Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[math ace]

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you may have a second cockerel in the batch that has a comb not as big as the one you pictured.
Each bird is going to color in differently. . . . Some color a lot and real early,
Some take longer, and some never get ver much coppering.

If you can get a chest photo of the one for sure roo. . . . I might be able to tell you more.

 

[Raven1]

Three of my BCM's are broody right now! I have put eggs under two so far and will probably give the other girl some too. It is sooo nice to let them do the work, we will see if they are good mothers or not

 

[pinkchick]

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That's AWESOME Raven! I was very sure one of my BCM's was going to go broody but she was just teasing me. How's everyone else doing?

 

[pinkchick]

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I so hope they stay small!

 

[youngbiddy]

I've got a question. I've seen this topic brought up earlier in the Marans thread but it wasn't hashed out conclusively. (So far, anyway. If it was discussed in the 1,000 pages I have left to go, I apologize) Since the color on a Marans egg varies depending on how much "paint" momma has at that particular moment in time..doesn't that mean that you should select the eggs from a hen who lays the darkest average eggs over time? As in, the color on a particular egg doesn't reflect on the genes inside?
Let's say you've got a hen who lays a 4 nine times out of ten and the tenth is a 7. The #7 egg doesn't have anything genetically different inside than her other eggs, right? I'm asking because I've seen the advice, "Set only the darkest eggs" wherever hatching Marans is mentioned, but that doesn't make sense with my understanding of how the eggs get their color.

 

[Wynette]

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It's a good question, but there is no right or wrong way to handle this. I'm sure we each have our own methods. The reason to hatch only the darkest eggs is that typically, folks have several hens. When you collect eggs, say there are 3 or 4 eggs in the nest box - you don't know which hen laid which egg, so you only hatch the darkest (and it's likely those eggs will all be from the same hen - at least in theory).

If I had a hen that laid a "4" 9 out of 10 times, but laid a super nice one the 11th time I still would personally not hatch any of her eggs...she would pass along that odd laying issue to her offspring, likely, and I wouldn't want to pass that along. I'd be more inclined to hatch eggs that were consistently only a 5 - but CONSISTENT - rather than a random 7 egg from a hen that typically lays a 4. But that's just me! I (like some others) will not set an egg less than a 6 on the scale. That's not to say that's the "right" thing to do, it's just what I personally do.

 

[youngbiddy]

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Okay thanks, I just wanted to make sure that I didn't have the wrong idea about how the coloring of a Marans egg works. All of the ones I intend to breed hatched out of 7's and 8's so I can't wait to see what they lay!

 

[youngbiddy]

Here's a fun little game before I go put small, unwilling boys down for naps and get lunch started..

Spot That Rumpless Marans!

Yes folks, I am officially a member of the "I Hatched A Rumpless Marans" Club. I wasn't sure that such a thing was possible till I found someone else talking about it in the other Marans thread. And did a search that produced another thread specifically about Rumpless Marans.

Too bad, cuz the little feller is perfect except for the whole "don't got no tail" thing..

 

[Batty about Banties]

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OMGOSH I love him!!!

 

[geebs]

Youngbiddy... that is a fatal flaw... No rumpless marans... I would not breed them at all... that is a genetic weakness that leads to other problems... If it were me... I would cull immediatly...