Changing out roosters (FBCM)

[crj]

I have some French Black Copper Maran birds. I was thinking of selling my older rooster and keeping a younger one. Not because of age but because a couple of the younger roosters have more copper then gold in there feathers. I'm looking for darker eggs from girls. I've never done any breeding so this is new to me. I really don't plan on breeding but I would like girls that will lay a darker egg.

this is the rooster I was thinking of selling. He is a good rooster to the hens. Just has a lot of gold in his feathers.

One of the younger roosters I was thinking of keeping.

This is another but he has a lot of gold as well.

I don't have pictures of the other younger roosters at the moment. Just wanted some input on this.

 

[enggass]

About how old are the younger roos?

 

[crj]

About how old are the younger roos?

They are almost 4 months old. They were hatched at the end of August.​

 

[enggass]

Curious, are they crowing a lot yet?
Sorry I can't help you with your other question. I am somewhat new to this. I will be hatching some eggs in the spring(some of which will be CBMs) and am trying to gauge the age of roosters and their crowing habits so as I know when to re-home or process...
Thanks,
Steve

 

[crj]

Curious, are they crowing a lot yet?

Yes, they are crowing. They are also trying to mount the hens now. Getting a bit aggressive around here. I'm trying to get rid of my roosters but no one wants them....... ugh. Tried to list them on Craigslist yesterday but the ad never came up. I'm really thinking of selling my big roo for a younger darker one.​

 

[crj]

I would like your thoughts on changing my adult roo that has more gold in his feathers for a younger roo with more copper.

 

[Illia]

Having too much gold is a physical properties/SOP issue, not an egg color issue.

But, I would agree, the cockerel in pic#2 is the better of the three to keep.

If you want darker eggs, usually more coppering/mossiness does help, but far as my experience goes - the color of it (gold vs true copper) doesn't affect it much. If we want to talk SOP, the color is indeed a fault that #2 can solve, but the tail is something none of them are going to help with. (it is far too big, and will get bigger as they mature)

 

[crj]

If we want to talk SOP, the color is indeed a fault that #2 can solve,

What is SOP? Something to do with showing a bird? I really don't plan on showing. I love the tails on these birds....... lol. It's not a great picture of the first bird. He is the adult . When he stands up he looks so proud. How would I go about getting darker eggs?​