Yes, looking at my group of 8 it's obvious those four are cockerels. BCMs are hard to find in my area, so I have been looking online for a place to order from. I'm not in a hurry, so I have time to find just the right ones. I've checked here on BYC some, but haven't found much yet. I'm not real fond of gambling on eBay. I don't see a place on Bev Davis' site to order directly from her. The most interesting I have seen are what I think is Wade Jeanes original line that has changed hands, at least that's what I gathered from the website. I am definitely open to suggestions if anyone has recommendations. Like I said, I've been a hobby farmer for several years, but the BCMs are the first birds I have ever seen that I want to get serious about.
I thank you for your honest criticism of the ones I have
From my own experience and from talking with others involved with this breed, no matter who you get them from, expect to cull a lot. That is just a fact of the state of this breed right now, if you are trying to breed to SOP plus dark egg color. Even Davis birds have issues. This year, I bought chicks from another breeder to work with as well as hatching from my own birds. Some are his own line that are a mix of various birds from different people that he has worked with over the last 7 years. Some are Bev Davis chicks, some are Little Peddler chicks. I have approx. equal # of these 3 lines. He has kept the BD and LP lines separate and although the chicks are less than a month old, I can already see some differences. I have worked hard on SOP with my birds, but their egg color is a #4 at most, I never get any darker from them. But they are large birds and good temperament and lay large eggs. These new chicks all came from eggs at least a #5-#6. The breeder marked the chicks that came from the darkest eggs for me, #7-#8, so I can use that information as part of decision making when it comes time to pick breeders. This is a huge commitment for me, since I will need to build more pens if I want to keep some lines pure. I also plan to raise all of them (27 chicks) past the point where I probably would cull if they came from my own stock. That is a lot of space and feed needed just for those. At least that's what I'm thinking now...easy to say when they are little chicks in a brooder