Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[Arielle]

Marans breeders with clean leg fowl that should be feathered. I have seen where folks say they are not worried with not having fowl with feathered feet as it is an easy fix. This is in no way factional as it will take at least three year to get the feathering to where it is acceptable. Last summer I only had a very few BC young fowl with not enough leg feathering. I bred no female without leg feathering and there is no other way to do this if you want to be competitive at the shows. Sooner or later a Judge that has an idea of what a Marans should look like will show up and some will need a case of kleenex.

I wanted to come back to the leg feathering if no one minds. As I have watched my first chicks grow from heavy feathering to 9 month olds, the amount of feathering as dimished. My birds have been free ranging all fall and winter and now that they are penned I have been looking them over.

First q--At what age is the best to be certain how much feathering an individual really has?
@nd q--I read much about lack of leg feathering, but how to eliminate or reduce the feathering on the middle toe??

 

[culler]

I wanted to come back to the leg feathering if no one minds. As I have watched my first chicks grow from heavy feathering to 9 month olds, the amount of feathering as dimished. My birds have been free ranging all fall and winter and now that they are penned I have been looking them over.

First q--At what age is the best to be certain how much feathering an individual really has?
@nd q--I read much about lack of leg feathering, but how to eliminate or reduce the feathering on the middle toe??

Arielle, the first question and what I have always went with. Soon as their first real feathers come in go with that. We can not go with the fuzzy feathers as some will disappear. After the Juve moult at about 4-5 months.

Second question : will go into a little deeper and this method works great as it is what I would use myself. You must use a heavy feathered leg and foot to start with and you will get some with a few stubs , culls these right off at hatch. This will be a by-product of getting good feathered shanks and toe. Make sure the toe is feathered all the way to the end. The past two year I bred no female without the shank and toe feathering. I found it takes about three year to develop good feathering. Do not believe those that say it is an easy fix as it is certainly not and will take time. This is one of the Faults that I suggest that Marans breeders work on right from the startup.

 

[Arielle]

Arielle, the first question and what I have always went with. Soon as their first real feathers come in go with that. We can not go with the fuzzy feathers as some will disappear. After the Juve moult at about 4-5 months.

Second question : will go into a little deeper and this method works great as it is what I would use myself. You must use a heavy feathered leg and foot to start with and you will get some with a few stubs , culls these right off at hatch. This will be a by-product of getting good feathered shanks and toe. Make sure the toe is feathered all the way to the end. The past two year I bred no female without the shank and toe feathering. I found it takes about three year to develop good feathering. Do not believe those that say it is an easy fix as it is certainly not and will take time. This is one of the Faults that I suggest that Marans breeders work on right from the startup.

Cull which birds at hatch?? Stubs on middle toes??

 

[culler]

Cull which birds at hatch?? Stubs on middle toes??

Hi Arielle, yes I would cull the stubs and fuzzy middle toe at hatch if it is there. Also after the Juve molt.

 

[Christie Rhae]

following the toe feather conversation on both marans threads....lol

 

[Arielle]

Hi Christi, yes I wanted to ask about it as it was brought up here a few days ago and don't you know . . . the marans thread brought it up, too! Enquiring minds want to know!

I picked up one of my boys a few minutes ago, such a sweet boy, and looked closely at his legs. Most of his leg feathers are no more.

I have a few youngsters from 2 other breeders that I will get a closer look at too. They are 3 months old now, so I want to start tracking the leg feathering on them as well.

How do your new babies look. Pm me if you want, Very curious about their legs.

 

[Christie Rhae]

Hi Christi, yes I wanted to ask about it as it was brought up here a few days ago and don't you know . . . the marans thread brought it up, too! Enquiring minds want to know!

I picked up one of my boys a few minutes ago, such a sweet boy, and looked closely at his legs. Most of his leg feathers are no more.

I have a few youngsters from 2 other breeders that I will get a closer look at too. They are 3 months old now, so I want to start tracking the leg feathering on them as well.

How do your new babies look. Pm me if you want, Very curious about their legs.

I have a group of chicks that are 9 weeks old that have crazy feathers on their legs. Full on feathers on the toe not just soft little feathers. In my humble opinion it seems like too much. A couple of them even had feathers on middle toe when they hatched.
My younger group from a different breeder do not have such heavy feathering. I see none with down on the middle toe. There are two clean legged in the batch but the breeder informed me that could happen and I accepted the chance of it. Beggars cannot be too choosy here in Hawaii. lol
I have read on BYC to breed from the best you can get or the best you have. I feel like I have really tried and will start with these birds and pick the best that I can from them. Gotta start somewhere.

 

[Arielle]

A master breeder told me last year to start with the what you have;and after a lot of effort you finally have some to work with. THe master breeder has been helpful identifying the best breeders to buy from ( this is another breed I'm interested in).I need a black breasted rooster and I need a rooster with the correct leg feathering. Pour their genes into the hen population and then cull.

I'm having a hard time understanding the leg feathering. Maybe someone could create a senerio and provide a process of selection. Not using the bare legged birds is a given. Most birds seem to have not enough feathering or too much (middle toe thing).

I'm glad I have Easter Eggers to play with! Far less frustrating to understand!

 

[Christie Rhae]

Quote:
Ain't that the truth!!

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Not using the bare legged birds is a given.

I was told the opposite by a couple of VERY respected "master breeders".

I'm not sure clean legs are worse than legs that are too heavily feathered . So far, in my LIMITED experience, I am finding it is easier to get some feathering on bare legs than it is to calm down too heavy feathering.