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

[chickengr]

Hi all! Thought I'd join the fun here. I have two BCM chicks, both 15 days old today. Got them at a local farm store at 2 days, supposedly sexed at the hatchery (not sure which hatchery). One BCM chick is the largest of my 5 (possibly soon to be overtaken by my Cinnamon Queen), and the other BCM is my smallest. They're quite different, and for a while I thought the big one was gonna be a roo, but based on what I've seen in this wonderful thread, I'm still thinking they are both girls.

Here they are:


Jackie (the big one) is in front, Misha (little one) in back.



Jackie's feet are yellower on the toes, with less feathering.



Misha's feet are more pink-toned, with longer, blacker feathers.



Jackie



Misha, with Mochuela the EE in the bin below.

I'm not seeing evidence of any color on either of them yet. Jackie's tail feathers came in early and fast. Here's a top-side pic:


All 5 of my chicks are just for eggs, but if I do end up with a roo I will probably keep him until or unless Better Half can't stand the crowing, or the neighbors complain.

please keep us posted. there are a lot of learners here!

 

[chickengr]

That's very good news! These chicks from what I can see look good- as they should look.

They should always have white on the faces, near the cheeks. No all black faced chicks. That's usually always an early sign of eWH.

If their parents were split (if you look up Punnet Squares- used to predict an outcome of a particular cross or breeding experiment to determine the probability of an offspring having a particular genotype.) you will find some will be pure chicks (some crosses, etc), even from a mating such as that. So your adult birds may be some of the pure young, while the laced girl was not.

You'll know if something is going on if you start seeing red breakthrough on the wings of chicks, or a blonde or brown chick, etc, shows up eventually.

I have just checked on my new born hatched by a muscovie duck. the chick has a copper spot on the left side on the head, next to the comb. I think she is a girl. from what you said before it seems my adults are not pure for colour. what colour can I expect when/if the chick grows up? I hope the duck will manage to grow it. it seems that the other eggs will not hatch.

 

[Clio320i]

please keep us posted. there are a lot of learners here!

Of course!

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of good photos of these two from when they were younger. Somehow my other chicks got all the attention. I do have this one from a week ago, though. It's a little hard to tell, but if you look closely you can see that the BCM chick on the left (Misha) is smaller, and has less tail than the larger one on the right (Jackie). Jackie's tail is hard to see because the SLW chick's head is right underneath it, but it's definitely much bigger than Misha's. Jackie also has always had bigger legs/feet.



Another interesting thing I noticed about these two is that on both of them, their outermost toe is significantly shorter than the outermost toes of all the other chicks. I also noticed that they both took a little longer than the others to really master balancing on things, and landing precisely on things when they jump/fly. I attribute that at least in part to that short toe.

You can really see it in this pic of Misha. Look at the relative length of that outer toe (with all the feathers) to her middle toe, and then compare that to the EE chick below her in the brooder.





Is that a normal Marans thing or do I just have weirdos here?

 

[tworockchicken]

Of course!

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of good photos of these two from when they were younger. Somehow my other chicks got all the attention. I do have this one from a week ago, though. It's a little hard to tell, but if you look closely you can see that the BCM chick on the left (Misha) is smaller, and has less tail than the larger one on the right (Jackie). Jackie's tail is hard to see because the SLW chick's head is right underneath it, but it's definitely much bigger than Misha's. Jackie also has always had bigger legs/feet.



Another interesting thing I noticed about these two is that on both of them, their outermost toe is significantly shorter than the outermost toes of all the other chicks. I also noticed that they both took a little longer than the others to really master balancing on things, and landing precisely on things when they jump/fly. I attribute that at least in part to that short toe.

You can really see it in this pic of Misha. Look at the relative length of that outer toe (with all the feathers) to her middle toe, and then compare that to the EE chick below her in the brooder.





Is that a normal Marans thing or do I just have weirdos here?

My little BCM roo also has a short third toe, compared to the middle one. His bator-mate, an American Bresse has a much longer third toe, or whatever you call the one next to the pinkie toe.

Wasn't sure if my guy had some kind of minor deformity - glad to see yours has the same thing!

And yes, yours look like pullets, especially compared to my precocious little roo. The minute he turned 15 days old he sprouted a pink comb and wattles!

Here he is at 15 days:


And here he is at four weeks. His mama may have "splash" coloration - he's showing quite a few white feathers on his chest now.

 

[tworockchicken]

Not sure if I explained the toe thing very well, so here are some pictures.

Bresse toes:



Maran toes - notice how relatively stumpy his little feather-toe is:

 

[Clio320i]

Totally see exactly what you mean, tworockchicken. It's like the toe length gets allocated to feathers instead of toe!

Can't wait to see what your little dude looks like all grown up - I bet he'll be a pretty one!

 

[kmfehrer2]

Opinions please! "She" is around 4 weeks now. Boy or girl?? Feathered fast but also is huge with thick legs and big feet!

 

[junebuggena]

Opinions please! "She" is around 4 weeks now. Boy or girl?? Feathered fast but also is huge with thick legs and big feet!

Still too young to be sure, but that comb is very girly.

 

[chickengr]

Opinions please! "She" is around 4 weeks now. Boy or girl?? Feathered fast but also is huge with thick legs and big feet!

looks like girl. my boy had a huge comb at 2 weeks only!

 

[tworockchicken]

looks like girl. my boy had a huge comb at 2 weeks only!

Same! Big furry feet and legs seems to be a Marans thing. That comb is very pullety, compared to how my Marans roo was.