Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[ochochicas]

My Wheatens hatched solid yellow with no markings. Their wing feathers will start to grow in darker, but they should hatch yellow. If they have markings they are most likely mixed. I've never had a black marans hatch anything but a black chick. You should contact the breeder and ask what other breeds they have in the coop

We have both coyote and bobcat in the Cascades (plus cougar and other predators). The coyotes have been sited several times and we've lost about 3 chickens to them. They have been known to hang out in the pasture and even come down the road and up the driveway. We have seen the bobcat when we go for walks in the woods, but we have not seen him up close to the house. I don't think it comes up to the coop due to our horses and the neighbor's dogs. One of my other neighbors had a 5 foot tall coop with no roof on it. They came home one day to find a bobcat in the coop with a hen in its mouth. The bobcat jumped over the coop wall and ran off with the chicken. Now they have a cover on it.

 

[happyfrenchman]

We hatched our very first set of French Black Copper Maran chickens this weekend. We had a 100% hatch rate! So exciting!! Of our 7 eggs, 2 yellow chicks hatched. The rest are black with black beaks. The yellow chicks have yellow beaks and brown markings on their backs. From what I have read so far, these may be Wheatens. I've never heard of Wheatens before now and I just wanted to get a little more info about them. Why did my Black Copper Maran eggs hatch the Wheatens? What would cause this? Are they Wheatens? Thanks!

Where did you get the eggs from? 100 percent is about 80 percent better than I do... congrats.

 

[Ebove06]

I am also in Tucson and bobcats are very common here where I am and not at all rare to see. They become habituated to humans and act like they own the place. Last year, I was photographing some chickens in one of those portable folding dog exercise pens in the back yard. Intent on what I was doing. My partner came out and informed me that a bobcat had been standing about 20 feet behind me watching...waiting for a chance for a quick grab and run, no doubt. Another time, I was building a new pen near my macaw's outside enclosure, which is 8'  high. All of the sudden, he started screaming bloody murder. I turned around to see what all the ruckus was about, and here was a big tom bobcat sitting on top of his cage and didn't move at all until I started toward him, then he jumped down and walked across the yard as casual as can be.

@Ebove06
I have plenty of Black Copper Marans hens for sale but none are what I would consider breeder quality, they are just extra layers. If they are excellent breeder quality, they do not leave my farm. I have 5 different bloodlines of Black Copper Marans right now. My own line, another farm's line, Bev Davis, Little Peddler, and Logan. Have you been down to the Pima County Fair? The open poultry show is going on through today (4/19). The Marans shown there are all mine.

No, I havent been there yer. But I am planning on going there next week. Do they sell birds there? I thought that they just showed them.

 

[One Chick Two]

We hatched our very first set of French Black Copper Maran chickens this weekend. We had a 100% hatch rate! So exciting!! Of our 7 eggs, 2 yellow chicks hatched. The rest are black with black beaks. The yellow chicks have yellow beaks and brown markings on their backs. From what I have read so far, these may be Wheatens. I've never heard of Wheatens before now and I just wanted to get a little more info about them. Why did my Black Copper Maran eggs hatch the Wheatens? What would cause this? Are they Wheatens? Thanks!

Great news on your hatch!

However, any BCM hatch of chicks with other than black bodies with white markings on face/ chest stomach/ wingtips denotes something is mixed in that has a Wheaten gene base. May or may not be split with the Wheaten Marans (variety)- sounds kind of dark to me. Post photos so we can better advise.

 

[happyfrenchman]

I am also in Tucson and bobcats are very common here where I am and not at all rare to see. They become habituated to humans and act like they own the place. Last year, I was photographing some chickens in one of those portable folding dog exercise pens in the back yard. Intent on what I was doing. My partner came out and informed me that a bobcat had been standing about 20 feet behind me watching...waiting for a chance for a quick grab and run, no doubt. Another time, I was building a new pen near my macaw's outside enclosure, which is 8' high. All of the sudden, he started screaming bloody murder. I turned around to see what all the ruckus was about, and here was a big tom bobcat sitting on top of his cage and didn't move at all until I started toward him, then he jumped down and walked across the yard as casual as can be.

@Ebove06 I have plenty of Black Copper Marans hens for sale but none are what I would consider breeder quality, they are just extra layers. If they are excellent breeder quality, they do not leave my farm. I have 5 different bloodlines of Black Copper Marans right now. My own line, another farm's line, Bev Davis, Little Peddler, and Logan. Have you been down to the Pima County Fair? The open poultry show is going on through today (4/19). The Marans shown there are all mine.

