Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[ochochicas]

Since there was some discussion about olive eggers, I thought I'd post a picture of my pullet. She is supposed to be 3/4 Black copper marans and 1/4 Ameraucana. She has nice leg feathering and is colored like a BCM, but she is rumpless and has a pea comb. She also had a bad injury to her left leg before I got her. She is super sweet and I can hardly wait to see what color eggs she will lay. She's supposed to be about 18 weeks but I think I'll be waiting a while longer to see any eggs.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Since there was some discussion about olive eggers, I thought I'd post a picture of my pullet. She is supposed to be 3/4 Black copper marans and 1/4 Ameraucana. She has nice leg feathering and is colored like a BCM, but she is rumpless and has a pea comb. She also had a bad injury to her left leg before I got her. She is super sweet and I can hardly wait to see what color eggs she will lay. She's supposed to be about 18 weeks but I think I'll be waiting a while longer to see any eggs.

I'd assume she is part Auracana, not Ameraucana. Auracanas are rumpless- Ameraucanas have tails. Pretty girl though! Hopefully you get some pretty olive eggs soon!

 

[ochochicas]

I'd assume she is part Auracana, not Ameraucana. Auracanas are rumpless- Ameraucanas have tails. Pretty girl though! Hopefully you get some pretty olive eggs soon!

I completely agree with you! I asked the previous owner and he said Ameraucana. The breeder of the bird lives near me. He has Ameraucanas and Marans but no Araucanas. Kind of odd she turned out rumpless. Maybe one of the breeder's birds has some Araucana in it way back or perhaps a gene mutation??

 

[Runawaylobster]

I don't breed Marans to sell. I breed for myself, and I am working on egg colors. One way you get Olive Eggers is by crossing a Maran roo with a Easter Egger hen. These eggs will be green.

i'm sorry i thought you were talking about crossing wheaten marans with black copper marans, sorry..

 

[Rocky Rhodes]

i'm sorry i thought you were talking about crossing wheaten marans with black copper marans, sorry..

No need to apologize, I did cross a wheaten Maran roo, with a black copper hen last spring, but not to sell. If I did sell the offspring of that cross I would not misrepresent them as pure bred FBCM. I had a black copper hen for her dark eggs, and a wheaten roo to breed to an EE hen to try and produce olive egg layers. I hatched eggs from all my hens and I still have the adult offspring of that hatch. I have learned to be very careful how I ask a question, it's easy to be misunderstood when you are communicating through a keyboard.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

I completely agree with you! I asked the previous owner and he said Ameraucana. The breeder of the bird lives near me. He has Ameraucanas and Marans but no Araucanas. Kind of odd she turned out rumpless. Maybe one of the breeder's birds has some Araucana in it way back or perhaps a gene mutation??

A rumpless bird does show up in time to time in random breeds, I don't know why. It is possible the genes came from up as a recessive in his Ameraucana line but as a general rule you don't see that.

 

[Naturalway]

Hello to all you Marans experts!! I'm usually over on the Olive egger thread but....this spring I decided to hatch some pure FBCM eggs from a neighbor. I had an 80% hatch rate but my male/female ratio was heavy on the male side. My purposes for the FBCM is to darken my olivers egg color, not necessarily worried about the SOP of the Marans. That being said I have a 9 week old bird that does not look like any of the others.

The lighter colored one is the little darling in question. Do you all have an explanation for the difference? Any info would be greatly appreciated. All 10 eggs that is hatched from were from 2 hens and 2 Roos. My neighbor said his birds were from the Wade Jeane line.

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

The lighter colored one is the little darling in question. Do you all have an explanation for the difference? Any info would be greatly appreciated. All 10 eggs that is hatched from were from 2 hens and 2 Roos. My neighbor said his birds were from the Wade Jeane line.

There has been some recent discussion about salmon here. I don't know if that is what you are seeing but I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will chime in.

 

[FVRM]

Hello to all you Marans experts!! I'm usually over on the Olive egger thread but....this spring I decided to hatch some pure FBCM eggs from a neighbor. I had an 80% hatch rate but my male/female ratio was heavy on the male side. My purposes for the FBCM is to darken my olivers egg color, not necessarily worried about the SOP of the Marans. That being said I have a 9 week old bird that does not look like any of the others.


The lighter colored one is the little darling in question. Do you all have an explanation for the difference? Any info would be greatly appreciated. All 10 eggs that is hatched from were from 2 hens and 2 Roos. My neighbor said his birds were from the Wade Jeane line.

It seems to be color leakage. Black copper marans are a very new breed being perfected. This breed needs a lot of work and most importantly time. It's too bad hatcheries made them available to the public.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

I completely agree with you! I asked the previous owner and he said Ameraucana. The breeder of the bird lives near me. He has Ameraucanas and Marans but no Araucanas. Kind of odd she turned out rumpless. Maybe one of the breeder's birds has some Araucana in it way back or perhaps a gene mutation??

Someone else asked me about a rumpless Cream Legbar that popped up in a line related to mine, so I did a little research. This is a very informative article with a section about rumpless genetics. The "accidental" rumpless condition appears to occur in 1/1000 chicks, and is not hereditary. I think this is what you are working with.

http://www.araucana.com/Rumplessness.htm