Black Copper Marans/Olive/Americauna

[chiqenmama]

Hi there;

This is our first time doing special breed chickens, as well as having ordered a straight run. We got rid of a few that we thought for sure were roos, but as they develop, I'm starting to freak out that these may be roos. I know they can't ALL be roos, The poultry farm we got them from, said about 30%, we got rid of four that truly looked like roos, about three weeks ago. Developed faster than the others, as far as combs, waddles and behavior. We got rid of 5 hens, as we only wanted 6. SO, here we are with six and they have been noisy today. I swore I have heard my Malificant try to cockadoodledoo. :/ Since they are different than the normal bantams, white and browns, that we have had before, I'm struggling with what the hens SHOULD look like. I know the french black copper marans, feathers on the feet and if it's a roo, usually has a colorful neck as well as feathers. My Mel doesn't have the colored neck, but gorgeous feathers.... I'm starting to worry. I have uploaded two pics. The black is a full bred french copper, and the other is either a olive or americauna. Any ideas of how to tell for sure? We will start with these two... Mel and another. (kids named the rest)

 

[Chicken Girl1]

The black one MAY be a cockerel but I'll need a better picture and the other one is a pullet.

 

[chiqenmama]

 

[chiqenmama]

and here's a not so good pic of the group of them.

 

[Chicken Girl1]

Are you sure this isn't a EE? I'm not sure I gender, It could be either.

 

[BantamLover21]

I'm leaning toward the black one being a cockerel.

 

[Wyandottes7]

I'm leaning toward the black one being a cockerel.

x2

 

[chiqenmama]

Thank you for your feedback so far. Oh I hope it's not... But I guess we will see!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

The black one is not a pure BCM as they have single combs. Yours is obviously pea combed with beard/muff, so it will be an Olive Egger mixed with Ameraucana/EE and BCM.
Having said that, I would not slam dunk that as a rooster...I think it could be a pullet yet, possibly early maturing....knowing age would help my guess.

The blue is a pullet, and hard to see in zoom, but I think with pea comb, so another Olive Egger as that looks to be Blue Marans mix...if it has a single comb, it is likely a Blue Marans but feather-less on the legs, many Marans are.

The group photo is showing pullets...with the one questionable bird with a little more comb development, but without knowing age, I can't say with any certainty...

Take heart...I think you've got a group of pullets.

LofMc

 

[chiqenmama]

Awesome news!! Thank you for this help. It is so nice to better understand my flock. They have changed so much since they were babies! Once they started growing we had to cut the marker bands off, so now we don't know which one is which breed, lol. We got them, day old on April 15.