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Thanks Jeremy and Medicine Man. The white neck stuff looks more pronounced to me, but it also just seemed to magically appear one day! ARGH. I got the eggs (a nice #7 color) up here in Sonoma County from a guy who started his BCM flock from a pair of SQ BCM's (Sonoma County fair BOC winners, he said) that he got in Sebastopol, CA, from "Wade Jeanne" lines... so the yellow legs on the one feathered shank dude is from an EE crossed in somewhere??? ARGH. How does the leg coloration have to cross to get that? (The only EE I hen I have has pale green legs, so that is what I am used to. How would you get yellow legs?)
Drat, Drat. I will have to see what color egg the one female lays when she starts, I guess...
Silver birchen shouldn't easily appear from proper BCM's. It's dominant and a pure birchen rooster would only come from a "half" silver rooster with straw colored hackle and saddle crossed to a silver birchen hen that has so much black you can't tell if she's copper or silver. Birchen hens could also pop up from a half silver rooster. But to someone who knows BCM breeding such birds shouldn't be an "accident". Your photo was deleted by the time I went to look at it (I forgot how interesting this thread was!)
As far as the yellow legs - you're not alone on that one. Someone on the Marans thread has some cuckoos with yellow legs as well. Your EE has green legs because she has yellow skin with pigment under the skin to make it green. The yellow skin is recessive, the pigment under the skin is dominant. Yellow skin is fairly obvious even on hens with very dark shanks. It's visible on the skin between their toes, between the "scales". But if it is somehow crossed in, the gene can hide in a bird that is split white/yellow. The "clear" shanks, or legs lacking the pigment under the skin is recessive, and all varieties of Marans should have these recessive genes, hens 1, roosters a pair.
Most likely these birds are offspring of linebred or "inbred" birds, siblings bred to each other, or hens bred back to their father. Olive Eggers are very popular these days, that could be a source for the yellow skin. Typically only a bird that is a wheaten cross or is very lacking in black pigment overall, will show completely clear yellow legs, unless it's a barred bird.
Did you see your Sonoma guys's flock? Yellow skin shouldn't pop up so easily. If your eggs were dark, then they had to come from hens with Marans blood especially if they were 7's, but if they are showing silver, and yellow skin, they themselves cannot be pure. Olive eggers crossed back to Black Coppers can lay very dark eggs like that. That is my best guess.
Feathered shanks are dominant, so you could still use your hen to get some feathered shanked Marans offspring if you have a good rooster.
So, I got rid of the boys with yellow legs, but the pullet is looking so pretty at ten weeks, even with clean legs (but they are dark):
Thanks Jeremy and Medicine Man. The white neck stuff looks more pronounced to me, but it also just seemed to magically appear one day! ARGH. I got the eggs (a nice #7 color) up here in Sonoma County from a guy who started his BCM flock from a pair of SQ BCM's (Sonoma County fair BOC winners, he said) that he got in Sebastopol, CA, from "Wade Jeanne" lines... so the yellow legs on the one feathered shank dude is from an EE crossed in somewhere??? ARGH. How does the leg coloration have to cross to get that? (The only EE I hen I have has pale green legs, so that is what I am used to. How would you get yellow legs?)
Drat, Drat. I will have to see what color egg the one female lays when she starts, I guess...
Silver birchen shouldn't easily appear from proper BCM's. It's dominant and a pure birchen rooster would only come from a "half" silver rooster with straw colored hackle and saddle crossed to a silver birchen hen that has so much black you can't tell if she's copper or silver. Birchen hens could also pop up from a half silver rooster. But to someone who knows BCM breeding such birds shouldn't be an "accident". Your photo was deleted by the time I went to look at it (I forgot how interesting this thread was!)
As far as the yellow legs - you're not alone on that one. Someone on the Marans thread has some cuckoos with yellow legs as well. Your EE has green legs because she has yellow skin with pigment under the skin to make it green. The yellow skin is recessive, the pigment under the skin is dominant. Yellow skin is fairly obvious even on hens with very dark shanks. It's visible on the skin between their toes, between the "scales". But if it is somehow crossed in, the gene can hide in a bird that is split white/yellow. The "clear" shanks, or legs lacking the pigment under the skin is recessive, and all varieties of Marans should have these recessive genes, hens 1, roosters a pair.
Most likely these birds are offspring of linebred or "inbred" birds, siblings bred to each other, or hens bred back to their father. Olive Eggers are very popular these days, that could be a source for the yellow skin. Typically only a bird that is a wheaten cross or is very lacking in black pigment overall, will show completely clear yellow legs, unless it's a barred bird.
Did you see your Sonoma guys's flock? Yellow skin shouldn't pop up so easily. If your eggs were dark, then they had to come from hens with Marans blood especially if they were 7's, but if they are showing silver, and yellow skin, they themselves cannot be pure. Olive eggers crossed back to Black Coppers can lay very dark eggs like that. That is my best guess.
Feathered shanks are dominant, so you could still use your hen to get some feathered shanked Marans offspring if you have a good rooster.
So, I got rid of the boys with yellow legs, but the pullet is looking so pretty at ten weeks, even with clean legs (but they are dark):
