Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[geebs]

My 2 cents which probably has had it's value reduced because of the recession/economy: The method I use is EVERYTHING.... thickness of leg, coloration, behaviour, size, and wing.... It sucks when they contradict each other... THe Bev line by itself is easier...If you mix with it... it becomes super complicated... the BHB line is super easy for me... I do the wing/tail thing too... I think it depends largely on the line/parentage also what clues you will use. I would suggest always asking the person you got your stock from what traits are there

Okay, I need some help from you chicken experts. I sent another BYC member a pair of BCMs and she just wrote me that she thinks the girl may have trouble seeing out of one eye. The pullets eyes are brown so far, and they both looked perfectly fine to me, just dark, so if she gets a close-up pic of both her eyes can you guys take a look and see if there's something wrong? Can chickens have congenital eyesight problems that don't show up just from looking at their eyes? The pullet was 8 weeks old as of yesterday and she's never been sick, none of them have, and her new mommy is basing this on the way the pullet acts when she's not around other birds. I just asked her to take pics and post them here when she gets the chance.

I will watch for pictures.... I did have a blind rooster once... Didn't pay much attention as to why... he was born that way.​

 

[Bravo]

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Pink, this is SUPER enlightening!!! I've started keeping notes on all my hatchlings so I am going to add this to the checklist while I'm checking everybody

Thank you for this fantastic explanation!!

 

[Wynette]

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Um....what will it take for you to send me that 2nd to last gal?

I don't care if she lays a 3!

 

[youngbiddy]

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She thinks that the pullet seems to have a problem with depth perception. I never noticed her acting any different than any of the others, but she was always with her hatchmates so I would have never seen her acting different when alone! The only thing I noticed about her eyes is that they're both dark brown, she's a dark little thing. She never had a hint of mossiness so I sent her as a mate with a Jeane C1 cockerel with good color in the hackles.
I'm waiting to hear back now, I asked her to get a video of the behavior she was describing if she could, too.

 

[seabreeze]

Hey Wynette, thank you for the kind compliment

I am looking for plans for boxes that once the hen is in, it keeps her there until I can gather the egg and mark her? Any ideas?

If it ever stops raining here in the soggy, mossy PNW, I will try and get some new pics, the girls are look wonderful! Mr. Sprig's pullets are pretty nice too so will try and round them up for a photo shoot. The sons are on board for freezer camp when they reach age.

I'm getting the blue splash cockerel hopefully this week but he isn't old enough to breed yet but hopefully, he will turn out nicely. For not, I'm going to bring over the splash roo I got at the swap meet in Canby.

 

[geebs]

I find the chick down question extremely interesting... As we look at sumatra chicks you will see a penguin look with a 50/50 light to dark... and then you look at birchen and you will see something more like what I posted.. We all know that BC (or we should) is the extended birchen gene... So one may be able to surmise one day that the chicks may not only tell us about adult plumage but also about the lines and colors carried within.... (just rambling out my thoughts)

 

[AyeUpChuck]

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Sort of what we were talking about with my BCs from Andy carrying possible wheaten because of the beak color?

 

[Debbi]

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I guess I'll see if the extra white in the down corresponds with the darker adult feathering yet again. I have four 3+ week olds now, and three of them are the same coloration as my "Precious" pullet when she was young. I can't really judge this as a dark x dark breeding as the old roo, "Fuglee" may have still been in the mix by a few days. To me, seeing them when hatched, that was my immediate thought, "oh, they look like the first clutch!". Same kind of mix too. Three have lots of white down, and in weird patterns, one is much darker and bigger. Same as the first clutch. Took some pics today that didn't turn out too well, but will post a few of them here later. Seems to be the same as the leg feathering goes too, the darker chick has more than the lighter colored one, the other two have zip. But, talk about looooong necks! Gees, these look like geese or emus! let me load some pics up, and I'll get back to you. I would wager that these will all be over-melanized, really dark birds when grown. The exception, though it did not go that way with the first clutch, would be the first chick I picture who is way darker than the rest. In the first clutch, I had a very dark chick that ended up that way. The rest were very oddly and lightly downed chicks, that all but the roo, ended up being very dark. The roo, Fuglee, who has since gone on to the coop in the sky, was nicely colored, albeit he had white based hackle feathers. I'm on dial up, so give me a bit to get some pics loaded.

 

[upthecreek]

know i'm running behind on this subject but i culled all of the Presley blood last year , some before . Now working with Bev Davis dark egg birds , also a few imports and allways looking for improvers . Never blend a new bird or birds into everything you've got might be detrimental to all , try them on a few first and watch .


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geebs, this stuff I am working with this year are from two people and are Wade jeane lines and some have penne in pants. I culled all the Marans last year that had presley blood in them.

 

[Debbi]

Here we go. This first chick is almost identical in form and color to one in the first clutch which ended up being an nice sized, albeit, dark pullet, "Beaut". I see pullet here too.

Next chick, roo? Acts more like a pullet though.

Ok, look at this neck! Seeing pullet here.

Possibly a roo? But looks like and acts like the first clutch's "Precious" previously picture.

I predict here that all will be dark, over-melanized adults. JMHO and what I've seen from the first clutch.

And Geebs, if these are "anomolies", well then, I corner the market for them!