Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[Debbi]

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I'm just talking about a hen with a normal pattern of hackle/throat coloring, not talking mossy or down into the breast. Just heavy, and lighter or proper colored hen hackles. Does that make sense?? Remember Ruth's hens? Something like that, the heavier the color the better.

 

[geebs]

I think it's a lack of Mahogany. If the hackles are showing, then the melanizers should be about right. Eumelanin adds black, Pheomelanin adds red. Mahogany increases the level of red in otherwise gold areas.

X's 2

 

[math ace]

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Okay! I will take them out in the sun this weekend and take the first set of photos.

Speaking of changes into ADULTHOOD,

My ONLY mature roo has a white wing feather, a white tail feather, and white at the base of the hackles. About a month ago, I noticed less white in the wing and tail feathers. Today, I looked at him again - - - the base of the hackles is starting to turn grey.

AGE: The roo is just shy of being a year old. I got him last at the beginning of Arpil 2010 and he was already about a month old. So, that means he was born early March. So, he is about a month shy of being a year old. . . . . Sorry for the rambling. I am just thinking out loud. When people say it takes time for the white to spread or GROW on the bird, I am looking at a year before seeing evidence that it is going to happen.

Patience, I had better learn it

 

[math ace]

I am beginning to think that BODY BODY BODY first has to be the theme.
COLOR has to wait, especially if it takes a year for a couple of white feathers to become black.

If a roo is built really good, chunky, wide, balanced, culling too early for white feathers may be a mistake if the rest of the coppering is right on . . ..

 

[geebs]

RAh Rah!!! (I am your cheering section!!) you got it MathAce!!

 

[Debbi]

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I agree with that! Type, in my mind, should come first! If it's built like a Leghorn, who cares what the color is? They could have the PERFECT coloring and lack body type, and to me, that's not a Marans. Now, to find some nicely colored girls for my dark low riders!

 

[Wynette]

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+ eleventy bazillion!

 

[math ace]

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Here is another picture of this rooster:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/51461_blackcoppermarans.jpg
Is his red too dark? Alot of the black copper marans I see have a lighter color - which is correct to the standard?

It is not a queestion of the red being too dark,
but there does not seem to be a lot of it on his saddle area - - - like the red has turned to black there.

 

[geebs]

Yep... you do... And since they are so red you may want to go with ones like you have seen in the picture and maybe even some mossiness/weakness in the black to balance out all the black... like this

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...ge=3&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:21&tx=108&ty=85

Note that the leg color is weak and the eye color is weak and there isn't a strong beetle green to it... I am thinking that this might be a good choice to balance out those lovely low riders. Again if you rule out your rooster carrying wheaton...You will test breed your hen with a rooster positive for it so you know youa re not breeding wheaton into the line.. you can do the same for partridge... so even your mutly culls can have value... If they are carrying tester genes...It would be nice if a rooster carried every flaw in the book and when you took 10 eggs from one female it all showed up... You would know what she carried before you decided to put her with your line.

 

[snowbird]

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Hi Don

Breeding any breed is a long time process and there is always going to one fault or another. There isn't a perfect bird although I was told by one judge that he had seen one that was almost there. If you take the number of birds in a show that is not a very high percentage and this one bird was in one show of a large number of shows. Chickens are a thing of nature and as such one is different from another just as one human is different from another. Don, you have only been breeding Marans for such a very short time, I think you are expecting a lot in such a short time. Keep breeding and doing what you are doing and I am sure it won't be long before you have some very nice birds but they will be different in some way or another. While breeding don't forget to keep the egg color, this is as important as the look of the bird. Breeding Marans for shows and egg shows is going to be more difficult that other breeds. It's a challenge that I am sure you are capable of achieving.

Bev

HI Bev, I can only say that I have found that breeding Marans is no different than breeding any other breed of chickens, get a Standard and breed in large enough numbers and cull all the trash and you will get results very fast. I will not be doing egg shows but still want at least a #6 or better, I will not hatch an egg under a #6. Don