Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[macgeoghagen]

Well I am now a happy BCM owner ;-) I have something I'm wondering about tho. I have 6 chicks, probably about 10 or 12 days old now. Five of them have varying numbers of white feathers in their wings, all just the leading edge feathers. But one chick has NO actual white feathers. There is a little bit of white fluff along the leading edge of the wing, but all the actual feathers are black.

I am wondering what this will mean for this bird as it grows out. Will it more likely be too dark when it grows up? I have tagged it so I can keep track of it.

It seems that a couple of white wing feathers is normal in chicks and juvies so to find one with perfectly black wings seemed strange.

My black copper marans cockerels had the 2nd or 3rd primary feather grow in white, but later fill in with black as the bird matured.

 

[Arielle]

Donna ~ I was going to try to grow it in a kiddie pool and see what happens. Another thought I had was my neighbor's pond. He is plagued with algae in the summer, and duck weed is supposed to kill off the algae, plus the fish would benefit from it too. That would be ideal as his pond is right over the fence from me! Of course I would have to talk to him about it and see what he thinks. I could just go in with a net to harvest it, let it dry a few days in a pool or barrel being stirred or rolled, and I should be good to go. Sounds lovely on paper, I will find out just how practical it is, or isn't once I get into it. One gal said her chooks wouldn't touch it, but she was feeding it to them green. All of my birds get to free range, so they get lots of goodies in the spring, summer, and fall. The other thing I want to raise is mealworms! They will just about knock me over trying to get at them if I am not fast enough doling them out!

Debbi-- if I might suggest feeding it fresh, wet right out of the pond? Saves you a step and Prevents any mold starting to grow if it doesn't dry fast enough. Hope the neighbor is willing to give it a go!

 

[Arielle]

Quote: This is a phenomenon that I learned early in cattle selection classes. As more genes become homozygous, the animal doesnot grow as fast. NOw, I admit I do have a question about this, and that is, is the mature weight or size decreased also, and I think the answer is yes. THis is the foundation for the commercial lines to use cross breeding as it increses the rate of growth and the mature body size.

For example I bred a black sexlink rooster to my brown EE hen, she is my biggest EE. All stock from 2 hatcheries. THe three sons are HUGE, and outsized the father even to the novice eye. THe father grew up here and the sons grew up here. I can only credit hetersosis.

Sorry for jumping in; I"m behind on my reading and trying to catch up.

 

[Arielle]

And Wolverine Country is ... where? We have them here but I don't think you are in my neighborhood I have a few boys here and three girls. I bought at about 20 weeks forward. I didn't even plan to breed Marans, just fell in love with the two I had. Then I got reading... voila, BCM fan.

Thanks for the advice. I need to get a notebook to keep just for chicken info. I figure if I start with a few from different lines that are 'ot too bad' and keep my flock closed then I might be alright but I am new so what the heck right?

When I am reading the marans thread, I keep a word doc open. I copy and paste as there is no way I can remember everything. ANd sometimes opinions differ so I need to hold on to both pcs of info. My head can't hold it all but my word doc can.

 

[maryhysong]

My black copper marans cockerels had the 2nd or 3rd primary feather grow in white, but later fill in with black as the bird matured.

yes and that seems to be about average, then you have to wait for them to get adult feathers to see if they all come in black or if some stay white. My original questioning was about chicks that DO NOT have white feathers as babies (1-3 weeks old at the moment); does anyone know if they will end up being too dark as adults? Or if these are possibly a start on a line of birds that won't have the white feather issue as adults? No one really seems to know the answer so I will just have to wait and see. I have several of them from two different breeders now.

I will add that they seem to have less white on their faces than the ones with white feathers.

 

[ellymayRans]

So I am new member today! I've read and browsed for over a year now since getting my first small flock of 6.
I expanded this year to the BCMs and my very first roo! However, his comb is getting all "wavy" at approx 6 wks now.
Will this straighten out? Is it lack of nutrition? I read for so long about the breed but don't anticipate showing; just love of chickens and grown to desire the breed...so any thoughts? Opinions?

 

[Arielle]

Quick genetics question.....

I gave some cull BCM roosters to a coworker who is raising barred rock hens for eggs. He wants to hatch his own barnyard mutts so he does not need to buy chicks every few years. Would a Black cooper roo over Barred Rock hens make a sexlinked chick?

-Keara

The BC will put a dark coating on the brown eggs from the BR-- I have one egg like this. ANother fun egg.

 

[heirloomorps]

Our BCMs finally gave us some chocolately brown eggs this morning! I have a hen who is about 8 months and this is her first egg, along with 5 pullets around 5-6 months. I was so excited to find them!

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

So I am new member today! I've read and browsed for over a year now since getting my first small flock of 6.
I expanded this year to the BCMs and my very first roo! However, his comb is getting all "wavy" at approx 6 wks now.
Will this straighten out? Is it lack of nutrition? I read for so long about the breed but don't anticipate showing; just love of chickens and grown to desire the breed...so any thoughts? Opinions?

 

[RedBugPoultry]

Our BCMs finally gave us some chocolately brown eggs this morning! I have a hen who is about 8 months and this is her first egg, along with 5 pullets around 5-6 months. I was so excited to find them!

What a wonderful "early" Christmas gift!