Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[Debbi]

Quote:
I'm not seeing this to be true in my two dark boys. Both have reddish bay eyes and dark slate legs. Like I said though, I only have the two!

Dark pullets also have correct eye color. None of the birds here have dark eyes, I am pleased with everyone's eye color and hope it stays that way.

 

[geebs]

Debbi: Keep us posted as you mate downline... that is where the fun begins.. This is what Villagechicken was asking. When you have an overmelanised animal that has an anomoly that falls outside of what should be... you need to ask WHY? why is the hens eyes correct or even under colored (orange) and the rest of her dark... That goes against what makes sense... Then you have to ask yourself what if any inhibitors there are.

Can you post a picture of the two hens you are talking about?

 

[Debbi]

I think I have one pic of one of the girls, I'll find it. Please explain "inhibitors" to me, I don't think I'm grasping that idea.

 

[Debbi]

Here is a pic of brother and sister. Both darkly colored, with at least an orange eye on the girl.

Here is their other brother

 

[geebs]

Melanistic inhibitor prevent color in certain parts of the animal. Like when you see a really dark bird as Don says he cull with white legs... WEll that should be culled as there is an inhibitor that is in wheaton... preventing the black from covering the leg though the rest of the bird makes sense. I am not well versed enough to understand all the inhibitors for Wild type, brown, duckwing, eWh, birchen etc... I just know when things are out of place...it means "something" The legs usually eWh. Does this help?

If you find when using the bird downstream that you get something "interesting" please share it with the group. I ended up with Wildtype from Cockerels with the same color as yours, bred back to thier daughters.... doubling the gene, which is necessary for the presentation... It may never show up if you don't breed it to a sibling or daughter. It does not appear to have any wheaton markers that I can visually see. This is the fun part of the project.... finding out what is in your box of chocolates.

Thanks for the pix and I must say they are handsome low riders... gotta luv dem lowriders!!!

 

[Debbi]

Ok, but do the eyes also fall under the melaniser genes? None of my birds have a light slate leg except for Pip, but he also has the gold in his hackles. Even his eyes are decent, so I'm still confused

Here is Pip

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
Were the daughters the same color as their fathers? Dark x dark? Do you think with Pip's coloring it will help to lighten up the dark girls that come of such a breeding? That's what I am aiming for at this point. I just paired him up with one of my Davis/Jeane dark hens today. Of course I'll have to wait a couple of weeks before the Fuglee gets out of her!

Then I'm going to test hatch those eggs to see what I get. Aiming for better pullet coloring and will probably end up with all roos

Oh, and yes! Loving the look of these low riders!!

 

[geebs]

okey dokey... Let me explain it this way... have you ever taken a white carnation and put it into colored water just to watch it "bloom" on the flower.. It reaches most petals.... If there was something in the way of the path of travel genetically...like a gene that prevents color from reaching an area it will make a mess of things. The french went into great detail on the website about breeding strategies. Perhaps it would be a good read for you at this time. The color of Pip is going to have a better result for coloring the offspring that the gorgeous darker males. Pips coloring has some flaws as well though... You have several things you are working with... all I can say is test mate and see what you get... then write it down... You will likely not see some things for 2 generations as some gene need 2 sets to work and if the male only carries one.. you won't see it till the mating with it's children. The eyes, the ear covert the legs the flecking in the chest the beetle green are all the work of the melanitic gene. It's job is to cover... How much it cover depends on how much Black there is available... It covers what is there... if there is partridge/eWh and birchen it covers it all... A lot of black will hide a multitude of sin. I had a black birchen born from an overmelanised hen that was supposed to be black copper... surprise!!!! who would know... I hatched a bought egg and it was supposed to be black copper.. the other hens were BC...too dark of course.

 

[geebs]

I usually get more roos this time of year than pullets.. I hatch a bunch an I have 4 hen prospects... I dare you to outdo me!!! LOL

 

[Debbi]

I guess I'll just have to wait and see how it plays out. Will keep records and will share pics of the outcomes. It will really get interesting when Blue Butt gets in the mix!