Black Copper Marans - Time progression of sexing - UPDATED with WEEKs #1-3 PICTURES

[chocol8bikini]

11.5 weeks

 

[Bazy]

Not sure why it's undesirable if the mossier ones tend to lay darker eggs, unless that is a myth. I think it's pretty. I also don't have any plans of breeding my chickens. I just got them for the egg laying and entertainment. Are you saying the all black one looks more correct? She has white on her wing feathers which I heard is undesirable. Mossy Molly has more feathers on her legs. Mary's feathers for some reason are considerably more soft. Not sure if soft feathers is a trait of BCMs?

My French BCM's feathers are all like silk, and I think they molt out of the white feathers on their wing tips. I have two adults and two juveniles and the juvies still have white feather tips on the wings. I think your Mossy Molly is just beautiful. If you WERE breeding her, It would probably make a very pretty Olive Egger to have an Ameraucana rooster over her. Or a Cream Legbar.

wanna buy a rooster? (LOL!)

 

[RoostersCrow HensDeliver!]

Not sure why it's undesirable if the mossier ones tend to lay darker eggs, unless that is a myth.  I think it's pretty. I also don't have any plans of breeding my chickens. I just got them for the egg laying and entertainment. Are you saying the all black one looks more correct? She has white on her wing feathers which I heard is undesirable. Mossy Molly has more feathers on her legs. Mary's feathers for some reason are considerably more soft. Not sure if soft feathers is a trait of BCMs?

Young BCM will have a good amount of white feathers on them, they should grow in all black adult feathers to replace the white ones. The black one is much closer to the SOP than the mossy one, but it doesnt matter at all if they are not being used as breeders. If you like the mossy one better, that is perfectly okay. I was just stating that , according to the SOP, she is not the "nicer" bird. The reason a breeder doesnt want mossyness in their birds is because the color is not considered black breasted red, and thus is not a true Black Copper Marans.

 

[RoostersCrow HensDeliver!]

So I have 2 black copperhead marans. Roo, or hen?

[/IMG]

Are you sure on the age of the birds? I mean, did you just buy them or did you raise them from chicks?
The one on the left is a young cockeral. The one on the right looks like an adult hen to me, but if if its only 11.5 wks old then it is a male as well.

 

[chocol8bikini]

I bought them at 2 days old from the breeder. They are both the same age. Anyone want a rooster?

 

[gapey]

It's another week gone by and they are now 6 weeks old. I noticed Mary, if the sun is shining on her just right, has a little bit of a greenish blue tinge to some of her black wing feathers. They are nearly fully feathered and I have turned off the heat lamp. They survived their first night without heat in the garage last night. Not much longer I will be able to put them outside. I will probably wait another week or two. The Easter Eggers are not growing as fast and have probably another week or two before they are fully feathered.

 

[Bazy]

It's another week gone by and they are now 6 weeks old. I noticed Mary, if the sun is shining on her just right, has a little bit of a greenish blue tinge to some of her black wing feathers. They are nearly fully feathered and I have turned off the heat lamp. They survived their first night without heat in the garage last night. Not much longer I will be able to put them outside. I will probably wait another week or two. The Easter Eggers are not growing as fast and have probably another week or two before they are fully feathered.

Unbelievable how fast they are growing! Mine have an iridescent hue also. I have been amazed at how fast the Marans grow compared to the Cream Legbars and Ameraucanas! Twice as fast! Just love Mossy Molly's colors and Mary has a really nice body shape!

 

[gapey]

Here we are at Week 7. I think I will be putting them outside the weekend before Thanksgiving. They seem to be coping well without any light/heat in the garage at around 45 degrees. You can see a little bit of the green tint in Mary's black feathers. I've been rubbing some VetRX on their beaks as they've been doing a little sniffling and sneezing for the past couple weeks. It seems to be helping.

 

[Bazy]

Here we are at Week 7. I think I will be putting them outside the weekend before Thanksgiving. They seem to be coping well without any light/heat in the garage at around 45 degrees. You can see a little bit of the green tint in Mary's black feathers. I've been rubbing some VetRX on their beaks as they've been doing a little sniffling and sneezing for the past couple weeks. It seems to be helping.

It's so cool to see them one week at a time! The rate of growth is amazing! I've got some Marans chicks right now that are the same size as Cream Legbars and they are two weeks younger!

 

[gapey]

This is probably the last of these types of portrait shots I'll do of these two. I dunno maybe I'll do another one when they are full grown but they aren't changing much from week to week now. This week Mary's comb and face seem to be a darker shade of pink. Not sure if that's normal or not. Molly's is still a light pink. My BCM's are much easier to handle than my Easter Eggers of the same age. Which is the opposite of when they were younger. Molly continues to be my best model in front of the camera. They will be taken to their outside home this week and out of the garage. Hope they enjoy the great outdoors.