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.

[10]: 4 The Cochin, both full-sized and bantam, was included in the first edition of the Standard of Excellence of the American Poultry Association in 1874.

[citation needed] In the United Kingdom the recognised colour 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.

[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.

[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.