BCM's Experts

[coolcanoechic]

I recently purchased some BCM's from a local breeder. All are very nice looking chicks. However, this one is different. It has brownish red coloring and is the smallest of the group. Can someone tell me about this unusual coloring? She is very cute and I plan to keep her regardless of her color. She was black looking when I got her a couple of weeks ago as a cute little fuzz ball.

 

[coolcanoechic]

Oh, I forgot to mention. I also received the shell she hatched from and it was definately a chocolate brown color.
Thanks for any info!

 

[Sphinx]

Ok, I am not an expert by any way. I'd suggest that you post this on the "What breed/gender is this?" forum.

In the meantime, I wonder if that is a welsummer.

 

[heath_elisha]

Some marans get a mossy color to them- in other words, they are not solid black - but have brown markings on them. We had one before. I think your little lady is beautiful......

 

[coolcanoechic]

Ok, I'll give it a shot. I couldn't decide where to post this, but I am very sure it is a Marans. I think it just has some recessive traits coming out. I think it is supposed to be undesirable as far as colors go, but like I said, I love it's sparkling personality and it has already won all of our hearts. I don't breed. I just wanted the nice dark brown eggs.

 

[coolcanoechic]

Some marans get a mossy color to them- in other words, they are not solid black - but have brown markings on them. We had one before. I think your little lady is beautiful......

Thank you so much. I think she will grow up to be a pretty lady.

 

[pinkchick]

This is not mossiness, this is called autosomal barring and it happens sometimes in Marans. It is a secondary pattern gene....meaning that the birds have some genetics in them that will turn the normally all black feathers to this barred look. Sometimes folks will say this is because of an outcross somewhere in the background of the parent stock or even further back than the parent stock.
I had a couple of chicks turn to this in January when I got hatching eggs from someone who had a specific line of Marans. I no longer have the birds and gave them to my best friend for layers and I saw them the other day....the female that was colored like this has now turned a smokey, not true black and has what I call a concentric penciled look on her upper breast almost leaving her looking exactly like a Black Sexlink.
I also think that this chick of yours that is photo'd may be a cockerel.

.

 

[coolcanoechic]

Oh Crap!

I'm so disappointed. Time will tell though. If it is a cockerel, he will have to go back to the breeder. It has the smallest comb of all the chicks. I gave 3 back to the breeder already, because it was becoming very apparent they were boys. Big combs and big personalities. They were posturing each other bumping chests and raising their feathers....I don't know the correct term. Believe it or not, one seemed to be crowing. At least my brother wanted one. Geez. Out of eight, there were only 3 girls? Ugh. I'm glad I'm not a gambler

Anyway, your answer was exactly what I was looking for. I wanted to know if this was a common recessive gene thing or not. The breeder keeps his birds segregated. I wonder if this bird turns out to be a girl if she will lay the dark eggs. Can you tell I'm trying to be positive? Lol.....when life gives you lemons. make lemonade.

 

[pinkchick]

I could very well be wrong on the gender thing if you say you have already returned 3 of them with bigger combs. Sometimes I do jump the gun.

I have seen egg color from birds like these when they mature and more often than not (from what I have seen) they tend to lay pretty dark eggs, this does not mean that all of them will though.

 

[coolcanoechic]

I will keep my fingers crossed, but it is not the end of the world if it is a boy or does not lay dark eggs. This chick, if it is a girl, will be a very happy bird living here. Here are it's siblings that I think are females. The one in the back is an olive egger with the same daddy and it is a couple of weeks older. I can't find pics of the boys that I removed. I know I have some somewhere. They were very handsome examples of BCM's. I wish I could have kept them all. They all had huge combs compared to these ones. Can you see how small the strangely colored one looks compared to the two in the front? They all hatched on the same day.





Ok, I found a picture of one of the boys.
See the difference?