Ameraucanas or Black Copper Marans???

[salt and pepper]

Well, plans have changed, and I can now only breed one of my two favorite breeds, the ameraucana, or marans.... And I'm at a loss on which one to choose! I would be breeding blue and splash ameraucanas, or black copper marans. I'm leaning towards ameraucanas since they seem to be REALLY uncommon around here. The only one I know of that does is a man 45 min away and his are nonstandard, so mine would be the only standard ameraucanas within a two mile radius. The BCMs I have are good quality, and I do enjoy them, but know quite a few people around here that sells them, and don't want to have difficult competition. So what do you think?

 

[Habibs Hens]

well you answered the question your self there

it has to be ameraucanas

although personally I like the FCM better as a breed

 

[salt and pepper]

That's why I'm torn... I LOVE the BCMs, but the ameraucanas will probably get sold faster.... sigh. I'm just worried that since My stater flock are blues, that those aren't as popular...

 

[my sunwolf]

I'm going to be a dork and say go with BCMs. If you really love them more, you'll do a better job with breeding. Business-wise, Ameraucanas would be the better choice. If you're in need of profits, choose Ameraucanas. If you just want to do the best with a breed as you can, choose BCMs. You may be able to expand in the future in either case.

 

[salt and pepper]

Ok, I've decided to do the BCMs, and sell my others as EEs, that way I still get two breeds! lol Thanks for the help!

 

[bugglesmommy]

You know with a BCM roo over both BCM hens and EE hens, you would get pure BCMs and the BCM over the EE hens will produce olive eggers. With the rich brown eggs and blue eggs it should be easy to sort out which is which. Just a thought.

 

[salt and pepper]

You know with a BCM roo over both BCM hens and EE hens, you would get pure BCMs and the BCM over the EE hens will produce olive eggers. With the rich brown eggs and blue eggs it should be easy to sort out which is which. Just a thought.

Here's the thing though... I have three roosters, a BCMs, a BO, and a AM. I have lots of coops, but only to pens two pens, so I'm trying to figure out which rooster and hens to put in the separate pen, and which one to let mingle.

 

[Goose and Fig]

I put my marans and non-blue layer cull females in the ameraucana pen. I only hatch the blue eggs for pure Ameraucanas. I hatch the marans for olive eggers, and the brown and white eggs for EEs. They are easy to sell that way as well. Its a great way to have all the breeds you love in one place.