French Black Copper Marans with very little copper

[SkiboJeff]

This is Shadow. She is 24 weeks old and is ready to lay her first egg. She has a full copper neck and dark, medium feathered legs. I believe she is an ideal specimen of the SOP. She is quiet, smart, and doesn’t mind being handled.

Are her eyes too dark for the SOP? Anyone?

 

[ColtHandorf]

I believe she is an ideal specimen of the SOP. She is quiet, smart, and doesn’t mind being handled.

Are her eyes too dark for the SOP? Anyone?

If you believe she's an ideal specimen, why would you think her eyes are too dark? I'm not familiar enough with them to know, and I don't know of any quality breeders working with them on here to tell you.

 

[SkiboJeff]

If you believe she's an ideal specimen, why would you think her eyes are too dark? I'm not familiar enough with them to know, and I don't know of any quality breeders working with them on here to tell you.

Good point. I was hoping Chooks man might comment.

 

[Chooks man]

Hello, I was hoping to get some advice on my French Black Copper Marans.

I was reading the standard of perfection on the breed but was a bit confused is no feathering a fault?

also, I ordered them offline the eggs were a very dark brown like the breed should be but with 7 hatching their genetic are all so different.

I culled the yellow foot one but I have 1 with feathers and no copper and 1 with copper but no feathers.

The other 3 of copper and feathers but its not much copper compared to my other hatch from a different breeder. This BCM’s are supposed to be from Greenfire farms lines and they are a little older than 2 months.

my other BCMs from the other breeder are a little more than 5 weeks old.

can anyone help explain what’s going on?

they are gorgeous . like look pure marns to me ,they look the way they should at this age . thick head ,chunky body , thick legs ,good eyes etc...........
some marans have clean legs the English strain ,or French X English . the SOP call for Feathered legs .
yellow legs some time thy appear in some marans population .some say they are crosses but I have seen some pure lines throw yellow legs sometimes . old genetic make up from the fighting cocks they started from . in genetic we call this problem { Atavistic return of the recessive gene/s }
copper will appear differently in birds ,some they show they copper early ,other little late ,and some they don t show any copper .depend on the breeders and the line they are working with .
chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

View attachment 2736143
This is the no feathers but copper one

she look good to me . marans legs for sure ,they just missing the feathers .
love how her under fluff is dark grey at this age . love her face too , good colored eyes and good beak .
some copper is coming along ,give her time .
chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Feathered feet but no copper

lovely chunky and well feathered feet .great color too . love her head and long neck .
love to see photos of each without you holding them .
they look very good to me .well chunky and they feathers are pure black ,no sign of mossiness or impurity .
chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Then his is from another breeder and a month younger

she is gorgeous . true marans legs .
love the copper quality on her hackle .
chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Do you know if the no feather marans should be culled?

you can t just cull because of the clean legs ,there is more important traits to select for first .
for me feathered legs are the last thing I lll select for . here what I select for first in the legs=
Straightness of the legs .
length . not too tall neither short .
thickness . not too thin
color -depend on the variety-
no vulture hock .
well placed toes well spaced and straight .
No yellow colored legs .

last thing is the feathers . I always go light on leg feathering .never select the heavy feathering type . that will produce Vulture Hock in the future generation .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

View attachment 2736143
This is the no feathers but copper one

don t cull this pullet ,and don t let any body to tell you she is cull .
let her mature and lay first , the eggs type and color will determine if she is a cull or breeders .
chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Hi- I don’t know much about breeding qualities but I just wanted to suggest maybe selling the ones that don’t have enough of the right traits, rather than culling them. For one thing, you’ll lose less $ in the process… I’m also a firm believer in not taking the life of an animal unnecessarily… so if you have the option to sell or even give it away, think about it?

I like the way you think ,consider other option before you take animal life ,
chooks man