black copper vs. wheaten marans...more questions, they hatched!

[silverfilly]

I have 14 eggs in the bator from Bev. they are a mix of colors from blk copper, wheaten, and her blue line. So could end up with solid blacks as well. How can I tell the differenc between the black chicks, wheaten chicks, and blk copper chicks? or should I seperate them as they hatch to keep them seperet?

any ideas?? Thanks

 

[KKluckers]

I just got my eggs from Bev today. I have two diffrent blue lines. Im going to separate by which line they are from. Im also going to separate by who hatches from the darkest eggs. I have a hatching basket in my sportsman that is for emu eggs(8 seperate baskets) so I can do this easily. You could use strawberry plastic containers if you have a smaller bator. I would at least mark the babies who come form the darkest eggs, so you know for future breeding purposes, if you wanted to do that.

 

[Katy]

I make little cardboard "walls" to divide my incubator. I duct tape the ends to the sides of the incubator. My BC roo was black at the beginning, but then started getting the copper coloring in his neck. I agree you should keep track of who hatched from the darkest eggs and then only use them in your breeding program.

 

[MNKris]

Black Coppers and Blacks will be mostly black. Wheatens are a light fluffy yellow color so they will be easy to tell. The blues will be a lighter gray. The only struggle will be the Black Coppers vs Blacks until they are a little older.

 

[MaransGuy]

There's a few problems with only hatching/breeding from the darkest eggs. The color of a marans' egg will vary during her laying cycle, getting lighter and darker, etc... Some hens will lay a darker egg for a longer period of time than others. These are the hens that are good to hatch from. Now, when you have eggs arrive from a breeder, you have no idea if that really dark egg is just a really, really good egg from a so-so hen, nor do you know if the egg that is a bit lighter is just a really bad one from an excellent hen. I was actually talking with Bev a short time ago about this very thing and she even suggested that there is evidence that good egg color can even skip a generation and it is possible to get excellent color from a paler egg. I had told her of my plans to hatch only from my darkest eggs and she warned against it. Lastly, it appears that roosters that come from dark egg lines are the most valuable for improving egg color over time. Hope this helps!

Richard

 

[Katy]

Richard, I find what Bev said about good color skipping a generation interesting since I think my younger hens are laying a darker egg than their mothers have laid in the past or are now. I know these young ones are laying a darker egg than they were hatched from. I've been hatching the darker eggs and it will be interesting to see what happens when they reach laying age.

 

[silverfilly]

My marans have hatched, but it seems they may have been marked wrong? so I really dont know what I have anymore, 2 were marked wheat but only one chick is yellow, the other 1 is black, of the blues looks like blues and blacks, but that was expected. all the wheatens and blues hatched for 8 chicks, but the black coppers have not been so lucky, I have only 2 of the six hatch alive, 2 died in their shells after pipping and starting to zip (one was piping on the small end) 1 I thought was clear anyway but I was not 100% sure so I left in and it has not hatched and the last copper I heard peeping yesterday but it has yet to pip. One of the 2 hatched coppers has deformed feet.

So it looks like out 6 copper marans I have one healthy chick, is the black coppers harder to hatch? Just woundering becouse 100% of the other collors from the same breeder and shiped in the same box and incubated in the same bater hatched.

Last question, On the wheatens is that ressesive? or dominate? what would happen if I bred it back to the blues, seems the blues are the only ones I got a good hatch from.

Thanks Kimberly

 

[hcammack]

when you have "BLUE" birds some will hatch black, blue, and splash. I think that wheatons the makes are dark or black and the females will be tan I am not sure though. I am enviouse I wish I could have some good quality marans.

Henry

 

[mergmet]

personally, I would keep and breed any chick hatched from Bev unless I was not working with that feather color. She won't sell you eggs that she is not happy with the shell color on. Richard is right, the egg color varies throughout the laying cycle.

I would make a bet that any egg from Bev will have excellent egg color.

I have copper black and I actually find them easier to hatch than some other breeds. Maybe they had a rough trip through the mail. I find all the marans I hatch to be pretty vigorous and lively right from the start.

Wish you had done better with the copper blacks, whoever said you may have to wait to tell the difference in the black and copper black was right on.

If you have any way of marking the chicks it might be a good idea. Not all copper black hens will show the neck color, but that doesn't mean they are black

good luck!

Margaret

 

[MNKris]

Silverfilly - from my experience, all wheatens should be yellow. You might want to ask Bev. She would be able to tell you for sure. She's also a great one to ask about crosses between blue and wheaten.

I know wheaten must be recessive to BC because I have repeatedly heard people say "my BC throws a wheaton which every once in a while". That says it must be hidden/recessive.