Blue Copper and Splash Copper Marans Discussion

[Runawaylobster]

not going to hurt to try. I had a roo with copper on his chest and didn't get pullets with copper. my roos I got from pinkchicks flock the Luther blue roo he gave me lots of compared pullets. he had that halo effects in his hackles. not sure if that is what put the copper in them or not.

Hmm maybe i should see if Pink is willing to part with some hatching eggs, The F1 i have were sired by Blue, and he has plenty of copper but still nothing in the girls. The dark blue color came from a pullet that I don't have any more so i have to be careful not to lose it. It is weird where the copper goes to? there must be something that is preventing it from being expressed, wish i knew what it was. As an aside, they are all laying nice dark eggs though.

 

[DMRippy]

I don't know if pinks flock could make a roo like I had anymore. she has lost the copper in her pullets too. she has made some big changes to her birds.

wish I still had her roos. I was going to breed them back to their daughters this year....might have set the copper in them for further breeding. who knows though.

 

[Blue Roo]

Got a question I have a young cockerel he has a lot of copper on his wings and chest is this good thing to have in a rooster for breeding blue copper hens does the gene come from the rooster or hen thanks

 

[Blue Roo]

this is a picture of the roo I was talking about in the last post

 

[Runawaylobster]

Here are the dark blue girls with no leg feathers and no copper,
but i really love their blue color...

 

[pinkchick]

Hi! Wanted to drop by and see if I can get some comments on these two girls. They are the first generation of my dark egg project and have taken me from 4/5's to 5/6's, so I'll be a while working on it. Being that it's just an egg project I'm not supposed to care so much about the bird, right? Problem is I do. I'm really partial to the first girl and think a lot of her. The older one that's laying I like but not as much as the younger. My initial thought on the younger girl has too short of a back, but what do I know, Anyway,just looking for some thoughts, please.

Noy yet laying.









Laying a couple of weeks now.

Hi Slick! Hope you are well!

Personally, I would single test mate both of these females to a nice male that has good copper coloration. I like them both and I can see why you are partial to the first pullet photo'd, though I would think that the second pullet might give you offspring with more copper when crossed back to a male with good copper. Secondly, nothing wrong with being fond of your birds and liking what you have in your yard. For me, this is an essential part of breeding.

How is your egg color? Are you happy with what your girls are producing?

 

[pinkchick]

Hmm  maybe i should see if Pink is willing to part with some hatching eggs,  The F1 i have were sired by Blue, and he has plenty of copper but still nothing in the girls. The dark blue color came from a pullet that I don't have any more so i have to be careful not to lose it.  It is weird where the copper goes to?   there must be something that is preventing it from being expressed,  wish i knew what it was.    As an aside, they are all laying nice dark eggs though.

I don't know if pinks flock could make a roo like I had anymore. she has lost the copper in her pullets too. she has made some big changes to her birds.

wish I still had her roos. I was going to breed them back to their daughters this year....might have set the copper in them for further breeding. who knows though.

Runaway~ If I had eggs I would happily share them, but alas, I have not seen an egg in a very long time and now of course they are molting. :/ This has been the worst year I have experienced with my Marans and their laying, have no clue as to why. Hoping they snap out of it.

Also as Donna has stated, I made some very large changes to my flock and have been (egg availability permitting) pairing up and single mating birds to see how the changes have affected what my birds produce. With the void of eggs this year it has been very slow going. I like Donna, also wish that I still had some of my original birds to monkey around with, but in my inexperience, I made some hasty culling decisions and have kicked myself since. However, I took away more from my mistakes by learning from them vs. the loss of the birds that were culled. I now take more time to evaluate what I have and how I am going to reach my next goal through lots of thought and planning......then the wait and see game starts.

 

[pinkchick]

Got a question I have a young cockerel he has a lot of copper on his wings and chest is this good thing to have in a rooster for breeding blue copper hens does the gene come from the rooster or hen thanks

Please advise us of the age of the cockerel, this will help us when giving suggestions or offering opinions. Age plays a factor with final plumage color and how a bird may turn out upon maturity.

Also, when you say "has a lot of copper on the chest"....please define " a lot" or even more helpful when looking for assistance, post a photo if possible.

 

[Blue Roo]

. Hello all went out to my chicken yard and my young black copper marans laid me my second egg she has two sisters who are not maturing at all don't understand all that that are all the same age but she is the only one that is laying my older marans are at the end of the molt they have the new feathers but no eggs from them yet either

 

[slick4591]

Hi Slick! Hope you are well!

Personally, I would single test mate both of these females to a nice male that has good copper coloration. I like them both and I can see why you are partial to the first pullet photo'd, though I would think that the second pullet might give you offspring with more copper when crossed back to a male with good copper. Secondly, nothing wrong with being fond of your birds and liking what you have in your yard. For me, this is an essential part of breeding.

How is your egg color? Are you happy with what your girls are producing?

Hi Pink! Thanks for responding! Everything is going pretty well around here and I hope it's the same with you.

I will mate these girls back to their dad and he has tons of color. You might remember that this guy is the Osio rooster i had shipped to me. The one girl that's laying is giving me eggs in the 5/6 range. That's a good change from what the hens were giving me. Really surprised how he has improved the birds and the eggs.