Let's talk Cuckoo and WHITE marans... breeding strategies...

[OHmamma]

Those Orpingtons are some serious fluff! Looks like you have the same mud problem I have right now. I almost fell on my butt today kicking off a rooster attack. My boot flew off at him and whacked him in the head. I would have slipped and fallen if I hadn't been close enough to grab a tree branch to catch my balance. I till ended up with a cold muddy sock.
If I had fallen that rooster would have been dinner tonight!! Instead he got lucky and went to the roo pen. He will likely be dinner in a few weeks now.

That kills me that her legs are peach she is a tight looking little hen I really like it when they have nice close feathers so that you can see their body shape. My friends just say I like them too gamey but I can't help what I like.

I had that dermis color problem with some Golden Cuckoo that I bought last year. I was extremely disappointed, of the 7 I kept to raise 2 had peachy legs and beaks. The weird thing was they didn't have it when they were chicks. I was looking through chick pictures of them and they had white shanks, feet and beaks until they were about 16 weeks old.

DMRIPPY is right the standard will call for the EE cuckoo with uniform barring from head to toe. But I personally like the EEr look. They are also a very important tool for making good silver birchen. That roo you have would be a good one to clean up the messy cream birchens you see most of the time. You can still breed the EEr cuckoo to an EE and get both, so tossing them all out isn't always necessary unless you just want to I guess. But really if they are just for your pleasure breed what you like,

The oddball chick in the pictures I posted is an EEr cockerel. I can't wait to grow him out. He is a monster already and towers over the other chicks. I said it looks like he has gigantism. I have a few of them since I have my Er hen and one that Rodney Reeves gave me in the pen. The pullets have the same stripes/spots on their backs but they are darker in the base color and more defined.

 

[Hens and Roos]

I did a quick look through my pens and have decided to not use any cuckoos with the birchen look. I have 2 pullets/hens that look like your girl on the right and they are going to be removed from my cuckoo pen. With your roo it is going to be hard to breed AWAY from that look. I like the look, just not what the SOP is going to be from my understanding. Also you hen on the right looks to have yellow legs.

Cuckoo should look like a Barred rock in the barring. By that I mean nice even barring all over. No darker or lighter places like the wings, hackles and saddle feathers. Your roo would be good to breed for some Birchen Marans maybe (if he is not carrying yellow legs) but you would need some solid marans not carrying copper and they are hard to find.

So if I am reading this right, you wouldn't keep any cuckoo pullets showing the birchen look if you are working with or trying to maintain a cuckoo line? I notice I have 2 birchen looking pullets in our 1st hatch of this year- we did have a birchen looking hen who we collected eggs from. Will be interesting to see what our upcoming hatch shows for cuckoo chicks as we no longer have the birchen hen.

 

[lildinkem]

Those Orpingtons are some serious fluff! Looks like you have the same mud problem I have right now. I almost fell on my butt today kicking off a rooster attack. My boot flew off at him and whacked him in the head. I would have slipped and fallen if I hadn't been close enough to grab a tree branch to catch my balance. I till ended up with a cold muddy sock.
If I had fallen that rooster would have been dinner tonight!! Instead he got lucky and went to the roo pen. He will likely be dinner in a few weeks now.

That kills me that her legs are peach she is a tight looking little hen I really like it when they have nice close feathers so that you can see their body shape. My friends just say I like them too gamey but I can't help what I like.

I had that dermis color problem with some Golden Cuckoo that I bought last year. I was extremely disappointed, of the 7 I kept to raise 2 had peachy legs and beaks. The weird thing was they didn't have it when they were chicks. I was looking through chick pictures of them and they had white shanks, feet and beaks until they were about 16 weeks old.

DMRIPPY is right the standard will call for the EE cuckoo with uniform barring from head to toe. But I personally like the EEr look. They are also a very important tool for making good silver birchen. That roo you have would be a good one to clean up the messy cream birchens you see most of the time. You can still breed the EEr cuckoo to an EE and get both, so tossing them all out isn't always necessary unless you just want to I guess. But really if they are just for your pleasure breed what you like,

The oddball chick in the pictures I posted is an EEr cockerel. I can't wait to grow him out. He is a monster already and towers over the other chicks. I said it looks like he has gigantism. I have a few of them since I have my Er hen and one that Rodney Reeves gave me in the pen. The pullets have the same stripes/spots on their backs but they are darker in the base color and more defined.

