Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[Alaskan]

Before you decide to hatch any from Grace's let the other breeders weight in... Maybe that light color is from a wheaten influence, in which case you might not want to breed from her at all. It is terribly difficult to breed out the wheaten color.

Your rooster doesn't have heavy copper (which would be best when breeding with such black females), however, he doesn't look like he has any wheaten in him (since the color on his neck is even all of the way from the top to the bottom). As long as they have good feet color, and have no side sprigs or odd comb issues, I think you should focus on hatching every possible egg that you get out of them (but again, maybe no eggs from Grace), and grow those out to at least 6 months before you start to sell extras.

You might end up with some nice ones in next years grow-outs.

The key though, is hatch LOTS!!! Having only one or three roosters to pick from is horrid. You should have 25 roosters to pick from, and THEN your flock will improve so much faster!

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Before you decide to hatch any from Grace's let the other breeders weight in... Maybe that light color is from a wheaten influence, in which case you might not want to breed from her at all. It is terribly difficult to breed out the wheaten color.

Your rooster doesn't have heavy copper (which would be best when breeding with such black females), however, he doesn't look like he has any wheaten in him (since the color on his neck is even all of the way from the top to the bottom). As long as they have good feet color, and have no side sprigs or odd comb issues, I think you should focus on hatching every possible egg that you get out of them (but again, maybe no eggs from Grace), and grow those out to at least 6 months before you start to sell extras.

You might end up with some nice ones in next years grow-outs.

The key though, is hatch LOTS!!! Having only one or three roosters to pick from is horrid. You should have 25 roosters to pick from, and THEN your flock will improve so much faster!

Thanks I actually got rid of my two breeders from last year when they both proved to have the wheaten gene. I now have two wheaten hens (just for eggs of course, no hatching). I chose this boy out of 6. There was one that was nicer but he had side sprigs :/ this one doesn't have perfect legs but they're not too bad.

I'm not sure my husband would go for having 25 extra roosters around lol. Nor do I think our neighbors would be happy about that. Hopefully someday we'll get a farm and I can go crazy

 

[blackbirds13]

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!

I have not done this is quite a while but these are my thoughts.

The pullets are mostly a bit over-melanized. The single female with color on the hackle I agree with Alaskan appears more straw colored and I too would hesitate to breed her. They will size up as they grow.
The females in the photos seem to have tighter tails than you may be desired. I had a breeder look at my only older hen I plan on keeping and said the cushion was too full so I am still working on recognizing that. You want a nice open upside down V in the back. The back should slope gradually downward to the base of the tail - "slightly tilted to the tail" I reserve judgement on the last youngest female but she will also be over-melanized.

The male's back in these photos seems a bit like a bump from the bottom of the hackle to the base of the tail (even though it is on a downward slant) in the image but could be just the photo. I'm not sure if it is glare or something else but the base of the tail seems to have white in it and the angle is too high and close to 90 degrees as opposed to 45, so more of a squirrel tail. The male back should be "wide at the shoulders, long, flat, slightly tilted to the rear. Slightly more inclined than the female".
His breast should be fuller but depending on age this may change. HIs wing carriage is low in these photos. I had this issue when I first started with chickens and was advised to put in a higher roost and that fixed the issue for me. Also the heat can have them give this appearance I think.
HIs comb may be a bit close to the back of the head. His head looks fine to me but someone with more experience may want to speak to this.

My expertise is still much in the amateur range and I feel more suited to speaking to broad general issues than more detailed ones. I cannot speak to his width from these images.

Almost all my 6 young pullets are over-melanized. I have one that may turn out to have decent hackle color. I have more chicks coming to try for some better stock as it is very hard to find 'perfect' Marans. And even once you decide on type and color flaws to live with you have to see what egg color you are dealing with.

 

[Rainekitty]

At what age can I let my BCM chicks free-range in the yard and be sure they'll return to the coop at dusk?

I have eight BCM chicks, about 9 weeks old now (three males and 5 females, I believe). They share a coop and run with one red sex link hen who was being bullied by my other adult chickens (the other adults have a separate coop and run next to this one). The coop is situated inside our large wooded, fenced yard. The fence is about 4 feet hight and the chicks could certainly fly up into some of the lower tree branches. The chicks have been out in the coop for at least 3 weeks now. I'm wondering when I can let them loose in the fenced yard without having to chase them through the woods to make sure they all get back into the coop at night. I use meal worms or other treats to lure my adult flock back into the run when I need to, but am not sure the chicks will understand. They do go into the coop each night at dusk without my help.

 

[magdelaine]

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.

BCM cross. This one is missing leg feathers, but otherwise looks BCM. She's 14 weeks.

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

Oh! I had never heard of this before, so I had to look that up. I've never bred chickens and they're more for eggs and fun. So is this just a cosmetic defect? No worries otherwise? Here are some additional pics:

Must have been the camera angle and the way the one point was flopping. There are more than the optimum number of points. The last two photos are however showing a wry tail potential.

 

[RFR of CA]

GFF just started selling that line this spring so no adults yet. I got one of the earlier batches in March. So far I am happy with them but they are a long way from adult and I only have 8 so it is a small sample. This is at 4 months.

 

[alang]

Does the copper become more prominent in the roosters as they age? I have 7 week old chicks and they all seem dark but the roosters seem to be lightening.

 

[sugar ridge]

Mine definitely had more Copper and overall coloring as they aged.

 

[tprice417]

Yours are coming along nicely. I have 16, 6 pullets and 10 cockerels. Two of my cockerels have a lot of copper on their chest. The pullets are just starting to show their copper coloring. They are 9 weeks old. They love to free range and are very friendly. Some of my cockerels have a darker head and some are more like straw coloring. Which is the standard?

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