Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[snowbird]

Quote: I fail to see any SPRIGS, I believe this is a mix breed.

 

[tprice417]

Does anyone have Black Copper Marans from Greenfire Farms newest imports? I would be interested to see pictures of mature birds.

 

[SamSWIA]

I fail to see any SPRIGS, I believe this is a mix breed.

I don't think I see them either. Thanks. I don't know much about BCMarans but I would guess that he's a mix too. The other breeds in the group I got from this guy have all turned out to look like mixes.

 

[magdelaine]

I don't think I see them either. Thanks. I don't know much about BCMarans but I would guess that he's a mix too. The other breeds in the group I got from this guy have all turned out to look like mixes.

I should post a picture of the gorgeous pullet I bred that looks 100% BCM but is actually a BCM/Welsummer cross. If direct crosses can look perfect, then you are right...you probably have some mixed breeds on your hands.

 

[SamSWIA]

Interesting!
I honestly don't care about the breeding lines or anything, as long as they are good birds with heat and cold tolerance (Iowa). But I think I did get swiped in paying $10 per chick for certain breeds turning out to be mixed breeds. Hopefully I still end up with a dark egg layer and an olive egg layer out of the deal. Out of curiosity, what are your BCM/Welsummer eggs like?

 

[magdelaine]

Interesting!
I honestly don't care about the breeding lines or anything, as long as they are good birds with heat and cold tolerance (Iowa). But I think I did get swiped in paying $10 per chick for certain breeds turning out to be mixed breeds. Hopefully I still end up with a dark egg layer and an olive egg layer out of the deal. Out of curiosity, what are your BCM/Welsummer eggs like?

I'll let you know when they lay! They are 14 weeks so hopefully I will find out soon. They were a test mating to see if my cockerel carried wheaten. I heard they will be somewhere between BCM and Welsummer in darkness.

 

[SamSWIA]

Cool!

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Would you guys mind critiquing my black copper Marans? The 3 ladies in the first pictures are Faith, Mercy, and Grace. Grace is the one with a lot of copper on her neck (is she considered mossy?). The roo's name is Zeus lol.

This last one is Mocha. She's only about 4-5 months old so I know it's probably hard to tell if she's good or not but I wanted to throw her in here just in case. She has no copper on her that I can see at all.

Sorry to be a thread hog but thanks for looking I'm hoping I have some decent birds!

 

[Alaskan]

Aurora...

It is hard for me to see stuff in photos, but here are my thoughts

First, I think they look good enough to start with and improve on.. But they do have some faults to watch for.

(again, it is so difficult to see properly on photos) But I think two of your girls are a bit too narrow. A Marans should be nice and wide from the front shoulders and back to the hips without narrowing. I think two of your girls narrow down noticeably, however, look at them and see what you think.

The one female with the most color..... Her color is odd. I haven't ever had a female with such a light straw color, so
I am not sure what that means and I do not know how difficult that is to breed out. However, I do know that you do not want that color, you want copper. Copper is a rich dark shiny kind of red, not that light straw.

Your other females ARE very black, that is a common problem with Marans, or at least mine tend towards much too much black....I was actually looking at my girls today wondering if it would be easier to simply say that mine are "black Marans" and breed out the copper, instead of trying with such difficulty to breed it in. Arg!

Your rooster actually looks pretty good, though to be honest I can't see his back, or stance, or comb very well. His tail is much too high, but you can hope that maybe as his tail fills in and gets heavier that it might sink a bit lower. That might be a vain hope... But there we are.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Aurora...

It is hard for me to see stuff in photos, but here are my thoughts

First, I think they look good enough to start with and improve on.. But they do have some faults to watch for.

(again, it is so difficult to see properly on photos) But I think two of your girls are a bit too narrow. A Marans should be nice and wide from the front shoulders and back to the hips without narrowing. I think two of your girls narrow down noticeably, however, look at them and see what you think.

The one female with the most color..... Her color is odd. I haven't ever had a female with such a light straw color, so
I am not sure what that means and I do not know how difficult that is to breed out. However, I do know that you do not want that color, you want copper. Copper is a rich dark shiny kind of red, not that light straw.

Your other females ARE very black, that is a common problem with Marans, or at least mine tend towards much too much black....I was actually looking at my girls today wondering if it would be easier to simply say that mine are "black Marans" and breed out the copper, instead of trying with such difficulty to breed it in. Arg!

Your rooster actually looks pretty good, though to be honest I can't see his back, or stance, or comb very well. His tail is much too high, but you can hope that maybe as his tail fills in and gets heavier that it might sink a bit lower. That might be a vain hope... But there we are.

Thank you for your thoughts I'm still new top this and only want to breed decent birds while working to improve them. I know they're not the greatest pictures but I'm stuck with my tablet for a camera. When I get a chance, I'll try to get some closer up pics of them all and maybe some from the top, looking down. I forgot too mention in my first post that the older ones are all 6 months old so they're probably not completely filled out yet but i guess we'll see. The very last pullet I had up is jet black but has amazing leg feathering and hatched from am incredibly dark egg. I'm assuming from your post that I'm in for a battle to get some copper passed on for future generations. I had figured that Grace's color was off. Figures since she actually has a good amount of it lol. I may hatch a couple from her, just to see if any end up with the right color, maybe in the right amount.