Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[pipemum]

Okay, thanks!

 

[R@ndy]

Have a Dumb question from a newbe

I bought 12 Black/Blue Copper Maran chicks in the spring. Out of the 12 I have 4 roos. The only Black has no feathering on his legs. If I bred him? Would I start having issues with no feathering on the legs of the new chicks?

I got 3 Blue roos The best looking and biggest out of the three is cleaned legged as well. Should I not breed the Blue and Black that has no feathering on the legs or pick 2 that isn't built as good "color and Body shape"?

Thanks, Randy

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Breeding is not about breeding perfect birds together. It is about balancing the qualities of the birds you breed. If you have a nice hen with very well feathered (even over feathered legs) that is an excellent match for little feathering on a male. I'm not sure about using one with NO feathers. If he is VERY good in every other way you could breed him to well feathered hens and then select carefully from their offspring to keep only feathered chicks. This is my (very) basic understanding. Hopefully some of the more experienced folks can give you better details.

 

[R@ndy]

Thank ya much

Here are some pics of my Marans. What do you all think about the roos. They were born April 8th if memory serves me correct

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Is it just the angle he is holding it in the photo or does the black copper boy have a wry tail (usually holds his tail canted to one side)? I see it in one photo and I think in a second. If so I would not use him for breeding.

Other than that they are a little young to tell anything else. They are growing out pretty though!

 

[R@ndy]

Usually its straight up but I will keep a close eye on him.. Wry tail? if so will it always lay to one side?

He's also skinny/small compared to the Blues. To my novice eye I was thinking his frame was on the small side

 

[heirloomorps]

Breeding is not about breeding perfect birds together. It is about balancing the qualities of the birds you breed. If you have a nice hen with very well feathered (even over feathered legs) that is an excellent match for little feathering on a male. I'm not sure about using one with NO feathers. If he is VERY good in every other way you could breed him to well feathered hens and then select carefully from their offspring to keep only feathered chicks. This is my (very) basic understanding. Hopefully some of the more experienced folks can give you better details.

This pretty much covers it. It also depends on how feathered the hens are. If they have a LOT of feathering, and he is great in every other aspect I would be ok with using him, and only select chicks with feathered shanks to breed from in the next generation. If they only have sparse feathering I would not use him. It is all a balancing act. There is no perfect bird, and even if there was then there is no guarantee they will breed perfect offspring.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

These are the two pictures I thought looked like wry tail. If he hold his tail like this most of the time (like 70% or more of the time) it would be wry tail in my opinion. Do you see how it looks like his tail is leaning to his right in both photos? Sometimes they just flick their tail to the side as you snap the picture, but since I saw it in two photos I thought I'd ask. It is unknown how hereditary it is (and sometimes it is suspected to be the cause of injury not genetic at all), but it is in general thought to be passed on to a larger percentage of offspring so most people say not to breed from it.

 

[DMRippy]

All those birds seem to have too light of leg color. I would not use them for that reason alone. roo need to be the best bird you can find. they pass genes off to 100% of the chicks.

 

[jaybobrenn]

I don't mean to cut in but i wanted to post a couple pics of my young BCMs. I have a cockeral and 2 pullets if Im not mistaken. What do ya'll think? I know the pictures aren't the greatest, sorry.