International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[Tstraub]

I'm guessing it won't matter too much if I guess on some when setting them in the incubator because they are laying on their side anyways. Incubator recommends pointy towards center.
In other news Black laid her first egg since I don't know when. She's an F1 and the egg is very similar to Jetts(F0) eggs in shape.
Either way it was a nice surprise today.

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I’m just speculating here but I think the recommendation to set them pointy end to center is more about the way the eggs roll than the air cell. If you roll an egg it doesn’t go in a straight line it will turn towards the pointy end because the big end covers more distance per rotation than the small end.

By placing the eggs pointed end to the center they will naturally try to roll towards the center of the incubator and around the circle. If you put them in pointy end out they would likely bang into the sides of the incubator and the other eggs as the turner plate forces them around the circle.

 

[wrathsfarm]

That's interesting and I get your explanation. And it just dawned on me but candling them should confirm which way, correct?

 

[Tstraub]

That's interesting and I get your explanation. And it just dawned on me but candling them should confirm which way, correct?

Yes you should be able to see the air sack if you candle them

 

[Tstraub]

So I have been collecting eggs to put in the incubator and now it looks like I have. A volunteer to help hatch some eggs. This is Jersey Gina. She is right at a year old and this is the second time she has gone broody. Last October I had to break her because I didn’t want any chicks at the time.

Now I’m thinking about possibly giving her one breed of eggs to help keep the chicks separate. Just not sure which ones I trust her with. She didn’t put up a fight when I took the eggs and she is still roosting up high so she’s not totally committed yet. But her belly is definitely bald and very warm to the touch. She has been in he same nest box for about 5 hours this morning and she is laying flat like a pancake.

 

[Bantambird]

Moved to the baby brooder these 10 Littles today.

 

[TexasBlues]

 

[wrathsfarm]

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Moved to the baby brooder these 10 Littles today.

It looks like their are 3 grayish looking chicks? What are those?

 

[wrathsfarm]

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Good looking little man you've got there. You have 2, correct?

 

[TexasBlues]

Just this one right now. The other one jumped on my little girl so he got the chop.
This one jumped on my wife the other day, so his days are numbered.

 

[bigsurfwaves]

What are you looking for yourself? Breeding wheaten based birds to birchen based (including BCM) birds will make the birchen pattern scruffy, not nicely concentrated on the neck. (Someone please correct this if it isn’t true all the time.)

BlCM to WM will produce half BCM and half BlCM in the first generation. Crossing these will make a quarter wheatens, and some of these will be blue wheatens. Or you could cross a Blue copper from the first cross back to a wheaten and get half wheatens, half being blue wheaten.

I don’t know if you were actually asking about leg colour, but I’ve included some points in it.

The wheatens have pink legs because they do not code for eumelanin here. Wheaten has the least melanin for all the base patterns (the E locus), so non goes on the legs. Birchen have the most melanin after self colour (aka extended black), so some gets deposited in the legs. (This is not the same as the slate legs gene, which you shouldn’t have in marans.) Splash birds have their eumelanin diluted, so even though they would usually have grey legs they don’t actually produce the grey colour there.

The grey legs are not part of the standard for wheatens, whereas BCMs are allowed to have grey shading.

If you want dark eggs, hatch dark eggs. Or if there is a line that lays pale eggs which you would like to improve, breed them under roosters hatched form dark eggs. Just keep trying to improve over generations like this, it won’t be immediate. You could even find that by mixing the pale egg strains, you randomly get some dark eggs, which you would want to use for breeding in this strain.

I’m not sure if I answer your question, but I hope some of this information is useful. If you send pictures of them I could advise which ones you should keep based on their type.

Helpful post - thank you. I want dark eggs and various shades, unique plumage that is different than most dark layers and olive egger crosses. I obviously want to keep wheatens and BC separate but I'd like advice on whether the blue copper, splash or golden cuckoo should be put in the BCM or Wheaten pen. I can tell the eggs apart and can ;likely improve egg color with any of the crosses. I'd like the ability to sex the chicks and plan to do that with the golden cuckoo offspring. I am just wondering what I may get with some of the crosses and how desirable they may look. I knew blue wheatens was a possible project but wasn't sure what else might be possible