Black copper marans? Help !!

[TheWineMaker]

Bought these a couple weeks ago and are suppose to be from the Bev Davis line. But have concerns with some white in the flight feathers on the pullets. And the roo is 4 years old and not real sure of him he has a white feather at the base of his tail. Help is needed.

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[ramirezframing]

This is why I don't listen to "it's from so and so's line of birds". Any one can say a bird is from top lines, don't make it true. Or someone brought birds whether they where culls or not from that breeder, and didn't hold the breeding standard as high as the breeder did. And the next "breeder" does their breeding and on down the line. So by the time you get from this line, they are no longer even close to the breeders birds.

Either your rooster has the wrong comb type or maybe it is messed up from frost bite, but he should not be mossy in his chest like he is, does he normally have feathered shanks? As I believe all of Bev Davis's marans are feathered shanked. She does have a web site that you can look at to see what her stock looks like.

Now if these pullets are under a year old and have not done a major molt into adult feathers, they still have a chance to molt out the white flight feathers which is a typical trait in black chicks. If you are going to breed these I would suggest finding out what traits are not wanted in this breed and culling hard against them. Might take you a few years, but you can bring them back in line with what is wanted in the black copper marans.

Hope this helps you out and good luck

 

[TheWineMaker]

Thank you very much. I dont know if he had ever had feathered shanks. Got him with the pullets. His comb does concern me also. It looks heslthy . I will check her web site. Thanks again.