Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[BarnGoddess01]

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Post them here! Folks will be more than happy to tell you what they think!!! Like it or not!!

 

[Debbi]

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Post pics. Marans of any color should not have yellow legs!

 

[mama24]

Do you cull for personality? I have 2 barely 4 months old BCM cockerels who are looking very nice color and type wise, but I'm having issues with once of them just harassing another cockerel the same age to the point where if he couldn't escape the pen, he would hide his head in a corner and just lie there for hours. And as soon as he got up, that BCM was right there again! It's so bad that I have that little cockerel (Exchequer leghorn) in a separate pen and the BCM just paces along the fence in between! I mean for hours! What the heck!? Is this something you would cull for, or should I wait a little longer and see if he outgrows it a bit? He seems to get along fine with a few other cockerels the same age, including a Blue Andalusian who appears to be more dominant, the other BCM, and 2 Ameraucanas. I don't know why he hates the poor little leghorn so much! I'm very disappointed b/c he is bigger and bulkier than the other BCM, though I suppose that could change since they are so young. Both have beautiful coloring and nice combs. I'm at work or I would post pics to see what y'all think

 

[Raven1]

You know I have had that same problem with my cockrell pen I just had to move the Exchequers out to their own pen it may be the diff. in coloring that is setting them off who knows.

 

[mama24]

That is so weird! I am glad to know I'm not the only one with this problem!

 

[Debbi]

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Sounds like the bully is on the lower end of the pecking order, and he has now found he can bully the smaller Leghorn. I had a cockerel who was a single hatch, that ended up like your Leghorn. He was bullied unmercilessly, even by the hens when he was about 4-5 months old. Now that he is older, he is climbing up to the top of the pecking order, and even challenged one of my two top boys, and ran him off! Shocked me. It happens in the natural order of things, so all you can do is to keep them seperate. I have to keep my two top boys seperate, or they will fight to the death, don't want that happening! All the others, of differing ages get along just fine, but I need to get the excess roos out of here before that changes! Now, if your little bully turns into a "man fighter", in other words, coming after you, get rid of him! I've got two here that will come after me, one may meet his maker this afternoon! It's not a pleasant way to live, always looking over your shoulder!!

 

[mama24]

Thanks! The BCM were much slower to develop than my Mediterranean breeds. My leghorn is the smallest of the bunch now that they've all blossomed, though. The Andalusian has been head honch for months now. But now the BCM has found his crow and is at the Andalusian's height, but he's got quite a bit more weight! So I don't think Mr Blue is going to be head man much longer! I hope the BCM tunes down a bit once he's not so unsure of himself!

 

[Debbi]

He may if he challenges the head honcho, and gets his arse kicked! Sometimes that helps to delay the cockiness in the younger roos. I'm pretty fortunate here, so far, most all birds get along, but i do realize that won't always be the case... Forgot to add, it seems to me these young boys on the worst when they hit the age of 5-8 months old, when they get that first rush of hormones! After that, from what i've seen here, they tend to know how to handle it a bit better, and calm down some.

 

[mama24]

My only grown roo right now is a bantam. I had them all together, but I just separated out the bantams b/c I caught Mr Blue trying to mate with my very unwilling bantam hens a few times this past week.

Plus I was afraid they'd decide to gang up on poor Darth Vader one day, he's my oldest son's rooster, not mine.

So my mature rooster is in no position to put these boys in their place considering he's about 1/4 their size! My mature hens have been letting them know they aren't as hot as they think they are. Especially my 3 year old hens, a production red and a red sexlink. They beat those boys DOWN and chase them for way longer than you'd expect, and I laugh hard every time I see it! LOL. I kinda wish I still had my pretty boy Clyde, he'd let them know the proper way to court the ladies and behave around him!

 

[ruth]

Hi Everyone - I've been living under a rock for the past few months and haven't been on BYC. Looks like there's a ton of new people and posts in these threads which is so good to see. Actually I haven't been living under a rock it's just that I did a really "stupid" thing in May. I bought 16 wild Appaloosa horses including a bunch of mares with newborn babies and which had bred again in the herd they lived in. So.....I've been super busy learning all about horses and training horses. So far I have one that I can ride and most that I can halter and lead. The 6 babies are already nearly as big as their mamas. Anyway, it's good to be back. I've still been breeding my Black Copper Marans and even have a Blue Copper Marans "Project Pen" going. I've recently built a pen just for excess roosters and I call it "Death Row". Just got tired of so many roosters running around the farm. With some it was easy to make the decision with others I've had to look long and hard. Here's a couple of Black Copper Maran cockerls I'm just not sure of. Since I've been out of the loop for so long I thought I'd post these two young guys who are not in breeder pens and ask "Breed or Eat?" One has a little copper on his throat with only specks of it on his chest. The other is solid black chest.

Roo 1 - with some red on throat but with a nice comb (wind was really blowing his backside in second photo):

Roo 2 with solid black throat and chest: