Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[happyfrenchman]

Thank you Marquisella, That was along the lines of what I was hoping to hear. It looks like the pigment is there, but the applicator is not yet pumping.... But if they do not get any darker I will keep working on it.

 

[Broad St Farm]

I

...

I am repeating this question in hopes someone will know before it gets buried. I have three pullets that are about 5 months old... Yesterday, two of them laid a pair of Rhode Island Red brown colored egg with tiny brown speckles on it... They are new chickens so I wanted to know if this was normal? The birds look just like the black coppers in all the pictures. They have feathered legs. White skin and feet. Their parents looked great although, I never did see any eggs during my trip to the breeder. The egg is bottom heavy like the Marans in the standard. These birds look great by everything I have been able to gather. I was just wondering if this is something commonly seen when a hen first starts to lay. I noticed some anomalies with my blue copper pullets at first, but they are laying quite a dark caramel colored egg now.[/quote

It's normal. It may take a couple of weeks for there paint jets to start working. They will get darker. If they don't change within 3 weeks it won't happen. They will also get larger. My birds egg color changes every time. One day it will be light the next dark.

 

[happyfrenchman]

thank you... that was what I was hoping... I just have to wait and see. I would have missed the egg for one of my RIRs except it was a pullet sized egg. I was looking at it and was like..... oh my..... But in any case, I really like these chickens.... I just gave away a beautiful Black Copper rooster, and a really nice Blue copper rooster. Too much crowing. One is quieter. ... I imagine I will need an outcross for my next generation of hens.

 

[maryhysong]

Well at least 3 of my girls are laying, now just to get the new breeding pens finished so I can separate them and figure out which girl is laying that nice dark one!


I know which pullet is laying the egg on the right but I don't know who is laying the other two yet.I have been getting eggs off and on with the heavy chalky coating like the one on the left. Also thin shelled, no shelled and a really bizarre egg that looked like it had multiple layers of shell which were then crumpled together, it looked like a wad of tin foil. Wish now I had gotten a pic, it was actually kind of gross looking.

I am getting ready to start my first generation of BCM and I am definitely breeding the girl laying that dark egg, no matter what she looks like!

 

[dcbcaaron]

Hey, got some pics to post, would love some feedback on proper coloring, too much copper, not enough or whatever.

 

[Wynette]

Hey, got some pics to post, would love some feedback on proper coloring, too much copper, not enough or whatever.

That first male should NOT be used for breeding. He has much too much color on his breast. Also, I'm not sure, but it appears he may have a comb issue. Like carnation influence? Tough for me to see from the pic, tho, on that one.

The females in the 2nd pic are alright; does the one on the left have a single comb? It almost looks as it it may be a pea comb (olive egger?). They have nice hackle color; they do look a bit too steep (uphill from the base of tail to the base of neck) - they should be slightly uphill, but not this much, although this could be because they were a bit frightened at picture time & may have been standing a bit more upright than they normally do.

The male in the 3rd pic looks pretty nice, from what I can see; again, it's not the best pic to be able to see much in the way of conformation, but he appears to be a nice, beefy boy. The issue I see with this male is that he appears to have a "halo" in his hackle feathering; that's where it becomes lighter toward the end, sort of as in a halo effect. That is an indicator of wheaten influence, and you don't want that popping up in generations later on. It's a shame, because he appears to have optimal shank feathering, and again, he looks nice & big. I'd like to see more pictures of this male, from the side so we can see his topline & underline, and from directly above, straight down, so we can see the shape of his body.

The male in the last pic - it's just too fuzzy for me to able to tell anything.

This is all my personal opinion; I am not an expert.

 

[chicken pickin]

I was just curious what you all thought about my egg color. Not the best pic but its all I can find at the moment. The darker eggs are from my Black Coppers and the lighter eggs are from my Blue Copper.

 

[Runawaylobster]

thank you... that was what I was hoping... I just have to wait and see. I would have missed the egg for one of my RIRs except it was a pullet sized egg. I was looking at it and was like..... oh my..... But in any case, I really like these chickens.... I just gave away a beautiful Black Copper rooster, and a really nice Blue copper rooster. Too much crowing. One is quieter. ... I imagine I will need an outcross for my next generation of hens.

Actually, i would look into breeding the offspring back to the parent. I have not been doing it long enough to get some of my second generation to the point of lay yet but my research (reading) indicates that if you cross different lines the eggs may become lighter but can darken again if line bred back to the parent. maybe someone else can comment on this but this IS one of the things i am working on and discussion would be awesome

 

[Runawaylobster]

Hey, got some pics to post, would love some feedback on proper coloring, too much copper, not enough or whatever.

I like the middle boy as well, maybe i'm a bit biased because I would love to cross one of my really dark girls with him... all
that color!!! yes I see the halo but i am wondering if crossing with a hen that is showing only a little or no copper would work
well??? I have a black hen, I kept her because she has awesome body type, he would make a great boyfriend for her I think.
oh yes and his tail appears to be at a really nice
angle.

 

[Wynette]

picken, they look lovely to me!