Fire Ant Farm
Get off my lawn
OK, here's a weird question - this seems like perhaps a good place to ask it.
I ordered Blue Copper Maran chicks, and five of them are males on whom I have five weeks worth of weights. They are not all blue (not enough turned out that way in the hatch) - with the genetics of "blue", I ended up with three blue, one black, and one splash. The breeder said that the black ones (there's also a black pullet) have different parents, but the splash copper maran has same parents and the blues.
Here's the thing. The black one is significantly smaller, and the splash one is significantly larger, with the blues in the middle. The splash is impressive enough to be "running" with the German New Hampshire size/weights (on the low-ish end), at a respectable 4.25 lbs at 13 weeks. I wasn't planning on keeping any CM cockerels, but he has me reconsidering...
This graph has weights in oz from 9 through 13 weeks. The orange lines are GNHs, the red is the splash CM, the blues are Blue CM, and black is Black CM. (The light grey at the top is my main NN flock rooster Severus Snape at the same ages, though he grew up in the fall).
Does anyone know anything about the blue feather color system genes and differences in growth? Or is this just chance? (It's a small number of birds, but it made me want to ask...)
- Ant Farm
I ordered Blue Copper Maran chicks, and five of them are males on whom I have five weeks worth of weights. They are not all blue (not enough turned out that way in the hatch) - with the genetics of "blue", I ended up with three blue, one black, and one splash. The breeder said that the black ones (there's also a black pullet) have different parents, but the splash copper maran has same parents and the blues.
Here's the thing. The black one is significantly smaller, and the splash one is significantly larger, with the blues in the middle. The splash is impressive enough to be "running" with the German New Hampshire size/weights (on the low-ish end), at a respectable 4.25 lbs at 13 weeks. I wasn't planning on keeping any CM cockerels, but he has me reconsidering...
This graph has weights in oz from 9 through 13 weeks. The orange lines are GNHs, the red is the splash CM, the blues are Blue CM, and black is Black CM. (The light grey at the top is my main NN flock rooster Severus Snape at the same ages, though he grew up in the fall).
Does anyone know anything about the blue feather color system genes and differences in growth? Or is this just chance? (It's a small number of birds, but it made me want to ask...)
- Ant Farm
Last edited:
