Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[Bravo]

Quote:
Thanks Wynette! Totally appreciate the input.

I'll definitely post pics as he gets older and will update on whether or not he stays. So much can change at this age so I'll cross my fingers but wont hold my breath.

The white feathering is strange. He is the first chick I've hatched in my F1's that has this. The female parent stock had it as chicks too--someones theory was that the coloration hadn't made its way to the end of the feather shaft? At any rate, after they went through juvenile molt it vanished. If his doesn't go away this would be a deal breaker for me.

Ah-ha...
Here is a pic of the parent stock--minus the huge roo on the left who was culled. See the white flecking on the breast? Super strange. DON, any thoughts as to what causes this?

Debbi, didnt you also have a bird with this? What was the outcome?

His legs are scaring me--they are light slate on the shanks but in the lighting in the photo they do look really pink.

I took this photo (same bird) to document my "ingrown toe feather" problem LOL. The lighting is very different and the color looks much more slate.

Does anyone else have ingrown toe feather problems? Or am I just the lucky one that gets to soak my birds feet? LOL

 

[Bravo]

Quote:
OMG Math, when I first saw the top pic it looked like those 2 girls were both running for the finish line

If I didn't know it was Friday it'd be obvious from my mental state

 

[VillageChicken]

Quote:
Thanks Wynette! Totally appreciate the input.

I'll definitely post pics as he gets older and will update on whether or not he stays. So much can change at this age so I'll cross my fingers but wont hold my breath.

The white feathering is strange. He is the first chick I've hatched in my F1's that has this. The female parent stock had it as chicks too--someones theory was that the coloration hadn't made its way to the end of the feather shaft? At any rate, after they went through juvenile molt it vanished. If his doesn't go away this would be a deal breaker for me.

Ah-ha...
Here is a pic of the parent stock--minus the huge roo on the left who was culled. See the white flecking on the breast? Super strange. DON, any thoughts as to what causes this?

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu321/Luvdobes/CIMG6158.jpg

Debbi, didnt you also have a bird with this? What was the outcome?

His legs are scaring me--they are light slate on the shanks but in the lighting in the photo they do look really pink.

I took this photo (same bird) to document my "ingrown toe feather" problem LOL. The lighting is very different and the color looks much more slate.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu321/Luvdobes/CIMG7571.jpg

Does anyone else have ingrown toe feather problems? Or am I just the lucky one that gets to soak my birds feet? LOL

I had a BC hen with a bald back from an overzealous roo. She had an ingrown feather where it was growing back in. Sometimes I think they're just too lazy to pick at it themselves... must not bother them.

I've had a roo with white lacing on the ends of his juvie feathers. He turned out very dark.. Looked alot like your boy. He had dark mahogany hackle and lots of black in his saddle. Fox got him, but he was a jerk to the ladies.

 

[math ace]

Quote:
They had all run out to see me when they saw me. . . . . Then when they realized I was coming their way, they turned around and ran for the coop.
They are such good birds and want to lay their eggs in the nesting box NOT the yard. So they pinch their legs shut until I let them back in the coop.. .
That was the run to the nesting box = = == First one there gets to pick the BEST laying Box

 

[Debbi]

Bravo,

Yes, I had the excessive white along with a spotted look on the breast on a pullet in my first hatch. She is now an over melanized gal. I now have another clutch still in the brooder that are colored very much like the first one, and I expect to see the same thing. Now after I said that, the roo of the bunch is already getting in some copper that seems to be of the correct color. Therein lies the rub and answers my question of who the daddy was. Me thinks there were still some Fuglee soldiers in the mix there, and Fuglee had normal coloring when grown, even though as a chick, he had excessive white and yellow down! So, from my limited experience here, the excessively white downed pullet chicks will be over melanzied with sparse mahogany hackles. The roos are usually more normally colored, but also carry the white at the base of the hackle feathers. Time will tell how these turn out, it's basically a guess right now.

 

[snowbird]

Quote:
Thanks Wynette! Totally appreciate the input.

I'll definitely post pics as he gets older and will update on whether or not he stays. So much can change at this age so I'll cross my fingers but wont hold my breath.

The white feathering is strange. He is the first chick I've hatched in my F1's that has this. The female parent stock had it as chicks too--someones theory was that the coloration hadn't made its way to the end of the feather shaft? At any rate, after they went through juvenile molt it vanished. If his doesn't go away this would be a deal breaker for me.

Ah-ha...
Here is a pic of the parent stock--minus the huge roo on the left who was culled. See the white flecking on the breast? Super strange. DON, any thoughts as to what causes this?

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu321/Luvdobes/CIMG6158.jpg

Debbi, didnt you also have a bird with this? What was the outcome?

His legs are scaring me--they are light slate on the shanks but in the lighting in the photo they do look really pink.

I took this photo (same bird) to document my "ingrown toe feather" problem LOL. The lighting is very different and the color looks much more slate.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu321/Luvdobes/CIMG7571.jpg

Does anyone else have ingrown toe feather problems? Or am I just the lucky one that gets to soak my birds feet? LOL

Bravo, there has not been very much research done on the toe and leg feathering. I have also noticed that some of the marans with good feathering when they molt there will no longer be feathers on toe and shank. The shank color is what the MCCUSA ended up wanting in the Standard so you are ok there.

Do you have access to some fish meal where you are located ?

 

[VillageChicken]

on the same topic- if you had to choose between just stubbs or 2nd toe feathers (under vs over feathering) which would you go with? Seems like 2nd toe is recessive, and can pop up unexpectedly, and might be hard to get rid of, but I'd almost rather have that, than use a bird that might bring clean shanks into the flock.

My best BC cockerel has 2nd toe feather - I'm considering using him anyway, because he has good type, color and size.
My best White cockerel has no feathers on his feet, and just a few stubs on his upper shank - I'm probably not going to use him even though he has the best type and size.
Any thoughts? I'm open to being convinced otherwise.

 

[snowbird]

Quote:
VC, I think I might have to test breed the male with middle toe feathering and then go from there. I will no longer keep any males that do not have full feathering all the way to tip of toe at hatch.

 

[luvinrunnin]

Oh gosh, I really want to get into breeding marans.............but wow, so many pages to read through and I have no idea what I am really looking at or what I should be breeding for!!! I don't currently have any marans, and while we've had chickens off and on over the years, we have mainly done so for home egg use(eating!) so I suppose that I'm not really all that knowledgeable..........sigh.....

 

[Lotsapaints]

Quote:
I'm using a Cockerel with 2 feathers on the middle toe on one foot and 1 on the other stubbs really-so far I've had 3 chicks with one feather on one side of the middle toe from 24 and he has improved my feathering to the end of the toe and it really wouldn't be hard to make that feather disappear.....so I'm going to deal with it as his build and size is so nice and he's a very vigorous cock his chicks hatch out much better than my Goldens from a Cock who is about the same size just lazier....so as you know it depends but my Black Coppers do not have good feathering all the way down it is very sparse on most and I don't know how else to improve it yet.