Black Copper Marans discussion thread

what cuties! i am veering off from my regular forums to ask here if ANYONE anywhere has knowledge of bantam BCM's????? Someone in oregon WAS doing that but no longer.....would be a serious success here! 

I really don't know what I've got here, but this poor girl hatched from a bcm regular sized egg. I started to notice that she was smaller than the rest of her siblings at about 3 weeks, by 6 weeks she was only half the size of the rest, and at that time I moved her to a group of 4 week olds that matched her size because the larger juvi's were giving her a rough time. Now she is just about 12 weeks old and only half the size of the 10 week olds and getting picked on by them. I can only think of two different things that could have happened, either she is just a genetic runt or a bantam rooster that is free ranging here found his mark with one of my black copper marans hens. Now I have to find a safe haven for her until she gets older. The second pic is my suspect. My own curiosity is keeping her around to see what she finishes out as. She has copper hackles and lightly feathered legs, but the rooster in question is also a feather legged variety.
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RooBoo,

A couple of years ago I purchased 12 BCM Chicks from a breeder in North Texas. These chicks were a cross of several BCM lines. Of my original chicks, two stopped growing at 4 - 6 weeks then died around 9-10 weeks old but they otherwise looked and acted like normal chicks except they were half the size of their hatch mates. From the remaining chicks I kept my best cockerel and 4 pullets. I've hatched out about 100 chicks from these birds and about 25-30% of these chicks stopped growing / died just like 2 of my original chicks.

I believe that my flock carries a dwarfism gene or some other genetic malady so I have decided to cull my entire flock of BCMs to prevent this defect from being passed on to future generations. I cannot say that this is what you are dealing with but your post is the first one I've seen that mentioned anything close to what I was seeing in my own flock.

I didn't fully understand the genetic diversity and challenges of breeding BCMs when I bought my original chicks but after my introductory experience raising BCMs and reading through all of the posts on this thread and other forums I now have a greater appreciation for the breed. After many months of researching BCM breeders I have purchased hatching eggs from an established breeder (15+ years breeding their line) that focuses on egg color and type. This breeder took the time to answer all of my questions about his flock (e.g., origins, known flaws/DQs, egg color/size/shape/sheen, body type, etc.). I am going to the breeders farm this weekend to pick up my hatching eggs so I will hopefully have a new batch of chicks to work with by early May.

Regards,
Keith
 
I really don't know what I've got here, but this poor girl hatched from a bcm regular sized egg. I started to notice that she was smaller than the rest of her siblings at about 3 weeks, by 6 weeks she was only half the size of the rest, and at that time I moved her to a group of 4 week olds that matched her size because the larger juvi's were giving her a rough time. Now she is just about 12 weeks old and only half the size of the 10 week olds and getting picked on by them. I can only think of two different things that could have happened, either she is just a genetic runt or a bantam rooster that is free ranging here found his mark with one of my black copper marans hens. Now I have to find a safe haven for her until she gets older. The second pic is my suspect. My own curiosity is keeping her around to see what she finishes out as. She has copper hackles and lightly feathered legs, but the rooster in question is also a feather legged variety.

well, I am not an expert but I did have a minorca runt. she looks the same like her sister but smaller. I also have noticed that bantams have shorter legs than LF. so watch your bird and you might find out what she is. btw runts don't live long.
 
RooBoo,

A couple of years ago I purchased 12 BCM Chicks from a breeder in North Texas. These chicks were a cross of several BCM lines. Of my original chicks, two stopped growing at 4 - 6 weeks then died around 9-10 weeks old but they otherwise looked and acted like normal chicks except they were half the size of their hatch mates. From the remaining chicks I kept my best cockerel and 4 pullets. I've hatched out about 100 chicks from these birds and about 25-30% of these chicks stopped growing / died just like 2 of my original chicks.

I believe that my flock carries a dwarfism gene or some other genetic malady so I have decided to cull my entire flock of BCMs to prevent this defect from being passed on to future generations. I cannot say that this is what you are dealing with but your post is the first one I've seen that mentioned anything close to what I was seeing in my own flock.

I didn't fully understand the genetic diversity and challenges of breeding BCMs when I bought my original chicks but after my introductory experience raising BCMs and reading through all of the posts on this thread and other forums I now have a greater appreciation for the breed. After many months of researching BCM breeders I have purchased hatching eggs from an established breeder (15+ years breeding their line) that focuses on egg color and type. This breeder took the time to answer all of my questions about his flock (e.g., origins, known flaws/DQs, egg color/size/shape/sheen, body type, etc.). I am going to the breeders farm this weekend to pick up my hatching eggs so I will hopefully have a new batch of chicks to work with by early May.

Regards,
Keith

Thanks, I'm not gonna panic by any means because there are a lot of variables involved here. This is just one chick out of about a hundred, and some of the eggs I hatched were just random eggs from my general egg laying flock which had several roosters in play that are not part of my breeding stock. I just grabbed some eggs to finish filling an incubator tray. I do that regularly just to see what pops out. I've gotten some pretty unique looking birds by doing that. It's fun to try to figure out the crosses when they grow out.
 
well, I am not an expert but I did have a minorca runt. she looks the same like her sister but smaller. I also have noticed that bantams have shorter legs than LF. so watch your bird and you might find out what she is. btw runts don't live long.

She looks a little downtrodden in the picture but since I posted that I put her in my brooder pen with a bunch of 1 and 2 week old crested cream legbars, we'll see if she perks up for a couple weeks before the little ones pass her up again. She can be the big shot for a while. lol
 
i have a duck. she has been here for about 2 weeks with a nest and only laid two eggs. that makes me question if she will lay more. she seems to lay on her nest through the night.
 

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