International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

Well long story short we bought a dozen silkie eggs, and 16 BCM but only 3 survived hatching and only 4 of the silkies. In all my hatching days I’ve NEVER had such a bad hatch rate and the only thing that we changed was getting an automatic egg turner. So we think it wasn’t working right because the chicks were suddenly dieing in all stages. So hopefully we can get more eggs or when this chicks get old enough we can hatch theirs.
 
Problem is these Marans are being raised with my 4 silkies (who I will spoil) soooo…these Marans are going to end up spoiled and lap chickens. :lau
That’s pretty much the same situation I had, but the bigger marans never really grew attached to me and act like any other breed in their pen with my layers. They let me pick them up more than some of my chickens, but aren’t as friendly as the silkies that raised them. I think the breed plays some role in that.
 
That’s pretty much the same situation I had, but the bigger marans never really grew attached to me and act like any other breed in their pen with my layers. They let me pick them up more than some of my chickens, but aren’t as friendly as the silkies that raised them. I think the breed plays some role in that.
Oh that’s nice to know, I really want to work with the silkies to make them as tame as possible
 
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Thought I had my brooder pics uploaded, guess not. Originally her name was Shy as she was very reserved and hung in the background. Later I noticed her on top of the drinker and the rest is history.

From the drinker to the top of the brooder, to the top of my work bench, to on top of my over head garage door when it's opened.

Shy is now Sky... first to go out, last to go in.

If all BCM are like her then I can't recommend them enough for free range.
 
Oh that’s nice to know, I really want to work with the silkies to make them as tame as possible
I almost always use my silkies to hatch out chicks, less work for me and the CG Ickes always grow up friendlier with other chickens. I just remembered I hatched my marans in the incubator and introduced them to the silkies at 5 weeks, so they may be more tame if introduced at a younger age.
 
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here’s some more pictures the silkie boy. Still waiting for a name that makes me go ‘that’s the one’ even though I’ve had some good suggestions. My friend suggested Ezekiel which I like, but I’m still deciding. He’s already treading so I expect I won’t resist hatching out some silkies for very long.
 
I almost always use my silkies to hatch out chicks, less work for me and the CG Ickes always grow up friendlier with other chickens. I just remembered I hatched my marans in the incubator and introduced them to the silkies at 5 weeks, so they may be more tame if introduced at a younger age.
Yes I’ve read lots of stuff about silkies being good mother so I’ll definitely try that in the future.
 
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Thought I had my brooder pics uploaded, guess not. Originally her name was Shy as she was very reserved and hung in the background. Later I noticed her on top of the drinker and the rest is history.

From the drinker to the top of the brooder, to the top of my work bench, to on top of my over head garage door when it's opened.

Shy is now Sky... first to go out, last to go in.

If all BCM are like her then I can't recommend them enough for free range.
Sky is a very nice name for her.
 
View attachment 3775366View attachment 3775368View attachment 3775367View attachment 3775370View attachment 3775371View attachment 3775369here’s some more pictures the silkie boy. Still waiting for a name that makes me go ‘that’s the one’ even though I’ve had some good suggestions. My friend suggested Ezekiel which I like, but I’m still deciding. He’s already treading so I expect I won’t resist hatching out some silkies for very long.
You could shorten 'Ezekiel' to 'Zeke'?
 
I've been working on the brooder coop the last few days prepping for the new arrivals.
Yep, still counting my chickens before they hatch.
Any Hoo, I pulled the bottom sheeting of the separation to the Marans coop and added HC and a pass thru for integration mode.
Added the roost so the crew could hang out in there while I worked on it. I'm gonna sub floor it yet before the littles get out there.
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3 pieced the sheeting back on Marans side so I can add or remove at will, weather permitting.
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Took the door sheeting back off so they could still hang out in there.

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Then I got the "I don't see what all the fuss is about" look.
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So for payback I annoyed him at roost time... 🤣 He'll get even tomorrow.
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