In 2005 I added a small
but extremely well patterned, finally a light coloured, silver laced
Cochin bantam cockerel nobody was interested in because he was too
light. The problem all the time was too dark patterning. This cockerel
possessed Sebright blood.
In the Summer 2006, I kept from over 200 chicks, five cockerels of
which three were obviously lighter in hackle and saddle, plus three
pullets with good pattern. The silver laced Cochin bantam breeding
went into a crescendo thanks to this cock with Sebright blood. In 2007
I bred again a few hundred chicks and the pattern improved again.
In 2008 the silver laced are almost perfect and meeting the standard
variety pattern of the Wyandotte!
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Hen from 2002. Thanks to
the digital camera its easy to
document the last years.
A trio from 2003 housed inside
during Winter.
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Troubles, troubles,
troubles...
Whatever you breed, you need
an ideal picture towards which
you breed all those years. The
ideal is the American Standard
of Perfection of the silver
laced Cochin bantam, which
is similar to the Wyandotte
colour variety. The difference
between the Wyandotte and
the Cochin bantam is the
amount of breeders perfecting
the colour and thus setting
the standard. In the Cochin
bantams, breeding was in the
hands of only a few breeders
in Holland, less than the
fingers on one hand! And one
or two in Belgium, Germany
unknown. Those sole and lonely breeders continued, regardless if this
would lead to acceptance. In theory, the Sebright pattern could be
copied perfectly on the Cochin bantam. Cochin bantam cocks don’t
posses long (main and secondary) sickles. On long sickles, the laced
pattern could cause troubles, therefore John Sebright choose henny
feathered cocks for the Sebrights. This wasn’t the choice for the
Wyandotte, therefore the American Standard shows black tails.
The hens will have a nice pattern on the breast but the abdomen and
saddle will be too dark, or the silver feather fields show substantial
black peppering (smut). In cocks the shoulders and abdomen were
almost always too dark. Type didn’t cause much troubles. The volume
suffered under severe inbreeding but that was tackled by crossing out at
the right moments. The smallest birds always showed the best pattern,
both cocks and hens. All silver laced born before 2006 were too dark.
After crossing out to other colours or using ‘strange’ birds, sometimes
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This hen from 2004 is becoming cleaner in the
back, still some peppering in the tail coverts but
much improved. She was on the Mirror show
in December 2004. Below a cock of the same
breeding year.
The experimental pen in 2005. A lavender cuckoo-laced cock (F2 lavender cuckoo x silver laced) is
added to some darker laced but typey hens. On the right an F1 of silver pencilled x laced. There are bred
several separate lines for colour and volume. In order to make ‘hybrids’ with strength and vigour to avoid
inbreeding depressions.
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gold laced popped up. Sometimes impure silver
cocks were born, showing more yellow and
sometimes red in shoulders. This hasn’t happened
since 2000-2001, the silver laced are pure silver
now.
Other problems were the unbalanced black which
resulted in horse shoe patterned breasts and dark
rear ends of the birds. Only breeding in hundreds,
heavy selection and culling, tackled this problem.
One line was selected for pattern, another line for
type and volume. These ‘hybrids’ should give the
right mix.
A 2006 cockerel, again more
white on the shoulder, but no
lacing on that location.
The result of 22 years breeding...
Crossing to other colours?
In all those years it was inevitable to cross out to
other colours. I did that several times, resulting in a
setback in colour pattern of a few years of breeding.
There is a small flock of silver laced Cochin
bantams now. Crossing out was necessary to make
genetic choices and there were several options, as
mentioned earlier.
Cuckoo and white were used to boost the volume but cuckoo has
another ‘function’, let me try to explain:
- cuckoo x silver laced, I used an impure (dark) cuckoo cock, this
results in 50% cuckoo F1 with a more sharp pattern and more white
and 50% very dark silver laced F1, both colours in both sexes.
If I had used a pure (light) cuckoo cock, all F1 would have been
cuckoo and the siblings paired in the F2 would have given 25% dark
silver laced (only hens!). Not wise if you don’t have a laced rooster.
It would have been possible to pair an impure
(dark) cuckoo cock to a dark silver laced F2
hen. That would have resulted in F3 in 50%
silver laced, both cockerels and pullets. But that
would cost an extra year of breeding.
A cross to black was also an option but the
silvers were too dark already, and by crossing
with black this would become worse plus
gold (s+) would be bred into the line. Actually
black and gold are underneath cuckoo, while
cuckoo has such a magnificent sieve (colour
segregating) function.
- white x silver laced, gave in my flock in F1
app. 50% dirty white and 50% very light laced
Sometimes you need a bit help and luck as a
breeder. This cock changed all for the better!
