Blue Copper and Splash Copper Marans Discussion

[The Point]

Tannis, thanks for posting the pictures on the thread. This last young male looks to have light colored legs. They should be a nice med slate color.

They are very light Don, I am finding the more copper, the lighter the legs with the ones I have. I kept this guy in hopes of test mating with my ladies with dark legs and no color. I am am keeping my fingers crossed that I don't end up with a bunch of birds with light legs and no copper

 

[gilavina]

what a quiet night in Marans land

 

[pinkchick]

Okay Blue Copper friends, I am going to put up a few photos of the birds I have left here in my pens. I would like for them to be used for all for learning purposes, so that anyone can learn from them...so please post what you all see, the good and the bad, from color problems to type problems, etc.

Apologies to those of you who already seen these photos.

This Splash Copper pullet is 8 mos. old.

Adding a top view of #1 Splash pullet.

This Blue Copper gal is 1.5 years old and I keep her because of her egg color and she is a beast...she is bigger than both of my males. She does not have anything on her comb...ie, sprigs, just too many points. Her eyes are darker colored, but I think that a couple of the photos show they aren't extremely dark.

This Splash Copper hen I keep because of her long back and her body width. She definitely has dark eyes.Has great shank and outer toe feathering. She lays a nice round egg and has given me some really nice offspring over the last 4 years.

Will have to get a few more photos of the males...they aren't as easy to photo as the girls are.
Medium toned Blue Copper male 2 years old.

Adding top view and tail view.

The dark one....he is out of Blue Copper matings. The above rooster is his father.

Adding top view and tail view of #5.

Sorry, I thought I had more photos of the 1st Splash Copper pullet, if more are needed to critique her successfully let me know and I will get some.

 

[gilavina]

Okay Blue Copper friends, I am going to put up a few photos of the birds I have left here in my pens. I would like for them to be used for all for learning purposes, so that anyone can learn from them...so please post what you all see, the good and the bad, from color problems to type problems, etc.

Apologies to those of you who already seen these photos.

This Splash Copper pullet is 8 mos. old.




This Blue Copper gal is 1.5 years old and I keep her because of her egg color and she is a beast...she is bigger than both of my males. She does not have anything on her comb...ie, sprigs, just too many points. Her eyes are darker colored, but I think that a couple of the photos show they aren't extremely dark.






This Splash Copper hen I keep because of her long back and her body width. She definitely has dark eyes.Has great shank and outer toe feathering. She lays a nice round egg and has given me some really nice offspring over the last 4 years.






Will have to get a few more photos of the males...they aren't as easy to photo as the girls are.
Medium toned Blue Copper male 2 years old.



The dark one....he is out of Blue Copper matings. The above rooster is his father.



Sorry, I thought I had more photos of the 1st Splash Copper pullet, if more are needed to critique her successfully let me know and I will get some.

still voting on that first male being your best chance of getting copper color over the splash girls. Love the heft on them !

 

[snowbird]

Okay Blue Copper friends, I am going to put up a few photos of the birds I have left here in my pens. I would like for them to be used for all for learning purposes, so that anyone can learn from them...so please post what you all see, the good and the bad, from color problems to type problems, etc.

Apologies to those of you who already seen these photos.

This Splash Copper pullet is 8 mos. old.




This Blue Copper gal is 1.5 years old and I keep her because of her egg color and she is a beast...she is bigger than both of my males. She does not have anything on her comb...ie, sprigs, just too many points. Her eyes are darker colored, but I think that a couple of the photos show they aren't extremely dark.






This Splash Copper hen I keep because of her long back and her body width. She definitely has dark eyes.Has great shank and outer toe feathering. She lays a nice round egg and has given me some really nice offspring over the last 4 years.






Will have to get a few more photos of the males...they aren't as easy to photo as the girls are.
Medium toned Blue Copper male 2 years old.



The dark one....he is out of Blue Copper matings. The above rooster is his father.



Sorry, I thought I had more photos of the 1st Splash Copper pullet, if more are needed to critique her successfully let me know and I will get some.

