Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[OneMountainAcres]

My two girls, Faith and Merci

I ferment their feed and they really get into it. ..and then go dust bathe. The white on them is just dust and feed. The pic with cloudy eye, she was blinking with the clear eyelid they have and it made her eye look weird.

 

[Angie16hearts]

I have to start by saying WOW! Pretty Roos and hens!!!! I have a cockerel. Who I love to death I swear he is the sweetest cockerel I have ever had!! I hope he continues to be so tame. I looked him over yesterday while the sun was out. He has a green sheen to his black like my austrlorp but he also has purple mixed in. Is this ok? Or pets standard? I once had a too with purple. He was a mutt but still loved him and he had bunch purple.

 

[NatureChica]

Ive heard the purple sheen is against sop but I just love the look of it!

 

[scflock]

I have to start by saying WOW! Pretty Roos and hens!!!! I have a cockerel. Who I love to death I swear he is the sweetest cockerel I have ever had!! I hope he continues to be so tame. I looked him over yesterday while the sun was out. He has a green sheen to his black like my austrlorp but he also has purple mixed in. Is this ok? Or pets standard? I once had a too with purple. He was a mutt but still loved him and he had bunch purple.

Ive heard the purple sheen is against sop but I just love the look of it!

I was told that the purple is not the desired color, that green is what you want. How old is he? I have a few black Ams that had purple until the juvie molt, then it turned green

 

[happyfrenchman]

Well, with the assistance of the administrator, I have been able to upload some pics. This is one of my new roosters. His color is much more uniform... darker with no Halo. But he is dark over the back. And I wonder about his type because he is different from some of my more typical roos..... My other two possible new roos are not bad (I think) One is an excellent "type" bird with much better color balance than my previous roos, but he shows a considerable amount of white under the back of his neck cape hackle You only see it when you look... but it is there. Anyway... some feedback on this bird please...I will try to get better pic of the other two I am considering. HF.

 

[Angie16hearts]

I was told that the purple is not the desired color, that green is what you want. How old is he? I have a few black Ams that had purple until the juvie molt, then it turned green

hes about 8 weeks and has both purple and green. I like it! He's starting to get a bit of red as well. He's so sweet I'm fine with it . Just curious since I ordered eggs. Thank you very much! I'm still curious if your one did go all green?

 

[happyfrenchman]

This is my second choice. He is overall good but he has white underfluff behind his head and at the base of his back and tail.... is this something that just becomes less visible as the bird matures or is it a fault that will perhaps get worse... his color balance is better than any previous roos I have raised. But the white feather still plagues.

 

[happyfrenchman]

This is bird number three... good type (I believe) but less good color balance and perhaps overcolored on breast.... Need better picture.

This is the Old man.


He is about 18 months old.

 

[GaryDean26]

Ive heard the purple sheen is against sop but I just love the look of it!

I am not expert on sheen, but my understanding is that black based birds on a gold base have a very strong green sheen while those that are build on a silver base don't. Does anyone on this group breed both Black Copper Marans and Silver Birchen Marans. If she can you get any side by side photos to show the difference in sheen?

My understanding is that the purple sheen is the result of a nutrient deficiency. Is that correct?

Having said all of that I know that the Green sheen used to not be allowd per the standard either. A breeder in Germany said in a publication that the breeders in his country would get some with out the sheen but they were never very good quality birds so the breeder just disregarded the no green sheen part of the standard and breed the birds the way their experience taught them that the breed should be bred. The Marans didn't get vary many high marks in the show so not many people wanted to show them favoring breeds that would win shows. Then the standard was changed to allow the green sheen and the Marans started to get higher marks and attract more breeders.

So...having said that an APA judge said that if he sees a bird BCM without the green sheen that it doesn't look right to him. So we have done a 180 deg turn on the green sheen from it being a defect to it being allowed to no where without the green sheen your bird is viewed as off or something missing that they can't put their finger on.

As for the purple sheen, it is something that they can put their finger on as being off and it will detract for the over all appearance of the bird in the eyes of the judge.

Yes, I agree that the purple sheen is pretty, I saw a photos of an all black bird (Ayam Cemani?, other?) that had a very vibrant mix of green and purple sheen among his tail sickles. It was a pretty cool photo, but even though blue is one of my favorite colors, if my skin were to turn blue it would not be cool because it would mean that I had an oxygen deficiency. So purple is bad not because the standard choose to go with another color, but because a healthy birds shouldn't have it.

 

[NatureChica]

A purple sheen does not mean there is anything wrong with a bird or nutrient deficiency. Its simply what color refraction you see. I have a bird that I see a purple sheen on that 6 people have said they can't see the sheen. A sheen color is in the eye of the beholder and some of it depends on the lighting. If my hair is shiny it doesn't mean I'm sick. It means my hair is healthy with plenty of vitamins and nutrients. Dull hair means damage and maybe needs a wash. Feathers aren't much different.