Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[math ace]

Quote:
Do you have a front on shot of this cockerel?
I would like to see what his chest looks like....

 

[Arielle]

Snowbird -- Could you explain "mossy" ? I've seen the term several times and can only imagine lichens or moss coloring as in a lime green. LOL

The chicks with the brown will effect the male and female, most will be over colored, the female will usually be Mossy.​

 

[Roosterfry]

I'm not totally frustrated yet, I'm just getting started. Last fall I started by making my best selections from the chicks I hatched from another breeder's eggs, My first generation from selective breeding are reaching maturity now. So far they're looking decent except the eyes look more brown than orange to me but I'm my own worse critic . I'll know what my main rooster is producing by his offspring soon. If you see me looking for hatching eggs this spring you'll know what happened! Baked chicken

 

[wilmothfarms]

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Being new to this, I got raked over the coals too so I emailed a friend of mine who grew up in France. Here is what he said.

"Closest pronunciation would sound like saying 'mar' and 'on'. Kind of like moron but with an 'ah' sound after the m. Also 's' is silent. There is a town in France by that name."

As far as I can figure out, some of the problem may be because when pronounced the "s" is silent and therefore people are then assuming that when spelled there is no "s". I feel better now thought knowing that I got a pronunciation lesson from someone who lived there and speaks fluent French.

Thank you!

 

[wilmothfarms]

Quote:
http://marans.org/sop.html

http://marans.org/blackcoppervariety.html

You should be able to print them out from here. I am told this is where the judges will get their copies as well, until they appear in the official book.

Thank you Very much! Sorry all it took me so long to reply back! Its been so hectic on the farm lately! And now rain rain rain! BLEH I appreciate each of your help!

 

[wilmothfarms]

Alrighty! Here are some of my hatch from September 13 (9 weeks old now

) I had ordered 12 FBCM but her birds wernt laying well so she said she could send me some BlueCM and GCM - so why not! SO I ended up with 4 FBC, 4 Blues, and 4 Golden Cuckoos. ANYWAY on with my point.

Just wanted an opinion on how they are looking so far- I know its hard to judge them at this age - reason I'm asking is this:

I was just reading what you all were saying about the brownish down and brown spot on the head . A couple of mine had that. (posting the blues because they have what you are talking about)
Here are pictures of a Blue Cockerel and a Pullet , the pullet shows the brownish dot on her head, its almost the ONLY color other than blue she has!

And the cockerel, I am posting his picture because I am curious, you all were talking about the copper coloring on the feathers, should be more a lacing, and not the shaft, or the complete feather - is THIS how it should look like, you should be able to see his feathers clearly. Just trying understand about what you all have been talking about.

OKAY on to my FBCM I want your opinions on! This hatch of chicks have been my favorite yet - all 12 Marans have been the biggest, fastest growing I've ever had! LOVE EM!
I have 2 pairs of each kind (how lucky can a girl get!!!!????) Here are the SOME of the rest of the guys,how are they looking so far (if you can tell)
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HA - squaring off - the one with more copper has less shank feathering than the one with hardly any copper.

This is the cockerel with more copper again

This is the (most) of the brood:

The feathering on their legs are putting my Brahma (you can see Momma there on the left) that hatched them for me TO SHAME! LOL I dont know maybe just me and its what they should look like,

My FBCM Hen I have now has NO copper and her feather on her shanks is SO sparse I would need to breed her with a Roo that HAS some feathers (I think from what I read), so I know I have to have more than she has, but wondering if this is too much. I ordered the eggs from here on BYC.
Here she is She was hatched back in April - She is a little witch to the whole flock! LOL

Thanks for your feedback - I dont mind what ya have to say - if its too soon to be able to tell me anything then thats fine.

 

[wilmothfarms]

Quote:
yeah DUH I posted 2 Blue Copper pullets - I'm a dork! My brain has not had enough coffee fuel this morning! LOL

 

[VillageChicken]

It's hard to comment on type and general conformation at this age, but overall your BC's look quite dark. The cockerels especially, have very dark shanks. There should be at least bit of pinkish or bluish skin between all the black scales, especially between the toes.

 

[DMRippy]

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Just an observation, that hen in the last pic looks like she has white ear lobes.... I have some with that too.

That is a DQ.

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
Hi!
I have hatched out several chicks (I have 2 in the brooder right now

) over the last 3 years with just one copper colored spot on the head and my experience with these birds is that the pullets grow out with only a few copper hackle feathers and the rest of the hackle is very dark blue, and/or like a girl I have now that was hatched with one copper spot and that one spot is still all she has at 8 mos. old.
I have also noticed that they (both males and females) with "the spot" both mature with too dark of eyes.
The cockerels that I hatched that had this one spot on the head usually grow out with too little copper in the hackles and it is usually very dark. Also, sometimes they get some copper in the saddles and again it has not been enough or is too dark and a couple of them have also had a couple copper feathers in the wing bow, but mostly they ended up with very dark blue saddles and wings.

I have used some of the females for breeding because they had great type and good egg color. I put a good colored (as is good copper color and a good amount of it, but it was not an overly red bird ('cause I don't have one), and it was not a bird with wheaten influenced shafting in the breast) cock bird over them with the correct eye color and have had pretty good luck changing the eye color, but still hard to get more copper in the females.
Basically they are very dark or over melanized.

Now with the second blue bird that you posted with the color on the front of the neck and just below is what the red in the breast should look like, by this I mean....the effect in which it expresses on the feather, it basically laces the outer edge of the feather and the rest of the feather is blue and the shaft is blue. IMO, it (the copper color) should be a little darker and more rich, this gal looks to be maybe a tad too light in copper color. But having said that... I wouldn't discount her yet, I would test this bird to one of those over melanized boys I was describing above.

This is how the copper or red in the chest, that is acceptable per the standard should express on the birds for both Black Coppers and Blue Coppers.

If this color going down the front of her throat and upper breast would have been more of rusty color on almost the whole feather and the shaft of the feather would have been gold or yellowish...it would have been "shafting" and is said to be indicitive of the Wheaten influence. I believe that Keara posted a photo of her cockerel (beautiful boy) that showed a perfect illustration of "shafting" a few pages back, if a person could see your blue bird and Keara's BCM cockerel side by side, the difference would be very noticeable between shafting and over red or red in the breast.

When I first got into Marans I had some birds from different lines than I have now and produced a few chicks with the brownish/cinnamony heads and they matured to be mossy hens (didn't keep any of the cockerels so I can't comment) with shafting and waaaaay to light of copper (almost straw or brassy), but they laid a nice egg. I didn't know it at the time, but this too is said to be indicitive of the Wheaten influence as well. I sold all of those birds and started over with birds from a line that does not throw this and haven't ever seen it since.