Cochin chicken of 12–16 months provide a good large table bird. Cochin chicken The Cochin is a breed of large domestic chicken. It derives from large feather-legged chickens brought from China to Europe and North America in the 1840s and 1850s. It is reared principally for exhibition. It was formerly known as Cochin-China. Like the Brahma, 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". The large size and striking appearance of these birds contributed to a sudden
Donald Shaver of Shaver in 1964. When Shaver retired in 1985, Cargill bought the rest of the company. Shaver was acquired by ISA in 1988, and then became part of Merial. The egg layer business kept the Shaver name, and was sold as Natexis Industrie in 2003, and then to Hendrix Genetics in 2005. In 1962 Shaver ran unsuccessfully as a federal Liberal candidate. Since his retirement, Shaver has taken an interest in gene conservation. He maintained several pure lines of egg type poultry at his home farm near Cambridge. He later donated these flocks to the University of Guelph. Donald Shaver