Black Copper Marans discussion thread

[Arielle]

Question for DOn or walt, or both.


Is the FBCM a bird that produces SQ individuals when a specific male line and a specific female line is crossed??

I'm thinking about how well a black sexlink produces eggs because one parent stock is developed to niche with another parent stock, and the resulting offspring out performs both parents.

Are the FBCM similar. A male line is developed with specific traits and a female is developed separately, then the 2 lines are mated together to produce the very correct birds.

 

[culler]

Question for DOn or walt, or both.


Is the FBCM a bird that produces SQ individuals when a specific male line and a specific female line is crossed??

I'm thinking about how well a black sexlink produces eggs because one parent stock is developed to niche with another parent stock, and the resulting offspring out performs both parents.

Are the FBCM similar. A male line is developed with specific traits and a female is developed separately, then the 2 lines are mated together to produce the very correct birds.

Will answer for myself and hope Walt will see the post and answer. What you are talking about is Double mating and is very similiar to single mating. With the Double matings you will pair fowl up with the intent of getting better males from one mating. Then mate up a pair with the intent of trying to get better females and with the Parti colored fowl this has always worked for me.

But if you put the off spring from the two mating together it does not mean you will find the Gold at the end of the rainbow.

We will always have a high percentage of fowl that are not top notch show birds out of any mating. It is not that hard to get a lot of good useable birds, but to get that very few exceptionable birds is very hard. There is always different degrees of Quality when hatching eggs from any type of quality of adult. Don

 

[Arielle]

Thanks Don, more to go think about.

Walt, if you're out there, your comment is welcome, too.

 

[stoopid]

Walt's racing cars today.
Maybe tonight he can step in, if he isn't too busy celebrating a win, or something...

 

[Arielle]

Go, Walt, Go!

 

[Arielle]

Don, needed to think over your info. More questions.

Will answer for myself and hope Walt will see the post and answer. What you are talking about is Double mating and is very similiar to single mating. With the Double matings you will pair fowl up with the intent of getting better males from one mating. Then mate up a pair with the intent of trying to get better females and with the Parti colored fowl this has always worked for me.

But if you put the off spring from the two mating together it does not mean you will find the Gold at the end of the rainbow.

Does it work best then to keep separate rooster and hen lines, and not cross them?





We will always have a high percentage of fowl that are not top notch show birds out of any mating. It is not that hard to get a lot of good useable birds, but to get that very few exceptionable birds is very hard. There is always different degrees of Quality when hatching eggs from any type of quality of adult.

Great reminder--SQ is rare. To slowly improve a population as a whole can be enough progress.

 

[culler]

Arielle, If you set up female and male matings you can still breed the two lines together. Best policy is just do test matings at the start and see whick works best for what you would want to see. In all the years I have had chickens I have always done a lot of single matings. Even with Gamefowl in my youth days. Don

 

[RedBugPoultry]

Hello Marans folks! I have not been on here in a while but here I am with a bunch of questions. Over the fall and winter I hatched about 16 BCM chicks from 3 different breeders. Now my problem is what to keep and what to cull. I live in an area that does not have any breeder that I know of so I have had eggs shipped to me. My chicks have different issues and I need to know what to keep--mostly with my cockerels. These are the things I am looking at with my cockerels when deciding what to keep.
--Feathering on middle toes.
--Short outside toe on feathered feet.
--Too much copper on chests.
--Comb issues.
--Hackle color.
I have a few pictures here to help you see my issues. I would appreciate any help you can give. I plan on using one of these rooster at least to start with because they are all I have at this time.
As you can see I do not have much to choose from....

This guy rules the flock and is the heaviest body but very heavy colored and has a short outer toe.

Not a bad bird but very little feathering down leg.

This is my best bird but he has a few feathers down the center toe.


Sorry I didn't get better foot shots. Thanks for any help or opinions!

 

[Arielle]

I am new to FBCM but read hear regularly, especiall the marans thread with a ziollion pages.

THe outer toes are shorter on feathered breeds.

Light leg feathering is ok especially if there is no middle toe feathering. I'm actually trying to get this into my breeding stock.

middle toes feathering is a fault but not a DQ.


A master breeder told me to start with what you have. I'm sure others will chime in here.

 

[RedBugPoultry]

I am new to FBCM but read hear regularly, especiall the marans thread with a ziollion pages.

THe outer toes are shorter on feathered breeds.

Light leg feathering is ok especially if there is no middle toe feathering. I'm actually trying to get this into my breeding stock.

middle toes feathering is a fault but not a DQ.


A master breeder told me to start with what you have. I'm sure others will chime in here.

Arielle, thank you for this response. The feet are actually my biggest concern with these guys. I actually like the build of the on with the most color and he has the best comb. I will be hard but I might just run a few roos and decide how I like the way they are growing. I thought I had read on one of the Marans threads that the shorter outside toe was to be avoided but I do know my Giant Cochins have that shorter toe too. Thank you!