Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[Sparklee]

Quote:
Just to be clear to folks listening in ... the chicks hatched from a test mating of a Black Copper Marans to another breed that has wheaten genetics (as in New Hampshire or Buff Orpington) will be a mixed breed chicken. It will not be a Wheaten Marans.

If the Black Copper Marans is carrying wheaten genes, statistically 50% of the chicks would be black on hatch and 50% would be yellow. The yellow birds will tell you that the Black Copper Marans is not pure and is carrying wheaten genes.

If the Black Copper Marans is not carrying wheaten genes, then all the chicks will be black.

Again, to be clear, the chicks will be mixed breed chicks from a pairing of a Black Copper Marans and bird with wheaten genetics of another breed. Those chicks will, of course, need to be kept in a separate during matings. And you can't always tell Marans mixed breed egg apart from other eggs because some the eggs can be anywhere on the brown shell color spectrum.

 

[Zanna]

Got it! Thanks for all this invaluable information.

 

[wthchristi]

So, is this a black copper or wheaten roo. The noticeable differences between it and the roo I just bought today is the new roo has much darker legs, less red on the chest, an all black beak and slightly different feathering on the wings. Have I seriously screwed up and have the wrong roo with my girls?

I only hatched black copper marans last year (I thought) but is it possible its a wheaten and slipped through? I have already bought a new 9 month old quality roo from a breeder who only breeds black copper marans- but do I need to start all the way over with my hens as well. Please help (nicely), as I already feel horrible enough.

Yes, I have sold some eggs- thank god not many, and have offered refunds to all or replaacement eggs from a different breed. The last thing I wanted to do was sell anything not "correct". Please be gentle.

 

[wthchristi]

I should add that up to 6 weeks ago I had 2 roosters with my girls, but one was very aggressive (to us) and was the dominant roo. I sent him off after he attacked me.

 

[Illia]

Black Copper. Wheatens have the cinnamon colored triangle on their wings, specifically on their secondaries, like this -

Also, Wheatens don't have any black or slate on their legs.

 

[snowbird]

Quote:
About the only thing I can say for sure is that the male is mixed BC and wheaten. If you notice the bottom half of the male is Brown wheaten and not black , meaning a wheaten influence. The white feet say a wheaten influence.

Could you catch him and look at the neck undercolor and does he have any white in wing and tail. If the female are related to him like sisters or off spring then they would be mixed also.

If you are just breeding for egg color and not the APA SOP then you could continue to use these, but please do not sell as Black Copper. Don

 

[wthchristi]

THANK YOU!! So I already pulled the roo from the girls and he is heading to the auction on Saturday. I have a new roo in "isolation". I need to figure out who is his sisters (there are 3) and pull them. Then do several hatches to be sure the problem is resolved? Does this sound right. I am not selling any fertile maran eggs until this is resolved. I am so upset right now.

If I separate the girls and use my buff orp roo to draw out the hidden gene, will this work? Or should I just replace my girls as well? Basically, start over. So much work and time and money.....Grrrr.

 

[snowbird]

Quote:
Yes, you can use the Buff orp to test hatch all the hens, if you know some are sisters eliminate them from the BC.Then the others just do some single matings. I can feel what you are going through as I have had the same problem before. Don

 

[VillageChicken]

I would not use a Buff Orpington even though it is wheaten based. They often carry Db as well as Co, and the Db changes chickdown, particularly in crosses, making identification very difficult. The Db gene makes wheaten more dominant, and you won't get the certain results you are looking for. Your BC's could be pure and still throw something non-black when combined with buff-orpington. I've done this and seen it, so trust me. You could also have wheatens that hatch out with dark brown fluff when crossed to the Birchen allele. In other words - it's not your safest combination. Go with RIR, NH or Delaware. Buff covers too many mystery genes. It is still one of the colors that is not very well explained genetically.

 

[ChicksterJo]

While I'm new to the Marans breed, I've got three (one roo that needs to be returned). Here are some pictures of what I *think* are pullets. They are both 4 weeks old or so. (Don't mind the redness from my camera). There is already a little bit of coppering on the black, but not so much on the blue.

First up is a black copper marans:

And a blue copper marans:

I didn't take a pic of the roo. He has a big comb and really pink wattles compared to these two, and his legs are VERY feathered. The blue is bigger than the others.