Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[ROLOIdaho]

Thanks again Wynette. This is why I posted the pics before I got the eggs. No disrespect taken as he is not my bird, but your comments just prove how much more I have to learn because all the birds at this place looked healthy to me. Thanks again.

 

[Noymira]

Can someone tell me about BCM eggs? What does a good egg look like? How do you choose an egg to hatch?

I have not seen many other than mine and don't know much about them. Here are some from my 5 hens.

Thanks!

 

[hudsonnascarfan]

how long after the pullets start laying eggs before they get some size to them mine just started to lay on monday and ive gotten 27 eggs out of 8 pullets as of tonight out of them only 3 eggs id say are med sized the rest are small im hopeing that by the first of december the eggs will be big enuff to hatch out a batch grand kids really want some of their own chicks to raise and i wouldnt mind haveing a few more for our coop also my wife and i have been working on some chicken tractors for all of our kids for presents we are thinking that a 4x8 tractor with a 4x8 run should be good enuff for 4 chickens per family most of the kids said they would love the idea of it but most want to wait till spring for the chicks

 

[Arielle]

Quote:
Arielle, Sorry I missed your post. Single matings are done so we know exactly which male and female the chicks come from. With most of the Parti-color fowl single mating will cut down on the amount of culls. This wat you can breed different color combinations for males and different ones for female. By single mating in a couple of year you will have a pretty good idea of what to expect from a mating.

The main thing if you single mate you must mark all the chicks and keep records.

Don,
Thank you for the details on single mating.

I understand there is much work to be done on the FBCM so the single mating method gets to the better birds quicker. How does this effect the inbreeding coefficient or is this not a worry at this point because there is so much mixed breeding to root out?

 

[Arielle]

Oh another Q. My roosters were born Jun 1 and are chasing the BO and succeeding at their roostering job. Is this a little young or typical for a BC? The BC hens are not laying yet and not of interest to the boys.

Is this typical BC marans behavior?​

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
Is this typical BC marans behavior?

My roos are just a couple of weeks older and have tried a few times with my girls but they are not mature yet, but getting there!

 

[snowbird]

Quote:
Arielle, Sorry I missed your post. Single matings are done so we know exactly which male and female the chicks come from. With most of the Parti-color fowl single mating will cut down on the amount of culls. This wat you can breed different color combinations for males and different ones for female. By single mating in a couple of year you will have a pretty good idea of what to expect from a mating.

The main thing if you single mate you must mark all the chicks and keep records.

Don,
Thank you for the details on single mating.

I understand there is much work to be done on the FBCM so the single mating method gets to the better birds quicker. How does this effect the inbreeding coefficient or is this not a worry at this point because there is so much mixed breeding to root out?

Arielle, As long as you stay away from brother-sister matings you can sungle mate a line forever. The single matings make the better producers show up sooner.

 

[stoopid]

My Clyde got best in show at the fair! YAY! He crowed all the way home in the car. He crowed ALL weekend. Everyone there had to let me know how much he crowed.
I know it's only a fair, but it's a start. And he wouldn't stand up straight enough to take a pic. He was too busy CROWING!

 

[Kansas Gal]

I have never had Black Copper Marans, and unfortunately, the 14 eggs I bought that were to hatch yesterda, did not. (I don't blame the eggs, I blame the very poor cheap incubator!) I am considering raising two breeds of show stock, one of which are the BCMs. What do you folks who have BCMs think of their temperament, especially the roos? I have had only two roos in the past two years. The first became paralyzed and had to be put down. The other one began flogging us any time we came near the coop or in the yard, so we got rid of him as well. I did have one person tell me that in six generations of her BCMs, she has never had a nasty roo. Would you please let me know what you all think of their temperament, eggs, health, etc? I love the chocolate brown eggs. Are they pretty consistent layers? Thanks so much for your information in advance!

 

[hudsonnascarfan]

Quote:
well i have 7 bcm i got as day old chicks back the first of may one of them is a roo and they are just as friendly to my wife and my grandkids as any other chickens we have when i go out to feed and water them they always come over to get patted on the head and now they are already laying eggs out of the 6 bcm and 2 barred rocks we got back in may we have been getting from 4 to 6 eggs a day we got almost 3 dozen eggs this week from the 8 chickens and they just started to lay on monday so im thinking thats not to bad our other chicks were born the first week of july so we are thinking that by mid winter we will be up to 4 or so dozen a week