Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[Zanna]

Quote:
I realize I can still use him for breeding and I still want to even if the eye does not heal. My flock is a large community free-ranging flock on 11 acres (they only use about 2 though!). Hating the idea of having to keep him separated/locked up and the hens I would put with him for times other than breeding (I have that stupid black beauty mentality, although I am not that way with my competition horses!). Also, I have no breedworthy bcm hens yet, probably 6 mos. away, growing out yet another batch of babies! Do they adjust to being kept separated in a small area for most of their lives after having so much freedom?? Would one hen work until I had some breeders (again, looking at at least 6 mos.)? He was not getting picked on till apparently 2 days ago, they have tons of space to run away. Their coop door opens at daylight and closes at dark so they are only confined at roost time.

For your batchelor pens, do you just put all the ones you want to pen up together? They get along fine because there are no hens to fight over? I do have an Orp roo who is going to be culled but a NH, WL, and another BCM (which you all liked as well) I had planned to keep (completely different type from this guy, short back, darker). Also I plan on growing out my Del roos and maybe keeping one or two of them.......... Decisions, decisions!!! I have the space and a very handy DH so can certainly make a permanent set-up for separation but I love them free ranging, and the bonus of the feed savings!!

Zanna, I like him a lot! He might make it work, why not let him try?

Can you try putting optical Terramiyacin ointment in the eye, instead of neosporin?

I have that for the horses so I will treat him with that instead, Thanks!​

 

[flgardengirl]

Hmmm if he has that much room to roam he should be able to get away from the others unless they are ganging up on him at night. Are there females in that coop in the evening? If not, then some roos will gang up on one and try to mate them.
In general, roos that are raised together will get along in a bachelor pen. They will have squabbles but they rarely kill anyone. If you put in a new roo though, watch out!! I don't add any roos to a bachelor pen that aren't raised together.

One hen with a roo will not be enough she will get messed up so it might be better to either let him try and work it out or separate if they are really doing him damage. If it comes to either getting his butt kicked constantly or being in his own pen, he might like his own pen better.

Another option would be to get some other laying age hens, doesn't matter what kind and let him have those until you get some of-age-BCM girls. You don't have to hatch out the mixed chicks. Also,you can keep different hens together: like say, 2 bcm hens and 3 orp hens, an ameraucana hen, with one bcm roo. As long as you can really tell the hens' eggs apart and only 'set' the dark bcm eggs, its all good until you get enough girls to have all bcm hens.

I only have a little over 3 acres here and lots more room in the woods behind us though, which they don't use.
I let groups out one at a time to freerange. I kind of rotate them so they don't all mix together since I have different breeds/pens now and some of the roos don't get along. I do have a few bachelor pens which are going to be thinned out this weekend

 

[Zanna]

Quote:
Hopefully he regains sight in the eye, if not, that he gets smart about watching for the other roos coming with the good eye

Right now he is very happy in his own pen, maybe he will stay that way if when I let him out again if he gets his butt kicked too badly. Time will tell!

There are 40 mature laying hens in with the 5 roos, 6 almost laying pullets and a dozen 3 mos. old youngsters (about 1/2 male/female ratio) all in my large community coop. Everyone has gotten along well within reason until this incident. I am constantly incorporating youngsters and culling roos and will probably get to the point where it makes sense to separate the breeders but I am nowhere near there yet, I am expecting it to take years to build the stock!

 

[armadamork]

Looking for some advise on my BCM's. I got my first three chicks, two days old, about three weeks ago. They were small compared to my otherchicks - 2 Leghorn, 2 Australorps, 3 EE, and 2 BO. After two weeks they were still relitively small and one died. Not sure what happen but the 3 BCM seemed out of it. After the one died I removed the other 2 and put them in there own brooder. They are doing much, much, better from what I can see but still seem runty. Is this typical of BCMs?

 

[math ace]

Quote:
I do this too! I have 4 different age groups of roosters right now . . . . so they are let out at different times and in different areas to free range.

I also agree with giving the boy at least three hens to call his own . .. more would be better.
It doesn't matter what they are. . .. My main BCM roo has 12 girls and I only hatch eggs from two of his ladies.
The rest are just fillers to keep him BUSY ( hopefully to busy to crow

)
Most of those girls still have to wear saddles . . . .

 

[math ace]

Quote:
Not typical . . . If the BCM's appeared smalller and they were only 2 days old. . . . then the other chicks were most likely older and they should not of been mixed yet. The older ones could of bullied the babies and kept them from eating and drinking.

Since they are doing better since you separated them . . . that makes me still think they were too young to be mixed with the others.

BCM's are not runts but will be smaller than australorps and BO. If the leghorns are looking bigger than the BCM's then you are back to the age difference possibility.

 

[Medicine Man]

Does anybody have any informacion on how to "remove" the copper from Black Coppers, or Brown Reds or whatevers?

I don't mean removing it from one bird, but by selective breeding, can I remove the copper and have black birds?

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
Hi MM!

One can darken the copper in the Black Coppers by selecting birds that are over melanized/very dark (birds that show little to NO copper) and breeding them to another over melanized BCM and you could and should get offspring that are very dark/over melanized, you could also get birds that still show some good amounts of nicely colored copper though one would think that breeding extremely over melanized birds that it would lessen the chances of getting nicely coppered birds, it just doesn't always work out that way, just don't use the birds that show copper.

If a person continually selects and breeds very dark birds, eventually the flock should all be very dark and the copper should be almost indistinguishable from the black feathers...BUT.......they are still considered Black Copper Marans because you can't remove the ER (Birchen) gene that they are based on. Basically, we are not removing the copper, but simply making it very very very dark with the continued breedings over melanized birds.
To create Black Marans that do not show copper or do not have the ER gene in their base genetics one would create solid black from the Silver based Cuckoo variety. I'm not sure of all the particulars of this latter statement so hopefull VillageChicken or another who knows comes along and helps out.

 

[Medicine Man]

ah, thanks Pink. It's the removal of the ER I'm looking for I think. Tha'ts Birchen, right? And then there's the Mahogany gene on top of the ER? If not for the mahogany then they would be the silver type that we commonly call Birchen, yes?

So I'd like to remove either one or both. I have a female BSL from BC/Cuckoos and an overly-melanized boy, and the baby girls are all black but the boys have much more copper than their dad. These are also hybrids, Olive Eggers, so I was hoping I might remove the copper somewhere along the way. Maybe if I breed the dad with a Black Penedesenca the math will give me a pea-combed solid black peep?

 

[OHmamma]

Do you think her copper will stop? There is none in the breast but it seems to be so much more on her neck than most I have seen. Sorry fo the pic quality I had to take her in the camper because the wind was too strong. She is 11 weeks.