Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[marchick]

3 chicks out one of each variety BBS

Awsome! I hope you have a good hatch!

 

[dvoice]

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Honest opinion of this roo please. I already know he's a little small but half of the hens( one batch) are quite large. At least he doesn't have a lighter halo!! Lol

 

[snowbird]

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Honest opinion of this roo please. I already know he's a little small but half of the hens( one batch) are quite large. At least he doesn't have a lighter halo!! Lol

Ican see that he seams to have a very short Back, and as you say he looks to be real small.

 

[DnDFarm]

Ican see that he seams to have a very short Back, and as you say he looks to be real small.

Hey Don, it's me SC. I need to get some updated pictures for you to critique, but again you seem to have been right from the beginning. I still only have the one true blue, but when I moved them to the big pen last weekend, in the sunlight all of the blacks had a hint of a bluish hue to them. Is that a product of breeding blacks with blues?
I wound up with 4 cockerels, and they are starting to show a little color at 11 weeks. 2 have way too much color in the breast, coppery feathers down their breast. Is that what you call "shafting"? The 4th is slower to mature. He stayed solid black much longer than the others, but he is starting to color up a little, too. I hope his breast will stay darker. The combs are much better than my first rooster, and I haven't noticed any side sprigs yet, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to begin culling yet.
A couple of the hens are loosely feathered and haggard looking, most are decent, and a few look to be good. This breeder is supposed to have started with the same birds Parks did, but I haven't seen any Parks birds to compare. I'm really hoping to get at least one good cockerel and a couple of decent hens out of the group. I'm not expecting SQ, but I hope to be reasonably close enough to SOP that I can begin working with this flock. I really don't want to start over again...

 

[DnDFarm]

What you have here is a perfect example of what I have been saying for years, Breed the Blue Copper and Black copper together and do not breed the BC colored chicks into your pure BC Marans as the color will come like these two adults. The female shows tainted color feathers and also the Male. It is ok to breed these in the Blue copper breedings. The chick and Egg peddlers will say you can breed good black coppers from these but the color gene is tainted . People will say anything to sell a chick or Eggs. Be very careful not to breed these back into your BC.

I think this is exactly what my chicks will look like grown up. If the eggs are good, I will keep them and work with them, but I will only sell them as birds from a black/blue breeding program. You told me from the beginning that you saw blue, and you were right

 

[DnDFarm]

My Blue Copper and Black Copper Marans chicks that just came in the mail yesterday already have wing feathers. Do Marans feather in quicker? How old do you think they are? I would have guessed a week old. Only one has little feathers.

This is exactly how mine came in from the same breeder. Ages ranged from a couple days old to a week. They were obviously from different sets, but like Don said, in a few weeks you won't know the difference

 

[marchick]

This is exactly how mine came in from the same breeder. Ages ranged from a couple days old to a week. They were obviously from different sets, but like Don said, in a few weeks you won't know the difference

I can tell the difference! They will go out to chicken house a lot sooner! Yay! lol

 

[snowbird]

Quote:
SC, shafting is where the Shaft of the feather is either lighter or darker than the color of the web of the feather and is a defect. Most of the time the brown spots are just extra coloring and work good to breed for Pullets with good Hackles, but the males will most likely have too much color. If a person had the room it would be easier to just double mate them the single mating way.

 

[snowbird]

SC, the Sprigs on the males will usually show up sooner, it is also possible to see a sprig on the young pullets also. I check for sprigs when I take them out of the brooder pens. If you cull the fowl with sprigs you will eventually breed away from it.

 

[DnDFarm]

SC, shafting is where the Shaft of the feather is either lighter or darker than the color of the web of the feather and is a defect. Most of the time the brown spots are just extra coloring and work good to breed for Pullets with good Hackles, but the males will most likely have too much color. If a person had the room it would be easier to just double mate them the single mating way.

Ok, I won't bombard you with questions without pictures, so I will put some up when I get them. You can tell more looking at them than I know to ask. I hate it when you are right...