Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[ochochicas]

...so a rose comb on the father of a pullet...bad?

Marans don't have rose combs. The father must be mixed with something else. I have a BCM pullet with a rose comb, but I was told she is 1/4 Araucana, which technically makes her an olive egger and not a true BCM. Her coloring is exactly like a black copper marans with beautiful leg feathering. She has not laid an egg yet (any day now).

 

[Heatherschix]

Marans don't have rose combs. The father must be mixed with something else. I have a BCM pullet with a rose comb, but I was told she is 1/4 Araucana, which technically makes her an olive egger and not a true BCM. Her coloring is exactly like a black copper marans with beautiful leg feathering. She has not laid an egg yet (any day now).

Darn I was hopping that was a gene only passed to the roolets...makes sense tho that it would only muddy up the line in my flock.

Thanks

 

[Heatherschix]

Meaning rose comb on a BCM rooster? Only bad if you are looking for pure BCM. Not bad if you don't mind mixed BCM.

Unless I am misunderstanding...

Sorry I had a blonde moment..

I saw some pullets on craigslist and the seller sent a picture of the father with a rose comb. Beautiful bird with all the right colors, but I am looking for pure BCM. Stupid question sorry...carry on

 

[Sweetpea3829]

Folks, I have three BCM currently. One cockerel and two pullets. The cockerel, I hatched myself. He was the lone BCM survivor out of a number of BCM eggs that were sent to me from a fellow BYCer.

The pullets came from another source.

I have a quick question on coloring and what is to be expected at this stage. The cockerel is nearly 12 weeks old and the pullets are approx 13 weeks.

The cockerel was hatched with a tiny copper spot on his head, off to the side. At this stage of development, he is mostly black with some light coppering on his hackles. He has the reddest comb of all of the cockerels I hatched this season (other breeds...Australorp and Speckled Sussex). At what age should I start seeing the copper really coming through on him? If I understand correctly, an adult cock bird would have a pretty good amount of copper color.

For the pullets...one is completely black with no coppering at all. The other has slight streaks of copper showing through.

All three are nicely feathered in the shanks.

Also, I have no intention of showing any of these birds, but am rather learning as I go. Eventually..someday, I'd like to breed to standard, but will learn best on my own birds where I can see faults first hand and learn how to deal with those faults (through selective breeding).

Finally, I know pictures are best, lol. I will eventually post a few, but its too dark right now to run out and take some.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[GaryDean26]

There can be a big variation from line to line and bird to bird on when the copper color comes in on the cockerels.

Here is a group I hatch in 2012. There were 4 cockerels in the group below is them at 7 weeks old. They didn't have much copper at that age.


Here are the same birds group of four cockerel at 10 weeks old. They had quite a bit of copper by then on the hackles



Here they are at 21-1/2 weeks old. All of them had the copper on the shoulder by them. Two had copper on their saddles but the other two were like the one shown here.



Here is the same cockerels as above at 90 weeks old.



Here is another cockerel from that group at 90 weeks old. He was one who has copper at 21-1/2 weeks.




Note: I no longer have either of these birds or anything from that bloodline. The cockerels in the Line I am working with typically have good copper on their saddle by about 14-18 weeks.

 

[Sweetpea3829]

There can be a big variation from line to line and bird to bird on when the copper color comes in on the cockerels.

Here is a group I hatch in 2012. There were 4 cockerels in the group below is them at 7 weeks old. They didn't have much copper at that age.


Here are the same birds group of four cockerel at 10 weeks old. They had quite a bit of copper by then on the hackles



Here they are at 211/2 weeks old. All of them had the copper on the shoulder by them. Two had copper on their saddles but the other two were like the one shown here.



Here is the same cockerels as above at 90 weeks old.



Here is another cockerel from that group at 90 weeks old. He was one who has copper at 21-1/2 weeks.




Note: I no longer have either of these birds or anything from that bloodline. The cockerels in the Line I am working with typically have good copper on their saddle by about 14-18 weeks.

My cockerel has far less copper at 12 weeks. He looks closer to the 7 weekers with his coloring. So I'm assuming his coloring wouldn't be considered great, then? Or we really can't tell until he's older, then?

How about the pullets? How much copper should they exhibit and when? Like I said, I have one pullet who doesn't have a trace of copper on her, and another who has about the coppering of your 7 weekers, maybe a bit more.

 

[One Chick Two]

My cockerel has far less copper at 12 weeks. He looks closer to the 7 weekers with his coloring. So I'm assuming his coloring wouldn't be considered great, then? Or we really can't tell until he's older, then?

How about the pullets? How much copper should they exhibit and when? Like I said, I have one pullet who doesn't have a trace of copper on her, and another who has about the coppering of your 7 weekers, maybe a bit more.

Don't worry- it's still pretty early. 6 months is about the age when you can really just start to see where things are heading (they first have to go through the juvie molt), but some cock birds can take 12-18 months to fully feather in. Can you post a few photos so we can see your birds?

Some of our pullets are still dark at 10 weeks, and they may always be dark, but, here is one of our pullets just starting to copper in her hackle, she was about 8 weeks old in this photo. As
long as she's not straw colored in the hackle, and has some copper, she may or may not get more, but I feel copper color is coming in more every day.


, lol.

 

[Sweetpea3829]

Ok...I ran out and took some pictures. I apologize for picture quality and overload, lol.

My cockerel, named Cluck Norris.

 

[Sweetpea3829]

Pullet #1 (as of yet unnamed)

 

[Sweetpea3829]

Pullet #2 (again, unnamed)