Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[maryhysong]

Hi Mary,

You are not alone. I am having trouble picking a good one this year. I have 3 males from my stock from this year and trying to decide on them. One is a big beefy cockerel but has several tail feathers with white in them. Not solid white, maybe 1/3-1/2 of the feathers are white. I was actually carrying him to the garage the last time I did some processing, then had second thoughts and put him back in his pen! I am so afraid that white in the tail will carry forward, but he sure has some nice size. I will try to get some new photos of him and post.

Then I am down to 5 cockerels out of an original 14 I got from another breeder this year. I am not happy about any of them but feel like I need to keep at least one! Some of his pullets are turning out with really nice copper, better than I have been getting, so there is some good. But the males----

Are you going to the Tucson show in November? Going to enter any birds?

I really haven't a thing that I could enter, especially since molting seems to be a long drawn out process at the moment, in spite of trying to up the protein and add a little poultry cell when I can remember. I'm a little scared too hearing about all the diseases and what not that could be picked up at a show, since none of my birds are vaccinated for anything....Makes me leery of taking my best breeders.... But if I can get a chance to come down I will, just to see it. Maybe I will have something reasonably show worthy next year.

If you decide to sell any pullets with good copper (or want to sell some hatching eggs ) I would be interested. Most of mine are way too dark, with little to no copper at all. The one that has a nice copper neck is very mossy.

 

[desertmarcy]

Here are photos of the Black Copper Marans pullets that have the nice copper head and hackles. I went back and re-read the SOP and it says the female should have a lustrous copper head. Here all along I was thinking the copper was just supposed to be on the hackles. In one of the photos, you can see part of a sister's body that is solid black, next to one that has the nice copper. It sure would be nice to get some consistency in this breed. There are a lot of photos, but I think I have only 3 pullets with this nice copper.










Here is one that is more like what I'm used to getting: (she is a sister to these others)

 

[desertmarcy]

Here are the 3 cockerels that I have left from my breedings this year. Comments/critiques are welcome!

This is the oldest one. I am guessing he hatched in late Jan to Feb. He is the one that looks more mahogany to me. He has nice size which is his best attribute in my eye and his color is nice and even. BUT he has that white in the tail feathers, white under fluff, tail angle is a bit high. What do you all think? I am doing some more butchering/processing tomorrow. Should he stay or go?? My gut tells me he goes because the white in the tail tends to carry forward.



Here is the next oldest. This one has the light color on the bottom part of the hackles which I don't like. He has pretty good size and has a decent tail angle (so far!). He has that bad white under fluff like the previous one, too.




Here is the youngest one. I like this one mainly because he does NOT have white under fluff. I think his color is decent, correct eye color. If there are middle toe feathers, they are rare. I am still watching his tail angle. He was holding it a little high since I was out there with the camera.

 

[Nashonii]

Quote: Would some one please till me if this guy should go to the fair, or be listed as a good father for the BCM chicks for sale? I've heard that the white feathers are not a desirable trait. He does have feathers on his legs, even though they don't show much in these pics.

 

[desertmarcy]

And here are the 5 cockerels left out of 14 that I got as chicks almost 5 months ago. These are brothers to the pullets pictured in the previous post. Ugh, is there anything I can work with here??

Number 1. He has nice color and is one of the largest. His tail looks like it is going to end up a squirrel tail and he has some serious wrinkling in the front part of his comb.



Here is Number 2. He looks a bit similar to Number 1. Not a great photo, I know.


Here is Number 3. I don't like this one much. He is too dark and has a LOT of long middle toe feathers and his back is too short. I think he should go.


Here is Number 4. I think this one should go, also. He has a very short, squat body, white in the tail and what looks like a squirrel tail in the making.


Here is Number 5. I don't like this one either. His back looks way more angled than it should be, white in the tail, squirrel tail happening, and too many middle toe feathers.

 

[desertmarcy]

Would some one please till me if this guy should go to the fair, or be listed as a good father for the BCM chicks for sale? I've heard that the white feathers are not a desirable trait. He does have feathers on his legs, even though they don't show much in these pics.

He appears to be Wheaten, not Black Copper. He has a copper-colored wing bay (the triangle part of the wing that shows below the saddle feathers) which shows that he is Wheaton. The Black Copper's wing bag is black. Look at the photos of males of the Wheaten on the club site and compare to the Black Copper. http://www.maranschickenclubusa.com/Wheatenvariety.html

 

[Nashonii]

HMMMM...so he does appear to be Wheaton rather than Black Copper. I personally like the blue sheen in him over just the black as in the Black Copper Marans. Are the Wheaton's as hard to find as the Black Copper? (As I bought him as a Black Copper Marans, and thought I had one: I have people wanting chicks from him,because BCM's are so hard to find.)

 

[Broad St Farm]

And here are the 5 cockerels left out of 14 that I got as chicks almost 5 months ago. These are brothers to the pullets pictured in the previous post. Ugh, is there anything I can work with here??

Number 1. He has nice color and is one of the largest. His tail looks like it is going to end up a squirrel tail and he has some serious wrinkling in the front part of his comb.



Here is Number 2. He looks a bit similar to Number 1. Not a great photo, I know.


Here is Number 3. I don't like this one much. He is too dark and has a LOT of long middle toe feathers and his back is too short. I think he should go.


Here is Number 4. I think this one should go, also. He has a very short, squat body, white in the tail and what looks like a squirrel tail in the making.


Here is Number 5. I don't like this one either. His back looks way more angled than it should be, white in the tail, squirrel tail happening, and too many middle toe feathers.

Looks like #3 and #5 both have wing issues as well. Either twisted feathers, slip wing or split wing. Ive had my share of wing issues to see problems. They should fold nicely without any issues.

 

[Broad St Farm]

Would some one please till me if this guy should go to the fair, or be listed as a good father for the BCM chicks for sale? I've heard that the white feathers are not a desirable trait. He does have feathers on his legs, even though they don't show much in these pics.

It seems to be hard to find Males without white feathers and underfluff in Males. However White feathers in the tail are DQs. Now that not to say if another bird grabbed them or the got damaged some way, they will turn white. All black underfluff birds are out there though. That male is a Wheaten. Either way if your going to get rid of him, sell him as a Backyard Wheaten.

 

[Broad St Farm]

Here are the 3 cockerels that I have left from my breedings this year. Comments/critiques are welcome!

This is the oldest one. I am guessing he hatched in late Jan to Feb. He is the one that looks more mahogany to me. He has nice size which is his best attribute in my eye and his color is nice and even. BUT he has that white in the tail feathers, white under fluff, tail angle is a bit high. What do you all think? I am doing some more butchering/processing tomorrow. Should he stay or go?? My gut tells me he goes because the white in the tail tends to carry forward.



Here is the next oldest. This one has the light color on the bottom part of the hackles which I don't like. He has pretty good size and has a decent tail angle (so far!). He has that bad white under fluff like the previous one, too.




Here is the youngest one. I like this one mainly because he does NOT have white under fluff. I think his color is decent, correct eye color. If there are middle toe feathers, they are rare. I am still watching his tail angle. He was holding it a little high since I was out there with the camera.

I very much like the last one. I would be very interested to see how he turns out!