Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[salt and pepper]

If I owned this male I would not have a problem with using him as a breeder. I believe the chest is fine with the size of the bird. I think he has a nice shape Comb. Unless the SOP has been changed it says he should have a medium size head. Does look like his soft feathering might be a little brown tinted.

If a person wanted to get rid of the blended hackle you would need to use a little more of the Mahogany color.

Is his head the right size, or is it too small?

 

[snowbird]

Is his head the right size, or is it too small?

I see nothing wrong with the size of this male Marans head.

 

[salt and pepper]

I see nothing wrong with the size of this male Marans head.

Ok, thank you, so from what everybody has said, I need to work on the angle of his tail, and the color of his saddle feathers. Correct?

 

[pinkchick]

Here are some more pics

Just popping in to say that, IMO, this male is not a melanised male.........below is a photo melanised Blue Copper male. I chose to post a blue because it is easier to see the melanisation. Note the very dark blue hackle, wing bow and saddle area on this male.

Here is that same cockerel when he was near a year old. Note the very red coloration in the wing and saddle. This is the mahagony gene, but the very dark edges of the saddle area show the melanisation.

Here is a current Black Copper Male of mine that is melanised.

In my experience, melanised birds tend to not show too much color in the wing bow and saddle areas, but can show color in the hackle area, but it is usually very dark red (mahogany). If they do show color in the wing area and saddle, it is very very dark and almost indistinguishable from the rest of the body color on a black bird, however on a blue bird, these areas are exceptionally dark blue. When an melanised bird is in the sun a person can almost see a dark red glimmer in these areas but it is very hard to discern. Trying to locate photo that I had of a BCM pullet that illustrates this. Will post it if/when I find it.

 

[Wynette]

Well, all black-based birds are "melanised" - in my personal opinion, this male is a bit OVER melanised. I don't find that to be such a bad thing, personally. The problem with using a male that is a bit too dark (overmelanised) is that it tends to produce solid black females. This has been my experience, and again, just my opinion. I do find the head to be too small on this male. Again, just my opinion. It's been a topic discussed on a fairly regular basis on the MCCUSA boards by the judges, and because of the discussion, I've been paying a bit closer attention to it. I do not believe a bird would be DQ'd or even faulted for this, but I do believe that may be used by a judge as "deciding factor" if you will, all other things being equal.

 

[salt and pepper]

I have one pullet that has more color on her than the rest (not overly so though) And I planned on breeding her with him. I am trying to get my breeding programs started, and I was going to use him as my base. Is that a good choice?

 

[Scottyballs]

Would love to get some help from you guys sexing my 4 FBCM chicks here is a link

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/770373/french-black-copper-marans-3-weeks-old-sex

 

[salt and pepper]

Would love to get some help from you guys sexing my 4 FBCM chicks here is a link

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/770373/french-black-copper-marans-3-weeks-old-sex

rooster
iffy
pullet
pullet

 

[Scottyballs]

rooster
iffy
pullet
pullet

Thats what we are thinking too... still not sure about Ragnar Lothbrook (#2)

 

[salt and pepper]

I have three pullets for him, they are just too young still to see how they will turn out in the end, One does hold her tail a bit lower, and one has a bit more color, but not the same bird =/