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

[chickiesmommy]

So there's no hope?
At all? She's so friendly too.
I won't consider anything until she crows.

 

[One Chick Two]

So there's no hope?

At all? She's so friendly too.
I won't consider anything until she crows.

I'm sorry... Zero chance of a female here. I know you are attached...my all time favorite birds are almost always roosters. Our males when young are always the friendliest, most affectionate and outgoing of their flock of youngsters too. (They get attention daily, so they tend to stay sweet when grown as well.)

Pullets do not get this kind of large, overcolored chest leakage at 5 weeks of age, only males. And the very few (rare) females who get any overcolor after a few months, tend only get a few tiny, usually roundish spots after the hackle comes in... or, having chest color shafting from color issues- or, all over mossiness. Daisy does not have feather shafting.

This is one of our roos at 6 months. See the same copper chest leakage? This is what your boy will have on his chest.



Here he is close to the same age as Daisy, possibly a week or so older.



Won't be long, and you'll see tiny saddle feathers (top, left) and wing bow feathers starting to break through, too.


This is an "overcolored" pullet at 4 months old (not to be confused with "mossiness"- none of these birds shown are mossy.) Notice the copper leakage on her chest is very small, and is centered around where he hackle would be in front.

Also, compare the size of her wattles and comb at 4 months to Daisy's growth now.



Sorry...

 

[catiejd]

Here is an update. "She" is now 5 weeks old. Still looking like a she?

 

[One Chick Two]

Here is an update. "She" is now 5 weeks old. Still looking like a she?

Hi... At this time, my vote is that this little one looks exactly like a pullet.

She has the smallish comb and virtually nonexistent wattles, with wing, tail and back looking pretty filled in as most of the time the pullets do at this age.

 

[chickengr]

So there's no hope?

At all? She's so friendly too.
I won't consider anything until she crows.

really hard to tell. is this chick pure bcm? I had one pullet that probably was mixed with wheaten marans so she was overcoloured. I had a mystery NN chick that at 5 weeks had comb and wattles like daisy. luckily she turned to be a pullet. but my buff orpington is a boy. you are going to have 3 longest weeks I suppose, lol.

 

[chickengr]

Here is an update. "She" is now 5 weeks old. Still looking like a she?

looks like girl to me.

 

[One Chick Two]

really hard to tell. is this chick pure bcm? I had one pullet that probably was mixed with wheaten marans so she was overcoloured. I had a mystery NN chick that at 5 weeks had comb and wattles like daisy. luckily she turned to be a pullet. but my buff orpington is a boy. you are going to have 3 longest weeks I suppose, lol.

chickengr,

Your BCM X eWh was mossy, having overcoloring spots, more like these BCM X eWh hen and pullet, correct? No large spots of copper chest leakage?

 

[harmesonfarm]

am i able to get any confirmation that these are BCM? thanks!

This one's lily:



this one's our Roo Gimpy:



This one's Amber:




Thanks! Also, suspecting that these are about 8 weeks old? is that right?

 

[One Chick Two]

am i able to get any confirmation that these are BCM? thanks!

This one's lily:



this one's our Roo Gimpy:



This one's Amber:




Thanks! Also, suspecting that these are about 8 weeks old? is that right?

Age looks about right... Did you get these together from the same flock or hatching eggs?

Lily and Amber may very well may be BCM- they do look it to me at this time. You won't know for sure until they lay dark eggs, and show their adult coloring, type and bay-colored eyes. No one appears to have a peacomb- which is a good thing. Does Amber have reddish flecking down her chest, or is this the light?

Your cockerel, Gimpy, I believe possibly MAY be a BCM X Wheaten cross. He has a large amount of early copper chest leakage, plus very pale shanks- signs of possibly being crossed between the varieties. If he is related to the pullets, and he is crossed, then they likely may be as well.
It is fine for backyard birds and pretty eggs to be crossed if that's what you have in mind- but you do not want to breed on crossed birds and sell them.

Here is a BCM X eWH cockerel about 6 months old. Look at his overcolored chest and very pale shanks. He did not express copper on the lower wing.
Watch Gimpy as he ages and see if he colors out somewhat like this fellow. If he does (but looks exceptionally nice) and you plan to breed these birds to sell, he (and they) may need test mating to prove out their Golden Birchen base is solid before breeding or starting over

 

[harmesonfarm]

Age looks about right... Did you get these together from the same flock or hatching eggs?

Lily and Amber may very well may be BCM- they do look it to me at this time. You won't know for sure until they lay dark eggs, and show their adult coloring, type and bay-colored eyes. No one appears to have a peacomb- which is a good thing. Does Amber have reddish flecking down her chest, or is this the light?

Your cockerel, Gimpy, I believe possibly MAY be a BCM X Wheaten cross. He has a large amount of early copper chest leakage, plus very pale shanks- signs of possibly being crossed between the varieties. If he is related to the pullets, and he is crossed, then they likely may be as well.
It is fine for backyard birds and pretty eggs to be crossed if that's what you have in mind- but you do not want to breed on crossed birds and sell them.

Here is a BCM X eWH cockerel about 6 months old. Look at his overcolored chest and very pale shanks. He did not express copper on the lower wing.
Watch Gimpy as he ages and see if he colors out somewhat like this fellow. If he does (but looks exceptionally nice) and you plan to breed these birds to sell, he (and they) may need test mating to prove out their Golden Birchen base is solid before breeding or starting over

Thanks!
Amber does have some copper leakage all over, particularly in the chest and neck, on tips of the feathers. Though after the last week, it seems like a lot of the extra coppering is starting to fizzle out and more black appear on the body feathers than there was originally.
Lily appears to be more black with very little to no copper showing, though i have seen other BCM hens have that? Or are they always supposed to have coppering on their necks? I have another two that are very similar looking to her, but smaller. One does not have the same feathering on the feet though...

They all came from the same farmer, but they were unsure of what eggs produced what chicks / from which hens. It was all a guessing game really but they did say it was a BCM Roo for sure who fertilized the eggs that they all came from. They said they did have BCM hens in the batch but were unable to say...

Here is another one of gimpy from the front, so his colouring is too much copper for him to be a true BCM? We are mostly keeping these chickens for ourselves and eggs, but was hoping to be able to use Gimpy to fertilize eggs so we can start hatching our own chicks! Perhaps we'll just end up having mutts for the most part, and either sell chicks advertised as such...