Wow... Bobcats are pretty bold out there. Cool to see unless they are killing your birds.... That is wild. I have an outdoor colony of fischers lovebirds in an aviary. I have seen hawks sitting on it, but a bobcat.... Yikes. I bet if you put out some game cameras you would see some wild things.

You must keep all your different lines seperate. I would like to see your operation. Mine just run around as a backyard flock.

I would like to find a good quality adult rooster. But as you say, they are not the ones people give up. And I am in Macon Ga.

 

[desertmarcy]

No, I havent been there yer. But I am planning on going there next week. Do they sell birds there? I thought that they just showed them.

The Open Poultry show ends today so those birds will not be there next week. Birds get released at 6 pm but the superintendent usually allows the out-of-towners to coop out earlier. I believe the 4-H kids bring their birds in after us, not sure when. At the Open show, there are no sales birds. I think the 4-H auction off birds, I'm not sure. I've never been involved with 4-H. At many regular poultry shows, there is a sales area, like we will have in November when our poultry club puts on our show, but they don't do it at the county fair.

 

[desertmarcy]

Wow... Bobcats are pretty bold out there. Cool to see unless they are killing your birds.... That is wild. I have an outdoor colony of fischers lovebirds in an aviary. I have seen hawks sitting on it, but a bobcat.... Yikes. I bet if you put out some game cameras you would see some wild things.

You must keep all your different lines seperate. I would like to see your operation. Mine just run around as a backyard flock.

I would like to find a good quality adult rooster. But as you say, they are not the ones people give up. And I am in Macon Ga.

Yes, I keep my lines separate and try to breed just a few hens to a male so I can identify what's producing good offspring. I also wing band all my birds and keep good records. Here in the desert sw, it is a whole different environment for raising birds than you have in the east. There are advantages and disadvantages to both climates. Dry here most of the time, so we don't have as many disease issues but the dry air is also not good for making their feathers look great. No acres of green grass pasture to turn them out on. You could irrigate and make a pasture, but water is scarce and expensive. We can keep more open housing and don't have to worry about cold but the heat is a challenge for the birds in the summer. Lots of ventilation is really important out here.

 

[happyfrenchman]

Yes, I keep my lines separate and try to breed just a few hens to a male so I can identify what's producing good offspring. I also wing band all my birds and keep good records. Here in the desert sw, it is a whole different environment for raising birds than you have in the east. There are advantages and disadvantages to both climates. Dry here most of the time, so we don't have as many disease issues but the dry air is also not good for making their feathers look great. No acres of green grass pasture to turn them out on. You could irrigate and make a pasture, but water is scarce and expensive. We can keep more open housing and don't have to worry about cold but the heat is a challenge for the birds in the summer. Lots of ventilation is really important out here.

I was in Tucson back in the 80s with the USAF. I loved it. I loved the Desert Sonora Museum. Beautiful area. Very dry. Macon is very green. Right now my coop run is very wet which is a challenge. I try to get them out on the grass to get them out of the mud as much as possible.

Last summer it was very hot and wet., I found it challenging to keep chicks healthy in the heat. Until they feathered out, it was a challenge not to bake them.

If you had a choice between a rooster with a white tail feather, and a darker rooster with a small comb sprig.... (All other things being hypothetically equal) which would you keep? I know the comb sprig is a killer, and I cannot say he won't develop more white as he gets older. (mine seem to do that). But he hatched from a really dark egg which is my goal. Don't mean to put you on the spot, just an opinion. If I had a third outcross option, I would cull them both.

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

Now I would definitely be interested in an outcross rooster from a known good line. But I don't know how to go about getting such a bird. That, to me, would be the ideal solution. A rooster with the dark egg gene, from another line outside of my own. Let them run around and incubate the darkest eggs from a select couple of hens. Do people really sell or trade good stock like that?

In a word, yes. But (there's always a qualifier, isn't there?) you'll have to foster a relationship with someone who breeds for both dark eggs and SOP who will eventually move on from the cock(s) they've been using and will sell the older generation to you, or may sell you a younger cockerel that didn't make the cut in their flock. When outcrossing lines, you may lose egg color for a generation.

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

If you had a choice between a rooster with a white tail feather, and a darker rooster with a small comb sprig.... (All other things being hypothetically equal) which would you keep? I know the comb sprig is a killer, and I cannot say he won't develop more white as he gets older. (mine seem to do that). But he hatched from a really dark egg which is my goal. Don't mean to put you on the spot, just an opinion. If I had a third outcross option, I would cull them both.

We'd never keep a side sprig. If that's all you had to work with and type was otherwise good, one white feather would be acceptable. Type before color, always.