Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[Broad St Farm]

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)

Very beautiful girls. I love all the copper. But be careful, its such a difficult balancing act to get just the right amount of copper. Some of them have the copper creeping down into the chest. Could you please post a pic of the male that these females came from? Did you use a male with to much color?

 

[lonnyandrinda]

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

...
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 agree. Of the three I feel this one is the best.

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??

Wow pick your poison with that lot, right? I would keep #1 if I was pressed, but none of the others. That tail angle really bothers me, though it can be improved fairly quickly (within 2 generations is my understanding). The comb wrinkle is a bigger concern. I don't know how that would carry on to the offspring.

Those pullets are very nice so far to my eye though!

 

[desertmarcy]

Very beautiful girls. I love all the copper. But be careful, its such a difficult balancing act to get just the right amount of copper. Some of them have the copper creeping down into the chest. Could you please post a pic of the male that these females came from? Did you use a male with to much color?

Sorry, I don't have photos of the parents. They were bred by someone else, I got these as chicks.

 

[Broad St Farm]

D

Sorry, I don't have photos of the parents. They were bred by someone else, I got these as chicks.

Did the male have copper on his chest?

 

[desertmarcy]

D
Did the male have copper on his chest?

I do not know. I never even saw photos of his birds.

 

[Wynette]

How does this work into the actual profile of the hen vs. the profile if the hen has a particularly poofy cushion.. I have one such hen, and i have often wondered if here poofy cushion makes her slope get counted as being the wrong direction??

that is a cushion and would be penalized, but not DQ'd. It's typical of a hen with too short of a back, which is why we want to breed for a longer/wider back.

Anyone know what the actual name is for the "poofy cushion"?

yep, cushion.

The chest should not be solid black. The standard specifically calls for "parsimonious red spotting on the breast".


Can anyone tell me if this statement is true or is it stated that the chest should be solid black or have "some" copper ???

statement was made on a facebook thread and honestly I must get the APA Standard Book and read it for myself,,,, just looking for some clarity !

Could someone supply a link to the Marans standard so we could read it online,,,, having trouble finding the official standard.

I believe "parsimonious red spotting" is from the French standard; our American standard was BASED upon the French one, but is not the same. Males should have solid black breasts, but a few copper feathers (I have been told no more than 10%) CAN be helpful if you have females that do not have enough hackle coloring. From what I have seen at the shows, I do not believe judges are marking down for a few copper feathers in a black breast of males.

 

[dvoice]

These are from one of the ppl I get eggs from.. any comments? I know some have squirrel tails. I think he just has all of them together so I'll have to do some heavy sorting when the chicks get old enough to tell any details on coloring/form.

 

[Pan Handle Farm]

Hello everyone. My name is Jonathan. I have been lurking on this thread for several months now. Still haven't made it through all the pages but I am trying. I have a BCM rooster and two BCM hens. I also have a wheaton rooster. Just wanted to say hi finally and I will post some pics of my birds soon. The hens have just started laying in the last week or so.

 

[SilkiesForEver]

Hello everyone. My name is Jonathan. I have been lurking on this thread for several months now. Still haven't made it through all the pages but I am trying. I have a BCM rooster and two BCM hens. I also have a wheaton rooster. Just wanted to say hi finally and I will post some pics of my birds soon. The hens have just started laying in the last week or so.

Welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.

Looking forward to seeing your birds.

 

[Wynette]

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)

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 personally quite like your females! The second one - what's going on with the hackles at the front of her neck...they look almost like they're beginning to frizzle?? Most that we see do only have copper hackle, it's not often you find one with the coppering all the way up! I LOVE their eye color as well.

The males - I like your third best. He has excellent color balance (#2's halo would be a deal breaker for me, and the white undercoloring is personally not desired). In fact, from what I can see in a VERY QUICK look, there's not much that I do not like about #3! Nice job!