Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[Ihilani Coffee]

2X Nice looking male.

Even with his halo, he seems to have consistent color balance throughout, and he's wide, viewing from the top view. Also, his back and tail seems to have nice length and width.

Looking, but see little else to mention.

He is carrying the wing low in the first photo...maybe he was shifting his wings? Is his chest a tad shallow? That should fill out a bit more as he matures. His back angle... is this just a bit on the steep side, or was he squatting a bit?

All in all, I think he looks nice. There is nothing (just my opinion) I would think of as a dealbreaker.

I had just brought him home in these photos...he was agitated and didn't know where he was or what was going on. I suspect the things you mention were due to that, with the wing and back angles adding to the appearance of shallow chest in that moment. I need to take more photos now that he has settled...it's always so difficult to get them in the right position for good photos when they're running about in the yard with the hens!

 

[One Chick Two]

My BCM cockerel he is 7months old

First, I just want to say... handsome guy. Low tail angle. Nice color, good eyes, nice face and shanks. Besides the halo, he's carrying his wing a bit low, and his rear end may be a little small.

However... What appears maybe to be a comb sprig may be on the back of the comb?

Now, this can just be a trick of the light, so, you might want to check this out in better light, and run your fingers over this area to be sure that the photos aren't adding artifacts. The comb should be free from defects like protruding bumps.



Also, see the back of his comb blade where I've drawn a straight line? Less of a deal, but, his blade should be straight here. Having the jagged back can denote a possibility to carrying onward the gene for abnormal combs.

So, if he does have a protruding sprig bump here (like a small mole) that would be a DQ, and you wouldn't want to breed him as he would carry both the genes needed to express sprigs. Hopefully the light was just adding texture to the skin.

This is a good article about comb sprigs and carnation comb just to take a look at.
http://www.maranschickenclubusa.com/files/Abnormal_Combs_Article.pdf

So sorry... but, if he does carry sprigs, it's better to realize it now, than later to possibly have a bunch of little ones to cull later with sprigs, or, other comb concerns.

 

[One Chick Two]

I had just brought him home in these photos...he was agitated and didn't know where he was or what was going on. I suspect the things you mention were due to that, with the wing and back angles adding to the appearance of shallow chest in that moment. I need to take more photos now that he has settled...it's always so difficult to get them in the right position for good photos when they're running about in the yard with the hens!

LOL So true! They move so much. A rooster's work is never done. Handsome male.

 

[chicken pickin]

First, I just want to say... handsome guy. Low tail angle. Nice color, good eyes, nice face and shanks. Besides the halo, he's carrying his wing a bit low, and his rear end may be a little small.

However... What appears maybe to be a comb sprig may be on the back of the comb?

Now, this can just be a trick of the light, so, you might want to check this out in better light, and run your fingers over this area to be sure that the photos aren't adding artifacts. The comb should be free from defects like protruding bumps.



Also, see the back of his comb blade where I've drawn a straight line? Less of a deal, but, his blade should be straight here. Having the jagged back can denote a possibility to carrying onward the gene for abnormal combs.

So, if he does have a protruding sprig bump here (like a small mole) that would be a DQ, and you wouldn't want to breed him as he would carry both the genes needed to express sprigs. Hopefully the light was just adding texture to the skin.

This is a good article about comb sprigs and carnation comb just to take a look at.
http://www.maranschickenclubusa.com/files/Abnormal_Combs_Article.pdf

So sorry... but, if he does carry sprigs, it's better to realize it now, than later to possibly have a bunch of little ones to cull later with sprigs, or, other comb concerns.

Thank you for your thoughts on the good and bad qualities this cockerel posses. He does seem to have a slightly low wing carriage. And yes in some pictures he does seem to have a very slight bump on the back of the comb and in other pictures you cant see it. Maybe its the way the light hits it on occasion. I cant tell if it is a sprig or not. I might assume it could be since his brother from the same hatch had a side sprig also and he got culled. Here is a close up of his comb but the sun is sort of glared toward the back of the comb. Also up close pics of his eyes show they aren't fully correct either.

 

[Yardwork]

I have now found 2 more eggs and both were dark brown, I guess she has her spray paint working now! That is one chicken, soon there will be 10 more laying!

 

[cyborg]

2X

Different lines can act differently. Some lines can start off dark, others take a few tries, or, may not ever become very dark.

Our experience is that the lines we tested mostly all started off light, then, after a few tries, became darker and larger. Eggs that had more color spray darkening the egg ends often seemed (more than not) to become darker eggs, overall. That might not hold true for everyone- just something I've noticed.

When we first purchased our first birds from a breeder, we cleaned and hollowed out sample eggs from each hen and kept those in storage. Noted the hen's egg color cycling changes, how many times a week the hen laid, and measured the weight of her eggs to determine her average egg size. As you can see below this hen gave big, but, extremely pale eggs on the first few days, and then settled into a pattern of speckled (averaging mostly about) #4 eggs. (Photo is lighter than reality.) That hen will not be not bred forward as we prefer darker eggs, but she has been a consistent layer with reliable color with little color shift ever since they darkened.



By doing this method, it became easy to determine who was doing what and when.

Here are 4 different pullet's eggs (l to r). Each of these pullets are from different lines. These pullets all laid lighter eggs at first (left) and then alternated some light or slightly darker. After a few tries, their eggs darkened gradually, and slowly is becoming larger.



These pullets eggs started off darker, and are staying more this depth. Not changing as much. Go figure.



So my conclusion is:
Depends.

And, I really like your method of saving the shells and record keeping!

 

[cynstaub]

My 9 week old FBCM cockerel is crowing!! What the heck?
Sitting in my home and I hear this strange sound....walk on around in back and there he is, little thing, crowing this crazy sounding cock a doodle doo!
Way too early bird, way too early!

 

[ochochicas]

My 9 week old FBCM cockerel is crowing!! What the heck?
Sitting in my home and I hear this strange sound....walk on around in back and there he is, little thing, crowing this crazy sounding cock a doodle doo!
Way too early bird, way too early!

Hahaha. We had an Ameraucana "pullet" once that started crowing at 5 weeks. The poor little Barred Rock brother tried to keep up but just couldn't. We culled the Ameraucana and the BR seemed very happy to not have to crow anymore or compete with the mean one.

 

[cynstaub]

I'm over run by chickens and need to thin my flock!
I had planned to keep my two FBCM's cockerels until they were 6 or 7 months and take my pick for my own personal FBCM breeding but as I said, I'm over run and need to thin NOW. Is it too soon to get an idea of which Cockerel I should choose? These two guys are pretty different. One is bigger overall, has a bigger comb, less copper on his chest and he crows at 9 weeks! (as mentioned in post above ; ) I couldn't get a good picture of smaller ones stance but it's similar to the bigger one.
FBCM pros, can you help me pick which one to keep? Seems like it might be obvious but I'm no pro.
Thank you!

 

[magdelaine]

BCM cockerels should have NO copper on the chest, so all other things being somewhat equal I would keep the one with less copper. The only other DQ that would change that for me is comb sprigs; everything else they are too young to tell yet how they are going to turn out. Silly boy...crowing at 9 weeks. I'll have 3 cockerels that age in another week and I can't imagine them crowing, lol.

(Er, I'm no pro either...just my opinion.)