Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[math ace]

Quote:
In my opinion I would say it's the other way around. From what I have seen the Davis birds seem to be slightly larger than the Jeanne/Presely lines but I suppose there are many variables. Weights for adult birds would be 6-8 pounds ideally. Hope this helps.


Chef

The standard is for 8 lbs for the cock and 6 1/2 lbs for the hen.

 

[Kensfarm]

My first egg today!!!!!!!!!

So happy and she used my nest box in the coop instead of some random hiding spot in the yard, as they have free access to the yard.

The egg is obviously small, but I actually thought it looked really good for a first egg.

The hen in this picture is the one I think layed it. I have 3 BCM hens, the BCM roo and 2 orpington hens that make up the flock. This hen is the largest, stays the closest to the roo and has the darkest wattles and comb. I hope the others will follow soon, just ate the last of my grocery store eggs yesterday. Maybe I won't have to buy those any more.

 

[onthespot]

Nice egg!

 

[DMRippy]

Nice CHICKENS!!! the egg looks good too

 

[seabreeze]

My Bev Davis birds are much heavier, denser and larger than the Wade birds I have.

 

[gardengoats11]

Now that I have enough posts, I will try to get some pictures of my BC's to get some feed back on type and color. Enjoying seeing everyone elses pics and learning from them.

 

[Edwards' East of Eden]

I'm in process raising my first batch of chickens ever, and started with seven fuzzbutts in three breeds. Then - well, you know how chicken math goes! I saw on our local Craigslist (the crowd goes "grrrrrrr") where someone had BCMs, and ... two hours later I had six more chickens, straight run.

So these babies are about nine weeks old now, and I figure it's time to show them to y'all and take my licks. Figuratively speaking, of course!

I have feelings about what's a roo and what's a hen, but I may be way, waaaaay off. I do have a couple who are crowing now, and I will note that as appropriate. Facts are, though, that unless every one of these is a pullet, I've got too many roos ... so advice about which roo(s) to send to freezer camp are also welcome!

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This is BoBo the Brainless. Always the last one out of the coop, usually because he's wandering around, having forgotten where the popdoor was since he came inside last night. He does crow - well, kind of. He's getting better. My first crower.



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This is Sim. He(?) has asymmetrical feathering on his feet - I'm giving you two pictures, one for feet and one for color.





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This is RC. His(?) foot feathering is so heavy that when he runs, he squats down with his feet way wide apart and swings them around. He looks like John Wayne just broke into a trot. So, of course, he's Rooster Cogburn.



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This one on the left (right is black australorp), I believe, is a FOURTH roo out of the batch. Whatcha think?



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This one is unnamed, but is the friendliest of my BCMs which I assume to be hens.



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... and the other one looks just like that hen, pretty much.

Okay, be brutal. Seriously, I can take it. These are my first chickens ever, and I'm still figuring stuff out, but Sim jumped on the back of one of my EEs this morning and I think that was mating prep behaviour. The other chickens are about three weeks older, so maybe they're started to smell right or something!

I don't expect to have award-winning BCMs here, but all I really know to look for is not-black eyes and no sprigs on the combs. There's so much about degree of tail and body type and ... okay, I got lost in it. Help me out? Please?

Thank you for your time -

 

[blackbirds13]

laniered

The four all look like boys to me and three look like they have a lot of color for their age. I like #3 the most from what I can see - In the last pic is it the rooster on the left? His shanks look unfeathered so that may have to factored in. No 2 Sim seems like he may have some personality from his photo and stance - perhaps his color will be correct in the end? I cannot comment on the girl cause I lack the knowledge but she appears to be 'mossy' but I am not sure if I am using the right terminology. This is my first attempt at critiquing another person's birds so take it with a huge grain of salt.

I also just got my first BCM's this spring and am still trying to decide on which rooster to keep. I did give away the ones that had a lot of color very early but they were also the runts of the bunch so you may also want to make size and form a factor. Another had such heavy feathering on his middle toes that despite him being the biggest of the bunch and the alpha he also was re-homed. I am still not happy with everything about the two that I have left (I may also keep the only splash copper boy since my son loves him and he is huge and a real sweetie so far) but unless I can find something more suited I will use what I have even though some may advise against it. There are a lot of knowledgeable folks on here, with great advice and insight into this breed so hopefully they will be able to aid you more than I could.

 

[Edwards' East of Eden]

blackbirds13

Thank you so much for your reply! Yes, the one on the left - I edited my post so that would be clear. The one on the right is my frilly-butted black australorp which is ALSO probably a rooster but was supposed to be a hen.

Okay. Of my seven first chicks, one was supposed to be a roo ... but now it's beginning to appear that three of them are. 3/7 are roos, I'm fairly certain.

Of the six BCMs that I got, apparently at least four are roos. That brings me to 7/13 of my flock being roosters. ::le sigh::

What's the optimum age for culling again? We had always planned to have a dual-purpose flock, but I had not planned on it being quite this dual-purpose, not quite this early.

 

[Chef]

Quote:
Hello lanierd,

What are you planning on doing with this stock? Are you going to be showing them? If you are not then I would just wait until they start to lay and choose your dark egg layers and your favorite roo. If you are planning on breeding and showing then I would suggest finding some better stock to use. I would not be using any of those birds in a breeding program but thats just my opinion. If that is a pic of a marans in pic 4 "I think it's RC" looks like it may be a she but pic is not very good. The last one is for sure a pullet. Right around 5 months is when I cull the cockerels that I keep my eye on. They can and do change quit a bit until they reach maturity. Your birds look very happy and healthy so keep up the good work!


Chef