Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[scflock]

Ok, I'm still searching, but I'm trusting your guys' opinions. I have found a promising local breeder that sounds very knowledgable, and says that he has been showing and breeding to SOP for ten years. I have a better picture of the rooster, but his wife is in it, so I don't want to post it. Thoughts?

 

[snowbird]

Ok, I'm still searching, but I'm trusting your guys' opinions. I have found a promising local breeder that sounds very knowledgable, and says that he has been showing and breeding to SOP for ten years. I have a better picture of the rooster, but his wife is in it, so I don't want to post it. Thoughts?

Ok, I'm still searching, but I'm trusting your guys' opinions. I have found a promising local breeder that sounds very knowledgable, and says that he has been showing and breeding to SOP for ten years. I have a better picture of the rooster, but his wife is in it, so I don't want to post it. Thoughts?

Hi, The first female and the Pullet have white ear lobes from what I can see. Do not believe everything sellers tell you.

 

[Apocha14]

I am so excited to have found this thread! I just purchased two 1 year old hens from a breeder that works with Little Peddler. The ladies are from the LP line. I also purchased two others who aren't quite show quality as they have not much copper on them. I couldn't pass them up though! So hard to find around where I'm from! I also found a free BCM rooster in my local area. What do you think of them? I have 8 eggs in now from ebay and 2 of the birds are still fertile from when I got them 2 days ago and laying so I will pop theirs in my other incubator! so excited to own this breed!!!!

Also

 

[scflock]

Hi, The first female and the Pullet have white ear lobes from what I can see. Do not believe everything sellers tell you.

I don't any more, and that's why I'm asking here. What do the white ear lobes mean?

 

[scflock]

I told him that I would take culls, but is that a serious flaw? I don't have to have show quality, but I do want a purebred bird. I hate to sound like I'm ignorant on here, but I am, and I appreciate the help in finding proper birds

 

[happyfrenchman]

It is very hard to find good birds. First off BCMs are fairly scarce as chickens go. And unless someone is just blessed with an abundance of great birds, I would imagine that most people would not want to give up their best birds. If you find someone with a decent looking flock, flaws included, and get some of those birds, you have a good starting point but I really think you have to take the best you can find, and work it to maximize potential. And, again, it is not easy unless you have a facility where you can keep multiple birds over generations, keep good records and separate the birds to really see what is what.... it is hard. Not many people have such time, money and inclination. (I don't) And even people who will tell you they have great stock, should also admit that they cull many many birds that are well below the standard. So it is a challenge. But that is the charm of it also.

I myself try to get the darkest eggs I can get. I put the darkest ones in the incubator. I cannot keep more than two cocks so the genetics are kind of take what you can get. You might get someone to give up some older hens. I don't like to cull hens because they still make breakfast if nothing else. But I would give some older ones away to someone that wanted to start out. Of course the eggs from older hens are tough to incubate... so there is no free lunch is there? perhaps get some eggs and hatch them yourself. If you can get the strain, you can work out the details yourself over time. The major things like yellow skin and no feathers on the legs are warnings that perhaps they are not pure Marans... That is what you have to learn at first. Sometimes the seller does not know themselves.

 

[rainbowhatchery]

Be careful with the free rooster if you are trying to breed a really good quality bird. People often mess up there worrying more about the hens and what color egg they lay and then not think that the rooster is also 50% of the genetics. The rooster might even be more important because its going to breed every hen. Just something to think about. It cost alot to ship but you can often get a roo for free almost and just pay someone to ship it to you but then get exactly the line you want. I like Bev Davis lines, but LP are great birds also.

 

[scflock]

Be careful with the free rooster if you are trying to breed a really good quality bird. People often mess up there worrying more about the hens and what color egg they lay and then not think that the rooster is also 50% of the genetics. The rooster might even be more important because its going to breed every hen. Just something to think about. It cost alot to ship but you can often get a roo for free almost and just pay someone to ship it to you but then get exactly the line you want. I like Bev Davis lines, but LP are great birds also.

From what I have read, every line is going to have it's flaws. The first birds I bought had a couple showing yellow feet. They are supposedly Jeanne line. The ones I am looking at now are supposedly Davis. I have been leaning towards her line, because the egg color is my main concern also. I have read that her line carries some white feathers. Is there a correlation between that and the white ear lobes? I know the yellow feet was a flock killer, but what about the ear lobes? I know that I am not going to start with show birds, nor will I ever need show birds, but I would like to have a decent starting point that I can work with. Any birds that I find are going to be something that someone else didn't keep for themselves, so they are always going to have a flaw. I'm just trying to find some with dark eggs that have the least dertrimental flaws I can find

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

I see a lot of people commenting in different forums about always "incubating the darkest eggs." I understand if that means incubating eggs from the hens that consistently produce the darkest eggs, however...

Each bird carries the DNA it was hatched with. If a hen can and does lay for example #7 on the Marans egg color scale, why does it matter if you incubate eggs from her that may only be a 5 if she has proven her ability to lay 6 and 7 in a different time in the lay cycle? It's not like the genetic capability is going to change if she has a day or two of lighter eggs. I understand if a hen usually lays a 3 or 4 and one day has a 6 that it doesn't make sense to set eggs from those genetics

Please help me understand if the propensity for setting only the darkest eggs from a particular hen has some scientific merit or if this is just superstition. TIA~

 

[snowbird]

I see a lot of people commenting in different forums about always "incubating the darkest eggs." I understand if that means incubating eggs from the hens that consistently produce the darkest eggs, however...

Each bird carries the DNA it was hatched with. If a hen can and does lay for example #7 on the Marans egg color scale, why does it matter if you incubate eggs from her that may only be a 5 if she has proven her ability to lay 6 and 7 in a different time in the lay cycle? It's not like the genetic capability is going to change if she has a day or two of lighter eggs. I understand if a hen usually lays a 3 or 4 and one day has a 6 that it doesn't make sense to set eggs from those genetics

Please help me understand if the propensity for setting only the darkest eggs from a particular hen has some scientific merit or if this is just superstition. TIA~

I think it all boils down to the fact that most are not equipped with cages to single mate or have a trap nest setup to know who lays what. I agree with you all the way on your post. Don