#1 Splash female
Nice type and overall shape
Very rectanguler
Not too much side fluff
nice chest
nice broad back entire length
could have a bit more leg feathering
Comb right size
Nice open tail

#2 Blue Copper Female
Tail little high
Open tail
Comb correct size
Not too much side fluff
Very nice broad chest

#3 Splash Female
Correct comb size
Broad chest
Broad back entire length


#4 Blue Copper Cock
Nice Blue color
Comb correct size
Wattles appear a little large, also the ear Lobes

#5 Dark Male son of #4
Very nice Marans Type
Just an all around nice Marans male
Would breed to #1 splash Marans female


These are all very nice Marans and should produce something worth feeding.

 

[pinkchick]

Thanks Vicki and Don.
Don~ I have more photos of the males, such as back shots and tail shots. Also have more of the first splash female. I will put them in the original post. Just have soooo many photos to look through to find them all.

One more thing Don....that #1 Splash pullet and that dark male are half siblings, same father but different mothers........still test mate them?

 

[pinkchick]

Also, yesterday I took the time to weigh these birds and I wasn't kidding when I said that the Blue Copper hen was larger than the boys...well until yesterday she was...now only one of the boys out weighs her.

Splash Pullet #1 - 5 lbs. 8 months old

Blue Copper hen #2 - 7 lbs. 1.5 years old

Splash Copper hen #3 - 5.5 lbs. 4 years old

Blue Copper Male #4 - 6.8 lbs. 2 years old

Dark Blue Copper Male #5 - 7.2 lbs. 11-12 months of age (can't remember exactly)

 

[gilavina]

Also, yesterday I took the time to weigh these birds and I wasn't kidding when I said that the Blue Copper hen was larger than the boys...well until yesterday she was...now only one of the boys out weighs her.

Splash Pullet #1 - 5 lbs. 8 months old

Blue Copper hen #2 - 7 lbs. 1.5 years old

Splash Copper hen #3 - 5.5 lbs. 4 years old

Blue Copper Male #4 - 6.8 lbs. 2 years old

Dark Blue Copper Male #5 - 7.2 lbs. 11-12 months of age (can't remember exactly)

those are some pretty nice weights lady! She sounds a lot like Luella in size department compared to the boys.
I seriously can't wait til its time to think about hatching. I'm not even going to think about it tho til we get the furnace situation taken care of.

 

[snowbird]

Thanks Vicki and Don.
Don~ I have more photos of the males, such as back shots and tail shots. Also have more of the first splash female. I will put them in the original post. Just have soooo many photos to look through to find them all.

One more thing Don....that #1 Splash pullet and that dark male are half siblings, same father but different mothers........still test mate them?

Kim, with amount of Blue Copper you have to work with I would single mate all of them and that way you can find out real quick if you are going to have a problem with any of them. Once you start single mating you will be on board with this style of breeding fowl. I would go ahead and try the #1 splash pullet with the young male.

 

[pinkchick]

Yeah, she's a chunker alright....she carries it well. LOL! The last time I weighed that dark cockerel he weighed in the same as his dad and that was about 3 mos. ago. I suspect he is not done adding bulk and weight. I seriously hope he follows in Bill's footsteps and weighs in just over 10 lbs, now that would be nice. I know it's too large for the breed but I am a sucker for the bigger lugs.

I am on pins and needles waiting to see what that Luella girl will give you.

Here's what I figured I can do with the single mating pens.....I can take Lil' Bill, #4 and put him back over Splash hen #3, Darryl and would hopefully get some Splash males out of them....they have produced nice Splash offspring in the past. Pullet #1 is a result, now if I could only get a nice Splash male out of them. By the way, when I was weighing them, I gave Splash #1 a nice once over......she has about 6 very nice spots of copper flecking in her hackle. The color of it is very nice...so if all goes well this will help add color back to the females as you suggested earlier.

While those 2 are together I could test that dark male over Splash #1, if the half sibling mating is okay.

Then the 3rd single mating I can do is the dark male over the Blue Copper hen and see what I get by way of nice medium toned blue copper offspring. Undoubtedly, they will not have much color on them..but if I can get a good Splash male, I could put him over her and create some more blues later on.

Off loading the Birchens right now will allow my budget and myself to grow out some more babies for the copper program.