Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[Cockaloos]

Any thoughts on pullet/roo? He/she is ~6 weeks old:

 

[starlingdaly]

New to this thread! I'm so excited, I just put 2 dozen French Black Copper Marans eggs in the incubator (from two different breeders) and also have four pullets due in the post from My Pet Chicken (arriving in 3 separate orders with other chicks) this month and in August.
So a total of 3 different breeders, and I tried to choose from a variety of bloodlines. That way I can breed my flock and sell the chicks without worrying about the chicks being inbred.
And I think the genetics would work being inbred one generation so anyone who bought chicks from me could hatch one generation of chicks from them before they start to have weird genetic things happen. At least I *think* that's how it works.

Regardless, I am excited and can't wait for my super dark brown eggs this winter / next spring!

 

[OleMissChic]

Here's one of my black copper marans chicks that hatched today.

Adorable! Congrats!

 

[ashandvine]

you can still have black copper marans and have male chicks with spots. by crossing a pure female cuckoo with a pure black copper roo, the female can only pass on the barring to the male chicks, the females will be black copper marans... maybe this is what they had?

i should add that the males will be barred and NOT BCM's..

They were being sold as Marans but they did look black copper. I have had a couple hatch here with white dots but I put them in the cull brooder because I assumed it meant that there was an unaccounted for cross.

OH! I just realized- I sold off a single cuckoo pullet who I didn't think was laying. I had her in the pen with a BCM. HA! Now I have to go watch those chicks to see what happens. Thank you. I did not know this.

 

[cmitchell]

 

[cmitchell]

Some of my BCM have hatched with feathered shanks, some with smooth shanks. Has anyone else had that happen?

 

[Runawaylobster]

They were being sold as Marans but they did look black copper. I have had a couple hatch here with white dots but I put them in the cull brooder because I assumed it meant that there was an unaccounted for cross.

OH! I just realized- I sold off a single cuckoo pullet who I didn't think was laying. I had her in the pen with a BCM. HA! Now I have to go watch those chicks to see what happens. Thank you. I did not know this.

well the good part is that you now know the spot ones are boys.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Some of my BCM have hatched with feathered shanks, some with smooth shanks. Has anyone else had that happen?

Yes it happens. Mostly has to do with the quality of your stock and the strenths/weaknesses of the parents. I am fairly new to breeding, but as I understand it you can't breed two near-perfect parents together and get consistently good offspring. For example with the feathered legs, if you breed two perfectly feather legged parents together some of the chicks will be overly feathered, some just right, and some clean. But if you breed a slightly overly feathered parent (I'm not talking about feather sprigs on inside toes) to a slightly under-feathered parent most chicks will fall in the middle and have just the right feathering. This technique is often commonly used to correct tail angles, as well- a too-high angled parent crossed with a too-low angled parent to get better tail angles in the offspring. It's a balancing act.

 

[salt and pepper]

Yes it happens. Mostly has to do with the quality of your stock and the strenths/weaknesses of the parents. I am fairly new to breeding, but as I understand it you can't breed two near-perfect parents together and get consistently good offspring. For example with the feathered legs, if you breed two perfectly feather legged parents together some of the chicks will be overly feathered, some just right, and some clean. But if you breed a slightly overly feathered parent (I'm not talking about feather sprigs on inside toes) to a slightly under-feathered parent most chicks will fall in the middle and have just the right feathering. This technique is often commonly used to correct tail angles, as well- a too-high angled parent crossed with a too-low angled parent to get better tail angles in the offspring. It's a balancing act.

This is why I'm so excited about one of my pullets, she seems to have all the opostites of my roosters faults, his tail it too high, her's it too low, he has sparse feathering, she has too much, etc. Can't wait to hatch the offspring!!

 

[Cockaloos]

Six week old BCM. He/she doesn't have much comb to speak of but a bit of a wattle is coming in and he/she sure does walk upright. Hen/roo thoughts?