Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[One Chick Two]

the white wing feathers and a cuckoo like chest are impurity in the black coppers strain all around a world .they go a way when they grow, but there s a pure clean black coppers strain no white feathers what ever. .
in my experience from last year we hatched 500 black coppers chicks from all the lines ( strain ) in the country we got 40 chicks pure black ER/ER not one white feather on them.We kept them all and selected from them.this year we are in the second generation F2. from this F2 only 30% of they chicks have a white feathers the other 70% are pure Black, the way they should be.
even in France I have seen a lot lines with a white feathers when young .
we need to breed and select very carefully one generation at the time. I found the black chicks are better than a penguin type ones.
Next year 2016 we are going to start ours lines.2 pullets lines and 5 cockerels lines .

Here are the the black chicks ER/ER.the one i select from.

Did you test mate?
See haze on the chicks chests- are the hens overmelanized? Can we please see some photos of the parents?

 

[Angie16hearts]

if you breed him with blue/green layers you will get olive eggers.

I wonder if all marans roos are sweet. my mario is sweet too. when I open the door (house) he starts running even without seeing me yet. btw I have 2 roos and 5 cockerels, 2 were surprises. I had to build 2 new coops and now planning to get EEs and OEs out of them. to make my life easier I will put mario with 1 marans pullet and 1 araucana. that way it will be easy to know which one is pure marans and which one OE.

How can you tell the difference ? From pure to OE? Sorry if it sounds like a stupid question . I'm curious because I'll breed my Maran with my Ee, BR , Aussie ect....

 

[scflock]

Bcm chick, purebred 1 week old. Relax your chicks are normal.

Are those Jenny's BCM? I need to start over, and I know she has some, but don't know where she got them from. All she says is the eggs cost a fortune, but she hasn't said where she got them. Those chicks look good. Most of mine hatch with not nearly that much white, and the darkest ones grow out to have way too much color on their necks. The ones with the most white downy feathers look more correct

 

[scflock]

the white wing feathers and a cuckoo like chest are impurity in the black coppers strain all around a world .they go a way when they grow, but there s a pure clean black coppers strain no white feathers what ever. .
in my experience from last year we hatched 500 black coppers chicks from all the lines ( strain ) in the country we got 40 chicks pure black ER/ER not one white feather on them.We kept them all and selected from them.this year we are in the second generation F2. from this F2 only 30% of they chicks have a white feathers the other 70% are pure Black, the way they should be.
even in France I have seen a lot lines with a white feathers when young .
we need to breed and select very carefully one generation at the time. I found the black chicks are better than a penguin type ones.
Next year 2016 we are going to start ours lines.2 pullets lines and 5 cockerels lines .

Here are the the black chicks ER/ER.the one i select from.

I didn't see this post until I made my last one. I am seeing the exact opposite in my chicks. The penguins are growing into much better birds than the black ones. Now, that being said, they are all horribly bred, and I will probably be scrapping the whole flock for a new one in the spring

 

[One Chick Two]

How can you tell the difference ? From pure to OE? Sorry if it sounds like a stupid question . I'm curious because I'll breed my Maran with my Ee, BR , Aussie ect....

Ideally, a breeder should be very careful to separate eggs while hatching, and chicks in hatcher/brooder, and toe punch when going into the brooder they will live in (and check after a week to make sure it has not grown in) or, wing tag chicks for permanent markings. I like to mark chicks with a bit of food color on light chests or shanks during that week so I always know the parentage if the toe punch fills in.

Bands and zip ties can get brittle and break or fall off- including aluminum bands, which have the grommet closure- if they are not correctly applied, so these should be considered "in addition" to permanent markings.

 

[sideWing]

What do you start culling your BCM cockerels on?

I have 8 BCM cockerels from the Bev Davis line and I'm wondering if I can start culling them at this point.

They are about 3 1/2 months old right now.

Is it too soon to cull on color?
Body type?
Feathers on middle toe?
Shafting on feathers?
Too many light feathers on chest?

Has anyone made a culling guide for BCM?

This pic is for size reference, not asking for advice on this particular guy.

 

[morbius18]

I have white wing feathers show up occasionally. This guy has the first feather on on both wings white. Parents dont have any feathers, so I'm waiting to see. He's 3 1/2 months old.

 

[One Chick Two]

I have white wing feathers show up occasionally. This guy has the first feather on on both wings white. Parents dont have any feathers, so I'm waiting to see. He's 3 1/2 months old.

Wait on him. There's a lot of changes that happen.

 

[One Chick Two]

What do you start culling your BCM cockerels on?

I have 8 BCM cockerels from the Bev Davis line and I'm wondering if I can start culling them at this point.

They are about 3 1/2 months old right now.

Is it too soon to cull on color?
Body type?
Feathers on middle toe?
Shafting on feathers?
Too many light feathers on chest?

Has anyone made a culling guide for BCM?

This pic is for size reference, not asking for advice on this particular guy.

Too soon to cull on color...or body type.

Feathers on middle toe- Do this after you have fixed more important faults- think of this as a detail...like as frosting on a cake.

Shafting on feathers? I would wait longer. You might get an amazing male who only has this as a color fault to work through (as long as he is not crossed with Wheaten.). Between a halo and shafting to work through, I would pick the shafting.

Too many light feathers on chest- This is the only thing on your list I would cull over 40% or more copper chest leakage, or if you see it in patterns or heavy and combined with shafting. Then, when you get to 6-8 months old, cull to the best- with 20% and under as breeders. (About 10% and less for showing.)

 

[morbius18]

Too soon to cull on color...or body type.

Feathers on middle toe- Do this after you have fixed more important faults- think of this as a detail...like as frosting on a cake.

Shafting on feathers? I would wait longer. You might get an amazing male who only has this as a color fault to work through (as long as he is not crossed with Wheaten.). Between a halo and shafting to work through, I would pick the shafting.

Too many light feathers on chest- This is the only thing on your list I would cull over 40% or more copper chest leakage, or if you see it in patterns or heavy and combined with shafting. Then, when you get to 6-8 months old, cull to the best- with 20% and under as breeders. (About 10% and less for showing.)

This is the same guy as the last few pics. Would this be an acceptable amount of breast copper? Does this change as they mature? I'm new to black copper marans, so am learning.