Black, Blue and Splash (BBS) Marans discussion thread

[GoodwinFarm]

This may be a long shot...my husband is driving from Milwaukee to Philadelphia today, with plans to return Sunday or Monday. Is there anyone along that route who would sell me some black Marans? I have a splash rooster, but I'd rather have black. My hens are mixes of black and black copper, but I'd like to get the black copper out. If you have anything along that route and would be willing to trade for green pieces of paper, please message me. Thanks!
Rebecca

 

[Csoldan]

I have read and have been told that once copper is introduced into your black/blue flock it's no getting it out.

I hatched out blue and black marans this year and out of 11 chicks only 3 are pullets (1 blue 2 blacks), so I was sorting out which roo I wanted to keep.
3 of the roos, (2 blue & 1 black) have copper feathers scattered on their manes. The one splash roo also has some copper. All but 3 of the roos have no feathers on their legs.
I/m keeping the one with no copper and the most amount of feathers on his legs. He's nice and big, good straight bones and friendly, and is already crowing.

So any discussion on copper in the straight blacks?
Thanks

 

[DMRippy]

I have read and have been told that once copper is introduced into your black/blue flock it's no getting it out.

I hatched out blue and black marans this year and out of 11 chicks only 3 are pullets (1 blue 2 blacks), so I was sorting out which roo I wanted to keep.
3 of the roos, (2 blue & 1 black) have copper feathers scattered on their manes. The one splash roo also has some copper. All but 3 of the roos have no feathers on their legs.
I/m keeping the one with no copper and the most amount of feathers on his legs. He's nice and big, good straight bones and friendly, and is already crowing.

So any discussion on copper in the straight blacks?
Thanks

They are genetically different. Once copper is introduced it is very hard to remove.

Lots of people confuse over melanized coppers with black or blue birds and sell them as blues and black. They are not and will never be. The copper will show up. You have copper marans not solid birds.

 

[luckydux]

I've wanted to produce nothing but quality blue girls for some time now but I've been hesitant to tie up a pen with another project so I"m looking for advice. I haven't read any definitive info anywhere on using the splash variety in a breeding program so I'm curious…if using a copper hackled splash roo on black girls would the copper likely transfer ? Does the copper in a splashes hackle even matter? Does the lacing suffer on he blue by using such a method?
Any advice/ideas/suggestions ???

After growing this fella out I'd really like to keep and use him. He's got a great temperament and his type seems ok to me...combs a bit small but may fill in a little more, he's right at 23wks old in the pics. The bottom pics are of his parental flock and a good example of how I'd like my hens to resemble. Am I spinning my wheels?

 

[kristin07035]

Does anyone have 6 splash marans hatching eggs they can ship out to me in NJ on Monday 12/01

 

[Amina]

I've got a splash marans roo that I'd love if someone could critique. Is this guy worth breeding?

 

[LisaLouHoo]

I can tell you this much, he is beautiful, gorgeous, and very striking.

 

[Amina]

I can tell you this much, he is beautiful, gorgeous, and very striking.

Aww, thanks!

 

[jeremy]

I've become a bit obsessed with finding BBS stock this year (as some of you may have noticed with the PMs that I sent)...

I love Marans, I've had Wheatens in the past, but I love Blue. If I could get a small flock of Blue & Black birds going this year, that would be great. Not the biggest fan of Splash birds, they're pretty, but the Blues have my heart. There's nothing prettier than a Blue with crisp, defined lacing.

I wish more people kept the solid BBS birds, I feel like they're such a great "foundation" color for other colors to be built from.

Crossing my fingers that this year is the year that I get my start with this variety!

 

[Sugartree11]

Just found this thread! I adore my BBS Marans! I only have one blue and one splash. They just started laying. I'm hoping to get a few more this spring. They have such gorgeous dark eggs! I'll take updated pics soon. But you can see some of the color in my bkue girl here. She was about 13 weeks old in this pic. I love all the varying shades of grey!