Black Copper Marans Chicks

[auger1wa]

Hello everyone. My wife and I are new to the chicken world and started right off with a friend wanting to give us her 11 Black Copper Marans Roos and Hens. That meant I had to build a chicken coop but oh well. That was fun too. By the time I got the coop built apparently racoons got to all but one hen. SO...we ended up with 5 roos and 1 hen !

We ordered some eggs and got two to hatch. They look like what I've seen online for BCM chicks. Blackish with whiter underbelly and feathers on their legs. In the mean time...our Hen laid a couple eggs and one just hatched. Now this little critter has the coloring of Chip and Dale chipmunks! All our roos are BCM and we have all of them for almost 5 weeks before she started laying. Is there variation that would still be a BCM or is this a genetic throw back?

 

[Chicken_Pauper]

Welcome. use the Search here on BYC to find info on anything you need. Go to chocolatechickens.com for info on the BCM and their coloring.... and, I am sure you can ask them any questions you have as well. I intend on ordering some eggs from them as soon as I get a broody hen this Spring.

Other than that, I am sorry that a racoon got most of the chickens.. and too many roosters will not be good for the one hen. Are you, can you keep all, or all but one of the Roosters separate from the Hen?

If they weren't BCMs I would say send all the roosters, save one (the most mellow and friendly one), to "freezer camp"... but, maybe you can post on Craig's List or something and find a home for most of them?

Best of luck and welcome..

 

[MamaMarcy]

I hatched a single one out from an Ebay order that was CREAM COLORED. I just hatched 2 from a new ebay order (different seller) and both are black with white edges on their wings and whitish/cream bellies. Not sure on your hens chick, will be interestign to see how it fills out!

 

[BossHenFarms]

Hmmm... there are several breeds that look like lil chipmunks, but French Black Coppers are as described by MamaMarcy, dark with white on chest & wing tips & black feathered legs...at least the one's I've raised. I do know brown leghorns as well as Arcauna/Americauna's look like chipmonks...but they have the lil muffs on their cheaks..could be possible that one of the roo's (the daddy) was accidently crossed somehow along the genetic lines & this lil one is a throwback...just a thought? You sure have a Cutie though

 

[Emptywagon2]

Do all marans all have feathered legs? I have four chicks that are black with white tipped wings.. White stomachs.. Ans two have some whit on their head.. But they just have black legs.. No feathers I thought they might be marans.. The eggs were giving to me by a co woker son who lives a ways off. She couldn't remember what he said they were.

 

[auger1wa]

yes.. all my roos and hen have feathered legs. They are texted book classic BCMs. That why I was wondering about genetics.

Steve

 

[Blarneyeggs]

Emptywagon: What color were the eggs you were given? If the eggs were a dark 'chocolate' brown then you may indeed have Marans chicks. Although the SOP calls for feathered legs, many Marans do not have them. I'm told that this is an easily corrected trait

 

[Emptywagon2]

Emptywagon: What color were the eggs you were given? If the eggs were a dark 'chocolate' brown then you may indeed have Marans chicks. Although the SOP calls for feathered legs, many Marans do not have them. I'm told that this is an easily corrected trait

The eggs are light brown with specks but I read that if the Marans hen had just started laying they could be light brown with draker speck. I have some pics of the chicks I will post in another thread...I don't want to Hi-Jack the OP's thread(Sorry for doing it already). I am thinking maybe Cuckoo Marans.

 

[Emptywagon2]

The eggs are light brown with specks but I read that if the Marans hen had just started laying they could be light brown with draker speck. I have some pics of the chicks I will post in another thread...I don't want to Hi-Jack the OP's thread(Sorry for doing it already). I am thinking maybe Cuckoo Marans.

I posted the pictures under Breeds and Gender..."Could these chicks be French Cuckoo Marans?"