International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[Punkybrewster]

This is a pullet from Judith. I only hatched out 2 of her eggs and got 1 cockerel, 1 pullet.
I will have to let her grow a bit.

 

[Punkybrewster]

Aaaand more baby pics.
Feel free to critique.
Or as chooks man says, describe.

 

[Thomas Bright]

We here in Michigan have not set any Eggs yet . This week is the first warm weather we have had . We have found that our best Marans are not the early hatched ones '

HEY DON,
Great to see you on this thread. Stay in touch and let us know when you "hatch a batch" TOM

 

[chickengr]

Aaaand more baby pics.
Feel free to critique.
Or as chooks man says, describe.

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congrats! great birds.

 

[Punkybrewster]

congrats! great birds.

Thank you.
We will see as they grow.
Breed to improve the line.
So far at this stage, I do see improvement in several of them. I also see faults to keep working on.

My main goal pairing Seamus to my hens in this hatch was to lower the tail, add color to the hens hackles and lighten the leg feathering.

I am anxious to see what the outcome is.

Especially anxious to see how many cockerels end up with white underfluff or white tail feathers. Ugh
Thats the downside.

 

[NanaK]

Especially anxious to see how many cockerels end up with white underfluff or white tail feathers.

I think only a verrrrrrry few without some white actually exist. lol

 

[Punkybrewster]

True.
Its discouraging though.
The nicer the copper, the more white it seems. I did have a few when I first started out with Marans that did not. But their quality was not good either. No mass, high tails and dark. And I didnt know what I know now.

So I guess I need to concentrate on balance. And cull hard. Work with what I have. Make sure their offspring are an improvement over their parents.

 

[Punkybrewster]

I am separating the roosters from the hens. I have 2 Marans roosters and 2 juvenile cockerels I penned together last night in the bachelor coop. This morning, the 2 juveniles are fine but Seamus is beating up my backup marans rooster. The poor thing is sitting in the corner hiding his head from Seamus. How long do I let this go on? No blood yet.

 

[NanaK]

I try to let them work it out for themselves as long as there is no blood. Sometimes it works, other times not so good.

A few years ago I had 2 cream legbar cockerels that were hatch mates. Everything was good until about 5 months old. One got to be too aggressive. I separated the area with fencing so they could interact but no touching. They fought through the wire about a week. Things stayed calm another week. Decided to try it again.

The submissive roo became the dominate one and it started all over again. I introduced them dressed out to my mom in law. She makes wonderful chicken pastry!

Sometimes boys will live together. Sometimes not.

 

[Red Banks]

I am separating the roosters from the hens. I have 2 Marans roosters and 2 juvenile cockerels I penned together last night in the bachelor coop. This morning, the 2 juveniles are fine but Seamus is beating up my backup marans rooster. The poor thing is sitting in the corner hiding his head from Seamus. How long do I let this go on? No blood yet.

My rooster Antonio killed my most promising young rooster pecking him repeatedly in the head. The young rooster went into convulsions and died. I had just decided to confine all the roosters to a bachelor coop. I wouldn't let it go on.