Blue Copper and Splash Copper Marans Discussion

[snowbird]

Will try and make a couple of comments on some of the questions. The brown lower color feathers on the BC are mostly caused from the BC being mixed with Wheaten at a point in time. Best way to eliminate it is to cull it from your Marans flock.

The Purple Sheen is mostly caused by the black color being contaminated with another color. Best way to improve this is done by culling it from your flock. There was a lot of discussion about the purple sheen a while back.

 

[DMRippy]

Is that true about the green?????? I know the purple is not a good thing but I thought the beetle green sheen was a.good thing in black birds......am I wrong? are they supposed to be flat black?

Beetle green is a good thing in black poultry varieties in general, only one or two breeds desire the purple sheen. I've never heard of Marans with a flat black being more desirable. Granted, I've seen way more flat black than with the green sheen, but I've also seen quite often those with flat black do have a tendency for the brown tint in the underfluff. All I know is that I'm going for the beetle green sheen all the way. Maybe I should say, as I've been working on my stock, the green sheen has accompanied the other improvements I've made. Don, I'd love to hear your feedback on this.

it just looks so nice too! I have it in my flock too. I breed away from purple.....I read that is a sight of the mahogany gene. have not gotten any firm info on that but sounded good. -

 

[dutchbunny83]

I know it varies by bird, but what's the average age your Marans start laying?

I know light birds like leghorns lay closer to 4 months and heavier birds like barred rocks lay closer to 6 months. Where do Marans fall in there?

Mine is almost 17 weeks old and maybe 2/3 the size of the lavender orps that hatched with her, so I'd think she'd be laying before them. She hasn't been squatting or anything, but started getting the red in her face about a month ago.

 

[chicken pickin]

All 3 of mine started laying between 24-26 weeks

 

[Penny Hen]

it just looks so nice too! I have it in my flock too. I breed away from purple.....I read that is a sight of the mahogany gene. have not gotten any firm info on that but sounded good.

-

That makes sense. I have an Maran/Am Olive Egger roo who is what I would call a Red Duckwing (has the blue wing stripe). His tail is green but the black on his body is purple and he definitely has the mahogany gene in his dark red feathers.

In pure light Red and Blue make Purple, but since the medium is feather genes, it is quite possible that Green and Red (mahogany) make Purple. Green is made up of Yellow and Blue so the blue is there.

 

[chicken pickin]

Just wanted to post a pic I took today of my Blue Copper Twinkle

 

[dutchbunny83]

Pretty!

 

[katie1015]

Here's an update on my two boys

 

[CarolinaSkies]

Would anyone care to help me pin down this guy's color? He is from our Blue Splash Marans hen and our Splash roo. He seems to have some cuckoo going on, but I'm stumped.
Thank you.





Here is his mom, Silver Belle.




Dad? Unless Silver Belle ran astray...









.

 

[DMRippy]

yep looks lime someone has some cuckoo hiding in the wood pile. my guess is the hen. VERY hard to see cuckooing on a splash birds. I have had several blue and splash rock hens with barring they passed on to roos. I could not see it on the splash at all.