Yes I live in a bogg it looks like. With this heavy wet snow melting all off makes it look like we had 2 inches of rain overnite. now come in 3 months we all will be crying for some wet weather. unfortunately we're getting warm for 3 days then back to the rain and them more of the same wet cr@ppy weather.
I do like this EEr look. I could have had a normal Cuckoo from Dick. but I knew he was special. Not in a showing way but just a cool looking bird.
Like we discussed in PM's. I will let you have him. Or even borrow him. I did not see you are in OH. Maybe meet up at the Columbus show in Nov. OR if you get the urge to hit the Indiana State Fair Poultry Show I can let you have him for a season. I did that with Heather Perkins "seabrightmom"/ She had one of my BCM's for a season. The BCM hen is going on 4 years old and still laying a lovely dark speckled egg. I miss Bruno my Betty jo Birchen cock. He was about the best lookin birchen I have ever seen. you just do not see many out there. I am glad i have his son Little Bru. Again, you can borrow Little Bru too sometime if you like.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
No I am not keeping birchen looking birds in my cuckoo pen. This is the first generation I am seeing it, so not going to help it move forward in my cuckoo pen. I have other projects I can use them for.

 

[DMRippy]

Hi Nicol,
Thank you so much for your reply.
I just took these 2 pics of her a few mins ago. Legs look yellow to me, beak is what it is. Maybe these pics will help you decide. The bigger girl is a pullet too. She lays an enormous egg. I am only hatching out MAYBE a dozen. IF you or anyone has interest in hatching some of these let me know. They are fertile. The bigger girl lays a lite tan egg. She is from my Cuckoo Orps. I also have a Cuckoo Orp with the Silver Cuckoo look as you described.
Again I am more then happy to share. I am cheap, just ask.







These are the 2 Cuckoo Orps I have. One is the Silver Cuckoo, other is just Cuckoo. Both came from a Black pullet with a Shaffer Cuckoo line cock.

Silver Cuckoo is TOTALLY Different than what you have. You have Cuckoos that are expressing Birchen. Silver Marans look TOTALLY TOTALLY Different. Maybe Vicki can post some pictures of hers.

Here is a link to what SILVER CUCKOOS look like http://www.artandverse.com/marans.html Maybe they are just called Silvers IDK

 

[gilavina]

Silver Cuckoo is TOTALLY Different than what you have. You have Cuckoos that are expressing Birchen. Silver Marans look TOTALLY TOTALLY Different. Maybe Vicki can post some pictures of hers.

Here is a link to what SILVER CUCKOOS look like http://www.artandverse.com/marans.html Maybe they are just called Silvers IDK

That would be the link I'd put up lady. I know I have a few pictures, but would have to look for them and that might take a while.

 

[Phorseco]

HI Nicol !!!!!

 

[lildinkem]

Silver Cuckoo is TOTALLY Different than what you have. You have Cuckoos that are expressing Birchen. Silver Marans look TOTALLY TOTALLY Different. Maybe Vicki can post some pictures of hers.

Here is a link to what SILVER CUCKOOS look like http://www.artandverse.com/marans.html Maybe they are just called Silvers IDK

Marvin (Nicalandia) has said the equivalent look in my Cuckoo Orp has Silver. I am willing to bet he is rite. Harry Shaffer (Shaffer) says he looks like a Silver. Now I am talking about my Cuckoo Orp as pictured. Not saying you are wrong. I just know Marvin is up there with Henk69 in genetic knowledge. Far as my Silver Cuckoo Orp goes, I plan on taking him to 2 Buff Columbian looking pullets. Marvin is talking about this on another thread.

What Marvin said:

Now the Unusually marked cuckoo male is a E/eWh cross male looks like, he is also a silver heterozygote meaning it has one copy of Silver and one copy of gold thats why he has the yellow saddle and hackle colors, if mated to buff columbian females you have chances of hatching silver columbian females(barred and none barred) and gold columbian females(barred and none barred) Gold columbian roosters(barred and none barred) Golden columbian rooster(S/s+ like dad) that will look like silver columbian(barred and none barred) upto adulthood when they start showing the yellow lemon color of such S/s+ male cross. you will also be hatching black chicks, barred and none barred... thats alot of genotypes and phenotypes so if you want any of the posted phenotypes(looks of birds) you would have to hatch at least 50 chicks..


This Cuckoo orp looks sorta like the Dickerson Cuckoo. I am sure the genetics is not identical. So you maybe rite far as Dickerson Cuckoo Marans.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote: I was not talking about the Orp Roo. All I know is Cuckoo Marans are SILVER Based or they SHOULD BE but they are not Silver Cuckoos.... just Cuckoos.

 

[OHmamma]

I go by the name Silver Cuckoo for any EEr Cuckoo because of the French sites, It is like calling a Birchen a Silver Birchen or Black Birchen. We will also have the "Silver Blue" which most people call blue birchen. Cuckoo SIlver Black Birchen would just be too much!

But I suppose it is really a "hobby name" so open to each persons interpretation.

I found these ..."Silver Marans"....http://www.artandverse.com/marans.html I would consider these more of a splash cuckoo myself I had two last year.

Standard Cuckoo should be EE or black based. The white "barring" is just a break in the color as the feather grows. It might blurr but doesn't change in any color of barred bird.