Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[CristinaB]

So I snuck out to the coop tonight with a flash camera and fondled the Roo... not terribly sure if he appreciated my 16 year old wrangling him down from his warm perch to be photographed in such a manner, but this was for science!

Strangely enough his wings do show signs of feathers regrowing. The right side and the left side look different however, with the left side missing feathers much more than the right. There are feathers growing back in.


Left side Under

Left side Top

Left side spread under


Right side

Right side

Right side, feather growing in?

Right side under

I also tried to see his tail. The white seems to pop into view from his undercoat. Not sure if this is his down layer or what exactly is going on. He was picked on a lot, so is missing some feathering in the rear. He looks lovely from the top when the feathers are all in their proper places).










I would say his color is a darker copper, although with the flash it looks shockingly red. Perhaps breeding him with a lighter copper lady would lighten his color? I am still new to genetics. Let me know what you think of these wings. I will cull him and find another suitable male to breed if he just has too many faults. No reason to put out substandard birds into the world.

I have a batch of eggs in the incubator from a breeder that might yield a good bird for breeding/showing but I just built the incubator and there is no telling if they are going to hatch or not. Ask me in about 20 days! The eggs I got were much rougher than the ones my ladies put out, not as shiny nor as consistent in their color. No clue what the exact points we want in an egg, but I prefer the ones with the shiny, smooth coloring instead of the matte, rough dark coloring. I understand breeding for eggs is also something to consider, so far, my ladies produce some wonderful eggs but I think it is better to produce a lovely bird than it is to get pretty eggs. Just my opinion, I will likely try to get both traits.

There you have it! The rest is up to the critics. Thanks in advance for your comments!

 

[mamashomestead]

Could someone explain the copper genetic please

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

I would say his color is a darker copper, although with the flash it looks shockingly red. Perhaps breeding him with a lighter copper lady would lighten his color? I am still new to genetics. Let me know what you think of these wings. I will cull him and find another suitable male to breed if he just has too many faults. No reason to put out substandard birds into the world.

I have a batch of eggs in the incubator from a breeder that might yield a good bird for breeding/showing but I just built the incubator and there is no telling if they are going to hatch or not. Ask me in about 20 days! The eggs I got were much rougher than the ones my ladies put out, not as shiny nor as consistent in their color. No clue what the exact points we want in an egg, but I prefer the ones with the shiny, smooth coloring instead of the matte, rough dark coloring. I understand breeding for eggs is also something to consider, so far, my ladies produce some wonderful eggs but I think it is better to produce a lovely bird than it is to get pretty eggs. Just my opinion, I will likely try to get both traits.

There you have it! The rest is up to the critics. Thanks in advance for your comments!

I'm a newbie, but I'd use a male like this compared to all the haloed or inconsistently colored or washed out coppers out there. No bird is perfect, and every breeder I've talked to will say that often the best breeder birds are not necessarily the show winners.

 

[DMRippy]

So I snuck out to the coop tonight with a flash camera and fondled the Roo... not terribly sure if he appreciated my 16 year old wrangling him down from his warm perch to be photographed in such a manner, but this was for science!

Strangely enough his wings do show signs of feathers regrowing. The right side and the left side look different however, with the left side missing feathers much more than the right. There are feathers growing back in.


Left side Under

Left side Top

Left side spread under


Right side

Right side

Right side, feather growing in?

Right side under

I also tried to see his tail. The white seems to pop into view from his undercoat. Not sure if this is his down layer or what exactly is going on. He was picked on a lot, so is missing some feathering in the rear. He looks lovely from the top when the feathers are all in their proper places).










I would say his color is a darker copper, although with the flash it looks shockingly red. Perhaps breeding him with a lighter copper lady would lighten his color? I am still new to genetics. Let me know what you think of these wings. I will cull him and find another suitable male to breed if he just has too many faults. No reason to put out substandard birds into the world.

