Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[gilavina]

I am probably preaching to the choir here, but just in case I'd like to mention that Relative humidity at room temperature is not
the same as Relative Humidity in your incubator.

Humidity is the effect of the water vapour that exists in the air. The method of expressing this is most commonly Relative Humidity.
What this means is that the number you see as a percentage is the actual water vapour that is present expressed as a percentage
of the total possible water vapour that the air can hold. so if for example the air is 50% full (so to speak) you report it as 50%
RH.

Now the problem is that the hotter the air the more water vapour it can hold so for example, if the air is 50% full at room temperature
it may only be 25% full at incubator temperature because the hotter air in the incubator has the capability of holding more water vapour
than the cooler room temp air.

For this reason even if you have 80% RH in your room at say 72 degrees when it gets sucked into the incubator and heated up
to 100 degrees the RH readout will be much lower. This is why you see that number fall when you close up the incubator
after opening it. The temp of the air is increasing so the RH is decreasing.

The term Absolute Humidity simply refers to the amount of water vapour in the air and does not change with temperature.

sorry if I am boring you guys but I do think many have a misconception that the high RH at room temp is thwarting their incubator
control when really it has less influence than you might think.

i got this image from the wiki page but it kind of shows what i mean.

Indeed, however, here with the humidity, if the incubator is upstairs, it will spike up to a 20 degree difference on the most humid days. This is why they stay downstairs and use the dry hatch method.

 

[Runawaylobster]

Indeed, however, here with the humidity, if the incubator is upstairs, it will spike up to a 20 degree difference on the most humid days. This is why they stay downstairs and use the dry hatch method.

Yes it doesn't help with control of course, just that 50% in the room doesn't translate to 50% in the incubator.. Down here we have terrible RH in the summer. I don't have a basement because houses here are all build on slabs. if we dug out for the basement we would be swimming in it LOL.. because the water table is so high... I keep mine inside in the AC so that the RH and temp is consistent. Temp gives me problems in the winter because even if you set the AC the temp outside falls below that and so the room temp drops and I can't control that, i'd need some kind of smart heater.

I guess every geography has its ups and downs ...


BTW: I would SO love to have a real basement..

 

[snowbird]

Can I take a stab at this?
I think (as a learning person) that he looks very good. I would guess that his tail might be a little high and IDK what color his eye is but the rest of him looks good to me. Maybe his back could be a little flatter? I admire his feathered shanks. I do have one question about his profile.... should his keel be deeper? Rounder/lower to the ground? I couldn't see a lot of brown in the chest so that is good. Right?

Yes, You are right about all you said, try putting this male in the imaginary box and see what happens.

 

[gilavina]

Yes it doesn't help with control of course, just that 50% in the room doesn't translate to 50% in the incubator.. Down here we have terrible RH in the summer. I don't have a basement because houses here are all build on slabs. if we dug out for the basement we would be swimming in it LOL.. because the water table is so high... I keep mine inside in the AC so that the RH and temp is consistent. Temp gives me problems in the winter because even if you set the AC the temp outside falls below that and so the room temp drops and I can't control that, i'd need some kind of smart heater.

I guess every geography has its ups and downs ...


BTW: I would SO love to have a real basement..

You are correct that it doesn't help to regulate things, its one of the main reasons I only hatch at certain times and don't hatch through summer. Too many times of opening up an egg to find a fully developed chick having drowned cured me of the temptation
haha underground pool! that would suck! I love my basement for many things, but especially for tornadoes!

 

[Runawaylobster]

You are correct that it doesn't help to regulate things, its one of the main reasons I only hatch at certain times and don't hatch through summer. Too many times of opening up an egg to find a fully developed chick having drowned cured me of the temptation
haha underground pool! that would suck! I love my basement for many things, but especially for tornadoes!

tornadoes... Yikes!! I haven't yet figured out what i plan to do with my chickies in a hurricane. I think i will have to throw a tarp down inside while the storm passes....
at least I have tile floors LOL!

 

[gilavina]

tornadoes... Yikes!! I haven't yet figured out what i plan to do with my chickies in a hurricane. I think i will have to throw a tarp down inside while the storm passes....
at least I have tile floors LOL!

haha you gotta do what you gotta do! I've been known to run out before a storm and grab a certain pair or trio of birds and bring them in the house. I figure, if I lose everything, I can still rebuild. Its one of the things I really hate about living in the midwest, tornado season. There's been too many close calls over they years, but where I'm at, there's a large creek that pulls the tornado away from here. Its inbetween here and town and think its diverted quite a few disasters.

 

[Wynette]

This is my juvenile BCM i'm thinking of using for my breeder roo. Any thoughts/comments on how he looks would be appreciated. Thanks

This guy's not bad at all, in my opinion (I am not expert). There are good & bad things about him - how old is he? You say he's juvenile, so I suspect he'll fill out a bit more. I agree with Ashandvine that he doens't have the depth that we like to see in a male; however, he may when he's done filling out. I will say this male has OUTSTANDING color balance. (The hackles and saddles are almost exactly the same shade of copper). I do note he has very thin - if any - black stripes down the center of his hackle feathers...

I like his shank feathering, and I like his nice long back. His tail is a bit too upright for me, and in the last picture, do I see white at the base of his tail? If so...that is a cull point for me personally. If he's got white at the base of his tail already, he'll end up with white tail feathers. Look under his hackles...does he have the white underhackle? Again, a cull point. He may also be a bit roach-backed, but I hate to make a judgment on this via pictures.

 

[ashandvine]

"Roachback?"

 

[Wynette]

"Roachback?"

Where the topline, when viewed directly from the side, is convex. (sketch 4)

 

[warmheart]

Does the color of the bird-- black copper, blue, cuckoo, wheaten, etc. have any influence on the darkness of the egg? Sorry if that's been asked ad nauseum, I'm a newbie hoping to learn from those with more experience than I.

Does only genetics impact egg color, or also feed, and if they are penned or free-range?

Thank you for your input!