9 week old Black Copper Marans...gender guesses please.

[BantamLover21]

Both are pretty little pullets.

 

[sunshineaviarie]

These chicks are about 9 weeks old now. Any guesses on gender? I am hoping for at least one hen. Please please please!

You are so lucky if they are both hens, and they do look like it. I purchased a straight run of 8 BCM's and 7 are roos. They are going on 5 months and I don't know what to do! I already had a rooster. I just wanted some good BCM hens, lol. Now what to do...they are all crowing and getting feisty. And I have never butchered. I am sure my neighbors think I am a crazy chicken person. =)

 

[Bawkinghen]

Oh man...that stinks! My thoughts were this when I wad worried that they might both be roos. I thought, well...worst case scenario is I keep one and mate him to my Easter eggers to produce olive eggers that I can sell and then sell the other one off on Craigslist with that idea as the pitch for other EE owners. I think there are a lot of EE owners who would be willing to add a maran too to their flock for that reason. Olive eggers are a hot item right now. So maybe you could try to sell them on Craigslist and at least recoup your initial investment. Unlike other roosters, BCMs are pretty sought after, even the boys. I'd try to sell them before I butchered them. Gosh I can't imagine getting 7 out of 8 roos in a straight run. It almost would make me wary of that hatchery, like they are selling off the pullets and taking advantage of those ordering straight run to dump off their roos that are harder to sell.

 

[Bawkinghen]

I'd love to see a picture of all your little roos

 

[sunshineaviarie]

Thank you for the EE/Olive tips and I will post some new photos of those roos soon, they are beautiful!

 

[holm25]

pullets

 

[One Chick Two]

Oh man...that stinks! My thoughts were this when I wad worried that they might both be roos. I thought, well...worst case scenario is I keep one and mate him to my Easter eggers to produce olive eggers that I can sell and then sell the other one off on Craigslist with that idea as the pitch for other EE owners. I think there are a lot of EE owners who would be willing to add a maran too to their flock for that reason. Olive eggers are a hot item right now. So maybe you could try to sell them on Craigslist and at least recoup your initial investment. Unlike other roosters, BCMs are pretty sought after, even the boys. I'd try to sell them before I butchered them. Gosh I can't imagine getting 7 out of 8 roos in a straight run. It almost would make me wary of that hatchery, like they are selling off the pullets and taking advantage of those ordering straight run to dump off their roos that are harder to sell.

It's funny that you mention this- was just thinking about this subject. If you plan to breed BCM, you have to have a lot of feet on the ground to choose from, then cull with care and thought.

We're looking to replace our current BCM roo with a slightly nicer son(s) hopefully. So currently, we're doing a lot of hatching. In our case, we are actually hoping for nice males right now. I was told by a fellow BYCer to have good chances, have at least 15 cockerels to choose from, then whittle them down to about 5 around the 6 month of age period. (Again, this amount is just so you have a greater chance of getting one who looks like you want your next gen to look.)

Now, with a straight run, you usually get about 50% of either sex, so we thought it would take awhile to at least get those 15 cockerels. Nope. With 3 hens laying in the first hatch, we had 20 males that first hatch- with only 4 females (excluding the two that passed, which we believe may have been male as well.). The odds seem so skewed, but it ultimately it is good for us- right now. We didn't even think that was possible. lol




Out of first culls, there's 10 of that group outside now, and again, 4 of them are the pullets as we can't cull any pullets. Second group, I'm also looking at mostly males again, and am now worrying at this rate that we are going to be seriously pullet deficient. lol However, in last week's hatch I believe I saw more females than males- hopefully the tables have turned!

 

[Bawkinghen]

Awe...what sweet little fluffy babies <3

 

[sunshineaviarie]

I chose the nicest Roo and put him in with the only pullet of the 8 BCM straight run I got, in their own pen. That leaves 6 roos that are free range, they come to me when they see me go out to do chores, one of them in particular is really fiesty and chases all the other roos around and pulls their feathers. He starts doing the rooster strut to me and I am not sure if he wants to try and get me, but he just may be the first to go. I sure would like to find the nicest roos to keep, they are just starting to get fiesty now.

I also have one pair of Little Peddlers, and that rooster is pretty mean, he comes up and bites my feet if I wear sandals and twists, or he will grab a beak full of my leg and twist, drew blood once. I grab him up and carry him around by the feet so I can finish the chores without getting picked on. I think he does this because this pair is in a pet to keep separate from the other BCMs. They are all about 5 months old now. This has been quite interesting. In the past I would only buy pullets and would have been scared of these roosters. I decided to get a little brave this time. And now I find them quite beautiful and entertaining, I am not afraid of them at all, I just go after them and catch them if they try anything and hold them awhile.

 

[sunshineaviarie]

I chose the nicest Roo and put him in with the only pullet of the 8 BCM straight run I got, in their own pen. That leaves 6 roos that are free range, they come to me when they see me go out to do chores, one of them in particular is really fiesty and chases all the other roos around and pulls their feathers. He starts doing the rooster strut to me and I am not sure if he wants to try and get me, but he just may be the first to go. I sure would like to find the nicest roos to keep, they are just starting to get fiesty now.

I also have one pair of Little Peddlers, and that rooster is pretty mean, he comes up and bites my feet if I wear sandals and twists, or he will grab a beak full of my leg and twist, drew blood once. I grab him up and carry him around by the feet so I can finish the chores without getting picked on. I think he does this because this pair is in a pet to keep separate from the other BCMs. They are all about 5 months old now. This has been quite interesting. In the past I would only buy pullets and would have been scared of these roosters. I decided to get a little brave this time. And now I find them quite beautiful and entertaining, I am not afraid of them at all, I just go after them and catch them if they try anything and hold them awhile.

I think he does this because this pair is in a pen, I mean't in a pen, not a pet. oops.