Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[maryhysong]

Any breeders on here from AZ? I would love to have some Black Coppers! They are so beautiful and their eggs are so cool looking!

 

[jmanderson777]

I stole my wife's fancy camera. Here are my two FBCM. They are 5 months old. I can't wait for her to start laying. He a just a little color on his chest as you can see in the second picture and one white tail feather. I'm hoping that goes away when he molts.

 

[Arielle]

Here is an observation ,and I wonder if anyone has the same experience.

When I let my chicken crew free range, the feathers become sparse. I origianlly thought these feathers just matured and the final result was a very light feathering. THen I penned a few for various reasons, and the leg feathering grew in. The leg feathering is quite nice, medium heavy feathering. Not cochin heavy, but what I think of as ideal feathering.

 

[math ace]

When you let the birds free range, they go places and do things that they wouldn't otherwise do. They not only lose feathers, but the feather color can change (black to brown or white to yellow) due to the sun. My birds, in Florida, see a lot more sun than the folks in the North. By the end of summer, my BCM have brown fluff in the butt area. Then they molt and every thing is back to a rich black!


I let my BCM rooster out one day with his girls. I don't know what the boy did while he was out with the ladies, but he came home that evening with a bloody toe... He had ripped of his toe nail. OBTW, they don't seem to grow back either

 

[Arielle]

Oh dear--that was ouchy. Poor rooster. THey must be like us, if the nail bed is badly damaged it cannot make the nail again.

 

[CountryFriedChicken]

So perhaps, the male that I have that is spotted all the way down his legs, really!, could be useful on a hen that is overmelanized.

THis parti breed is difficult . I think it was DOn that said, am I'm interpetting his words, to get good SOP individuals you actually breed compatable males and females and these are birds which are not as close to the SOP for ideal color. ( DOn correct me if I have this wrong. )

I have a rooster that is black on the breast , I have only 3 marans hens - all solid black, that being said - half of his pullets showed copper. I havent had a cockerel by him that I would consider keeping though.

 

[CountryFriedChicken]

Everybody is talking about color, but what about type?

People are complaining about the roosters tail set right now.

 

[Arielle]

Everybody is talking about color, but what about type?

People are complaining about the roosters tail set right now.

I have read almost everything on BYC on marans, and most of the chatter is about color; HOWEVER, when type is mentioned it is clearly stated that type is the most important thing to breed for. I too wish there was more type discussion so I can better "see" what I am shooting for.

 

[johnderosa1]

Hi CountryFried and Arielle,

I agree with your request...I posted pictures of my boy on page 484 and asked for comments about type (his breast has too much red) but didn't get much specific feedback on anything but color. It's clear that I messed up with the copper spotting but hope that I did ok with the rest. Barngoddess was nice enough to make a general comment about him however additional comments from the forum members would be very appreciated.

BTW math ace, very interesting comments regarding color fade. My birds are looking pretty washed out right now after being in the sun all summer. I am not sure how black they started but I do notice a significant change. Some of my hens are looking almost chocolate...

 

[Arielle]

Hi CountryFried and Arielle,

I agree with your request...I posted pictures of my boy on page 484 and asked for comments about type (his breast has too much red) but didn't get much specific feedback on anything but color. It's clear that I messed up with the copper spotting but hope that I did ok with the rest. Barngoddess was nice enough to make a general comment about him however additional comments from the forum members would be very appreciated.

BTW math ace, very interesting comments regarding color fade. My birds are looking pretty washed out right now after being in the sun all summer. I am not sure how black they started but I do notice a significant change. Some of my hens are looking almost chocolate...

You will find that I don't comment on chickens regarding type and SOP stuff--Pictures throw me off AND WHat the heck do I know . . . . I've only been looking at chickens for ONE year ( had chickens for a year previous but wasn't looking with a critical eye.

)

I don't feel my view has value unless we do it as practice with Snowbird to round out the proceedings with his sharp eyes.