.jpg) Partridge cock | |
| Conservation status |
|
|---|---|
| Other names |
|
| 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] |
| |
TheCochin is abreed of large domesticchicken. It derives from large feather-legged chickens brought from China to Europe and North America in the 1840s and 1850s. It is reared principally forexhibition. It was formerly known as theCochin-China.
Like theBrahma, 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 inpoultry-breeding in Western countries, sometimes described as "hen fever".[8][9]
The Cochin was included in the first edition of theStandard of Excellence in Exhibition Poultry, prepared byWilliam Bernhardt Tegetmeier for the firstPoultry 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 theStandard of Excellence of theAmerican 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.[citation needed]
In the United Kingdom the recognisedcolour 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, theEntente Européenne treats thePekin Bantam as equivalent to the bantam Cochin. TheEntente Européenne lists the same nine colours for large fowl, and twenty-four for the bantam; any of the bantam varieties may befrizzled, 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 forexhibition, 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 goodsitters 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]
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