I have a batch of eggs in the incubator from a breeder that might yield a good bird for breeding/showing but I just built the incubator and there is no telling if they are going to hatch or not. Ask me in about 20 days! The eggs I got were much rougher than the ones my ladies put out, not as shiny nor as consistent in their color. No clue what the exact points we want in an egg, but I prefer the ones with the shiny, smooth coloring instead of the matte, rough dark coloring. I understand breeding for eggs is also something to consider, so far, my ladies produce some wonderful eggs but I think it is better to produce a lovely bird than it is to get pretty eggs. Just my opinion, I will likely try to get both traits.

There you have it! The rest is up to the critics. Thanks in advance for your comments!

Hard to tell from the pics but he looks to be split wing. He is not in molt so he is not growing new feathers they are just MISSING. Is there copper on the wing feathers too? there shouldn't be copper on his wing.... just the shoulder. The LONG feathers (Primaries) should be all black.

I think you have to hold the wing at the SHOULDER to get the right look.

Her is a roo I had with split wing.... ALL his brothers had split wing... I NEVER got a breeder roo from that line had to go back to my neighbor to breed them.

 

[CristinaB]

Hard to tell from the pics but he looks to be split wing.

I am thinking you are right on this one, most likely I will not use him even though his color is really good. Back to the drawing board on roosters. Trying to find a QUALITY rooster is a lot harder than I thought! Anyone have suggestions on how to go about doing this without sacrificing 7-10 months of growing time to hope for a quality bird?

 

[SIMZ]

I am thinking you are right on this one, most likely I will not use him even though his color is really good. Back to the drawing board on roosters. Trying to find a QUALITY rooster is a lot harder than I thought! Anyone have suggestions on how to go about doing this without sacrificing 7-10 months of growing time to hope for a quality bird?

I hear ya! I've been sacrificing the 7-10 months and still not having a lot of success! Since lots of these folks talk about "years", I think it's all just part of the fun....

Since I grew up as a Cleveland Brown's fan, I'm well acquainted with the idea of "maybe next year". LOL

 

[Runawaylobster]

here's an easy article on split wing

http://poultrykeeper.com/poultry-breeding/recessive-genes-faults

FWIW I really liked his color too !!

 

[Sally8]

Hi, I'm new to this thread but not to BCM. My interest in this particular bird is their dark egg. I bought 4 eggs originally from someone half a county away, hatched all 4 (pullets). Last year I bought an adult roo from this same lady who claims to have driven to FLA to buy several roosters for breeding. I had seen her birds at shows. The original birds' egg color was minimum at best for egg color but def much darker than a brown egg. Last year I hatched 10 eggs to get 8 roo's and 2 pullets. They've just started laying and their egg colors are lighter than their mother's egg. So, my question, dear ole dad goes to the freezer and I buy another roo as the egg color will never be any different sired by him? Am I understanding that correctly? My birds are not necessarily pets but he is a great rooster for watching over my flock AND very gentle.
I've been reading from the beginning this thread but at times the information is intense and lots to read so forgive me if this was discussed long ago or recently. Thanks, sue

 

[snowbird]

Hi, I'm new to this thread but not to BCM. My interest in this particular bird is their dark egg. I bought 4 eggs originally from someone half a county away, hatched all 4 (pullets). Last year I bought an adult roo from this same lady who claims to have driven to FLA to buy several roosters for breeding. I had seen her birds at shows. The original birds' egg color was minimum at best for egg color but def much darker than a brown egg. Last year I hatched 10 eggs to get 8 roo's and 2 pullets. They've just started laying and their egg colors are lighter than their mother's egg. So, my question, dear ole dad goes to the freezer and I buy another roo as the egg color will never be any different sired by him? Am I understanding that correctly? My birds are not necessarily pets but he is a great rooster for watching over my flock AND very gentle.
I've been reading from the beginning this thread but at times the information is intense and lots to read so forgive me if this was discussed long ago or recently. Thanks, sue

Most the time when we cross two lines of Marans , the first generation eggs will be lighter but if we breed these back into the original stock they will get darker in the second generation. There just isn't a magic wand we can use and make everything come out the way we would like.

 

[CristinaB]

here's an easy article on split wing

http://poultrykeeper.com/poultry-breeding/recessive-genes-faults

FWIW I really liked his color too !!

This article was excellent.

It is not always easy to opt out of breeding a bird with faults, but I am trying to get a good start.
The hardest part of all this is being patient!