He was the right man on the right place and
moment. Note his patterned tail! Although he’s
very much Cochin, he carries the Sebright
genes for colour! Nobody was interested in this
bird, he was too light, but that was right what I
needed!
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A 2003 hen with chicks
from the ‘Sebright
coloured’ cock in 2007.
Note the brown head
spots on the chicks, they
show the birchen alelle of
the Sebright, responsible
for the patterned tail
in combination with an
extra columbian ‘acting’
gene!
in the breast, almost horse shoe shape patterned
birds.
Whatever crossing you make to whatever colour,
from the first hundred chicks only a few seem to
meet your wishes and are acceptable to continue
breeding. After this, it looks as if the breeding is
successful for several years and suddenly all looks
so horrible (year 4 and 5) that you consider starting
all over again. That is a year in which the colours
segregate into true breeding gene combinations.
Regardless the colour you are working on, this
disastrous year is mostly the point at which breeders
quit, but if you are aware of this year, you are on
the right track! Select the least ‘worst’ animals and
continue breeding with them and everything will be
all right is my personal experience.
A 2008 cockerel and pullet. The
black tail is back as needed for
the standard colour.
Another 2008 hen, the tails
are almost clean, only a few
show some black ticking.
For breeding you’ve to make
choices between pattern, type
and size. The perfect bird still
doesn’t exist and that’s the
challange!
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In all those years of
breeding, silver laced
Cochin bantams spread
over Europe and went to
breeders who wanted to
improve and perfect them.
But they almost all
disappeared.
These birds showed up
November 2008 on the
National in Afflichem,
Belgium. They should
originate from Germany
according to their owner.
The breeder of these birds
is perhaps very proud of
the lacing. They ‘only
need a bit tidy up’ in the
silver parts.... now you
know how difficult that is.
When you make the right selection, the percentage of correct animals
will increase every year. By inbreeding you get all initial genes back.
In this case: silver laced.
Below a funny chronological
photograph. From left to right:
2008 cock and hen behind the hen
standing in front of her which is
from 2007. Fourth from the left
or second from the right is a 2006
hen, the last hen is from 2005.
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The silver laced today...
Breeders start full of enthusiasm with this colour variation. On the
Continent it’s still in the hands of three or four serious breeders and the
shown animals are not the best ones.
In shows you won’t see this colour in Cochin bantams, only in breed
club shows.
Although the difficult breeding and scarce amount of breeders and
animals, silver laced suits the Cochin bantam. Time will tell if this
colour was worth 24 years of breeding and perfecting.
About the shown animals: since 1984 over 6000 chicks are bred.
Feed cost estimated on £15,000 pounds or US$ 22.000.
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1984
Development of colour and
volume of the silver laced
Cochin bantams from start
till 2008.
1985
1986
Colour: black line.
Volume: red line.
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
% volume 100 90
Cochin bantams
Continent
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2008
63%
Pekin bantams UK
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Basis: two imported silver laced
Silver
laced Cochin bantams 1984 - 2008
(sl) hens from the USA.
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Some more info:
Photo’s of the crosses to other colours:
- Silver laced x silver pencilled gives in F1 laced silver pencilled in
which the breast shows some horse shoe shaped lacing. F1 x F1 gives
in F2 25% pure and 50% impure silver laced and F1 x silver laced
gives app. 50% pure and 50% impure silver laced. Crossing to silver
pencilled serves to purposes: volume and type, it doesn’t serve the
colour pattern. In this cross ‘multiple
lacing’ is added to single lace. For pure
single laced the columbian factor should
be made pure again in order to push the
multiple lacings into one lace on the
edge of the feather. In different stages
but also regions on the birds, the multiple
lace becomes a double lace when there
is enough black enhencer which is called
Ml (melanotic) which is present in the
laced birds. Later when the columbian
gene is pure, the single lace appears
again. Selection is needed for remains of
the multiple lacing.
Two F1 hens from silver laced x silver pencilled.
One dose of the Columbian gene from the laced
parent pushes the multiple lacing on the breast
into a horse shoe shaped marking. Because of the
lack of one dose melanotic (black enhencer), there
is still multiple lacing on the hens. Some feathers
show a rough double lace when you use your
imagination.
Wing feather of a hen with silver pencilled in
her ancestry two generations ago bred back
to silver laced.
Goal is to select for clean silver and keep
the type and volume.
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- And Silver laced x cuckoo crosses.
With the red border: the cuckoo
crosses in detail.
Above: a lavender
laced cuckoo F2 pullet
from F1 x F1 laced
x cuckoo impure for
lavender. Because of
the lack in contrast,
lavender laced isn’t an
eye catching colour in
my humble opinion.
This colour is not
further bred.
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