Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[snowbird]

Hey Don, you mentioned I think in the Marans thread that you had hatched some BCM and were pretty sure they were all junk. How can you tell that at hatching? Only thing I can think of is no leg feathers or lots of middle toe feathers or possibly too black looking, not the penguin look?? So far my most hopefull cross is producing too much chest colour in the boys, too early for my inexperienced eye to tell much else yet...........

Hi, Yes I have about 35 BC chicks from three different breeders and they look mostly like junk and they also came from breeders that are showing and winning. I have three more dozen in the incubator to hatch yet, 1 batch is from Lisa Olson and I look forward to seeing these. Some of the chicks have too many brown feathers and they have brown around head, The shank feathering is terrible.

I have 9 more treatments and will try and post all the chicks then as they will all be hatched by then.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
And then there are the dreaded "sprigs". I have hatched the motherload of sprigs this time. VERY discouraging. Not even sure I'm going to waste time growing them out to "freezer" size.

Which leads me to a question. What is the genetic nature of sprigs, assuming I can be sure these are truly sprigs and not just screwy combs? Even some of the females have them. Do I need to worry that the ones that don't have sprigs may be hiding a "sprig" gene since it seems most of these birds are related because they came from the same line?

 

[Christie Rhae]

Quote: Lisa has agreed to send me eggs this spring! I had almost decided to give up on "good" marans and just focus on egg color over here in the middle of the Pacific. (To be honest I don't even have any with good egg color) I mean who cares anyway way out here? But I got an email from her and a little ray of hope flickered.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote: Lisa has agreed to send me eggs this spring! I had almost decided to give up on "good" marans and just focus on egg color over here in the middle of the Pacific. (To be honest I don't even have any with good egg color) I mean who cares anyway way out here? But I got an email from her and a little ray of hope flickered.

Judges' buzz here in the east is that there are some VERY nice Marans in the west. So I hope you manage to tap into those, Christie!!!

 

[Zanna]

And then there are the dreaded "sprigs". I have hatched the motherload of sprigs this time. VERY discouraging. Not even sure I'm going to waste time growing them out to "freezer" size.

Which leads me to a question. What is the genetic nature of sprigs, assuming I can be sure these are truly sprigs and not just screwy combs? Even some of the females have them. Do I need to worry that the ones that don't have sprigs may be hiding a "sprig" gene since it seems most of these birds are related because they came from the same line?

Yikes, so sorry!!! I guess I have been lucky, never had a dreaded sprig or yellow legs.......... As of yet..............

If my test matings go well this year I am closing my flock!! Are you seeing the sprigs at hatch or do they take a couple of weeks to become apparent?

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
In this case, the sprigs waited a couple of weeks to reveal their ugly heads.

I'll take some pictures because I've definitely got some seriously unpleasant combs appearing. I'm not sure there is a single male I will keep. (Combs are one of the good things in my current Marans so I am NOT keen to introduce a bad comb because I have enough other problems I am already trying to deal with.)

 

[Runawaylobster]

In this case, the sprigs waited a couple of weeks to reveal their ugly heads.

I'll take some pictures because I've definitely got some seriously unpleasant combs appearing. I'm not sure there is a single male I will keep. (Combs are one of the good things in my current Marans so I am NOT keen to introduce a bad comb because I have enough other problems I am already trying to deal with.)

Just to let you know... I had one guy this year who's comb looked like the mountain range of the himalayas... peakes everywhere except where
they are supposed to be. funny thing is he grew into his comb and I can't even tell which one it was now, it completely straightened out.. Maybe there's hope for you little combs..

 

[bribre]

Do any of you know of a good breeder in Canada?

Bre

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Do any of you know of a good breeder in Canada?

Bre

Me ????

(I AM trying, at any rate!)

 

[bribre]

Me ????

(I AM trying, at any rate!)

Are you willing to ship a dozen eggs to Langley bc? If so could you tell me the good a bad about your birds so I know what to expect? How long have you been breeding FBCM? Thanks Bre