Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[FVRM]

I have been trying to start a foundation flock of BCMs for 3 years now and am still at square one. With the help of some very kind people on this thread i do feel i have a way forward. There is one thing however that i am concerned about with this breed..... egg quality. Nearly every pullet that i have raised produced eggs with meat spots in them. I have read that this is a problem with BCMs and i would like to hear from others here regarding this issue. I dont mind working through all the other problems facing the breed but the ultimate goal in my eyes is to have sop birds that consistently produce big round, dark chocolate, high quality eggs. I know this is a tall order but it appears that many of the serious breeders out there are making progress on sop birds and egg color. The wildcard for me though is the issue with meat/blood spots. Is this problem endemic with this breed or have i just been really unlucky... I just culled my entire flock due to this problem save one hen and i just checked an egg from her and it had a meat spot in it.
I am seriously considering throwing in the towel altogether and would like to get a true perspective on this problem from the experts here... Can i get away from this problem? Are there any lines out there that have eliminated this problem? Again i dont mind working through all the other problems if i can get an egg that is high quality on the inside as well as the outside . Thanks for you thoughts

Little is known about meat spots. They are believe to be caused by either genetics or the chicken's diet. If you try again, get new stock from a different breeder. If you still get meat spots it must be their diet. What are you feeding them now?

 

[Runawaylobster]

I have been trying to start a foundation flock of BCMs for 3 years now and am still at square one. With the help of some very kind people on this thread i do feel i have a way forward. There is one thing however that i am concerned about with this breed..... egg quality. Nearly every pullet that i have raised produced eggs with meat spots in them. I have read that this is a problem with BCMs and i would like to hear from others here regarding this issue. I dont mind working through all the other problems facing the breed but the ultimate goal in my eyes is to have sop birds that consistently produce big round, dark chocolate, high quality eggs. I know this is a tall order but it appears that many of the serious breeders out there are making progress on sop birds and egg color. The wildcard for me though is the issue with meat/blood spots. Is this problem endemic with this breed or have i just been really unlucky... I just culled my entire flock due to this problem save one hen and i just checked an egg from her and it had a meat spot in it.
I am seriously considering throwing in the towel altogether and would like to get a true perspective on this problem from the experts here... Can i get away from this problem? Are there any lines out there that have eliminated this problem? Again i dont mind working through all the other problems if i can get an egg that is high quality on the inside as well as the outside . Thanks for you thoughts

I have Marans, and I have white leghorns. I find my family goes for the white eggs every time because they feel like they are having a lottery with the Marans ones. Every few eggs I get a tiny dot. Not what you would call an extensive meat spot, but there are dots there. Earlier i had meat spots but they seem to have reduced when i bred in birds from a different line. I too would be interested in others experiences.

 

[chicken pickin]

My DH noticed(since he eats the eggs most) that our Marans eggs always have meat spots in them. None of our other eggs have meat spots only our Marans.

 

[ochochicas]

Are the meat spots bad for you to eat? Or are they just aesthetically displeasing? We have three kinds of Marans. I don't eat the eggs, but I have cooked with them and noticed some of them have spots on them.

 

[johnderosa1]

Are the meat spots bad for you to eat?  Or are they just aesthetically displeasing?  We have three kinds of Marans.  I don't eat the eggs, but I have cooked with them and noticed some of them have spots on them.  

Nothing wrong with the eggs just not aesthetically appealing

 

[johnderosa1]

Little is known about meat spots. They are believe to be caused by either genetics or the chicken's diet. If you try again, get new stock from a different breeder. If you still get meat spots it must be their diet. What are you feeding them now?

Normal diet... Same as all my other breeds. I have never had a meat spot in any egg from my ee, oe, ameraucanas, leghorns, sussex, flower hens ...

 

[johnderosa1]

Are the meat spots bad for you to eat?  Or are they just aesthetically displeasing?  We have three kinds of Marans.  I don't eat the eggs, but I have cooked with them and noticed some of them have spots on them.  

As you can see by the initial responses this is definitely a problem with this breed... I hope one of the serious breeders here has been able to overcome this. Does anyone have sop birds that dont have this problem?

 

[SIMZ]

Honestly, I tend to NOT choose Marans eggs for my breakfast because of the "lottery" issue mentioned previously with the meat spots. I have hens from a new line this year and find less meat spots, but they're still there. It's interesting, but also discouraging, that others seem to have this problem.

 

[GaryDean26]

I have done side by side taste comparisons of all of our breeds. My wife's favorite eggs are from the Banty hens that lay white eggs. My favorite are the Marans with the Basque at a close 2nd. Many of our eggs customers do the taste tests too. Those that report back almost always either say they like them all or that they like the big brown (i.e. Marans) eggs the best.

We see meat spots in lots of our eggs. I kept a running log on the dry erase board for a while of what breed every egg I cracked open was from and if it had a meat spot or not. I found meet spots in the White Leghorn eggs, in the Basque eggs, in the Cream Legbars, eggs and in the Marans eggs. I even found meat spots in the store bought brown eggs during that time and those eggs are candled. The Marans eggs had meets spots in about 50% of the eggs, but most on them were so small that if you weren't watching for them they easily would be missed. I am guessing that if you culled hens that produced 100% of their eggs with meat spots and breed those that were less prone to it that you could effectively reduce it in your flock. It is something that I would consider working on 5-6 years down the road, but currently I am working on Egg Shape, Egg Size, and production rate. I guess I would rather have a correctly shaped egg with a meat spot than an incorrectly shaped one with out a meat spot. Everyone defines quality differently.

 

[One Chick Two]

Honestly, I tend to NOT choose Marans eggs for my breakfast because of the "lottery" issue mentioned previously with the meat spots. I have hens from a new line this year and find less meat spots, but they're still there. It's interesting, but also discouraging, that others seem to have this problem.

I had heard (on here I think, somewhere...) that meat spots are just leftover DNA junk from the hen. We get spots even from our PR hens occasionally. Spots though can be a bit larger in the Marans eggs. That in mind, Marans eggs are a whole lot larger overall, anyway.

Most of the time. Always exceptions to the rule.

By the way, that Marans egg on the right weighed over 3 oz.

Once, a friend explained to us that she knew her hen's eggs were fertile due to the blood spots in them.