Cuckoo vs Black Copper Marans question

[Tala]

Are Cuckoo Marans and Black Copper Marans REALLY just different colors of the same breed???

I'm not really buying it.
My Cuckoo Marans are really really small birds, like Leghorn sized (definitely LF, just small)
My BCMs wowza, my March pullets are at least as big, if not bigger than my year-old BO hens - and I thought BOs were a fairly big breed!

I always just kinda brushed it off that the CMs were 2 weeks younger.....but dang, by the time they are 6 months old there shouldn't be that big of size difference. Must be a breed difference.
Are Cuckoo Marans even really Marans??

 

[chicken_china_mom]

They are two different colors of the same breed. I have BCM's and I have CM rooster, and let me tell you, my CM rooster easily weights 12 lbs. He's massive! He's tall, robust, and stunning to look at. MY BCM's are still juveniles, but they are already big too. I have an 11 week old pullet that easily weights 2 lbs already, she's huge! If your CM's are little, give them some time. I've been told that Marans can be late bloomers and can take longer to grow and fill out, so it may just be that your birds need a little more time to grow. I know my CM roo was about a year before he was completely filled out and had all his gorgeous plumage in. He's a Silver CM, so to me his colors are even more stunning that the typical CM barring. I say give your birds some more time. I bet they surprise you. One question, where did you get your Marans from? A hatchery or a breeder? All my birds are breeder stock which I think makes a big difference. Do you have pictures of your birds?

 

[Tala]

The CMs that I have came from Chicky Tocks here on BYC, not sure where she got them but her adult birds were also small.

The BCMs I got on Craigslist and supposedly they are from Davis lines, but really how much does that really tell you?

I don't have any recent pictures, just from when they were younger back in June

this is one of my two CM girls

and this is one of my 3 BCM girls

 

[chicken_china_mom]

And how many months old are they now? I do believe Marans, no matter the color, are suppose to be around 9 to 10 lbs for hens, and around 12 lbs for the full grown roos, but it can take them awhile to reach that size. I don't know why your CM pullets are so small. You should ask Chickytocks where she got her birds from. Everyone gets their birds somewhere, right? I've seem CM hens in person and those girls are BIG. They have to be to take on those massive roos! With my BCM's my oldest pullet and cockerel, for a long time the pullet was bigger, but the cockerel has finally started to put on some substantial height and he's now a few inches taller than her. He's still filling out though and not near as big as he will be. My CM roo stands about 20 inches tall, maybe taller. I'm 5'8 and he comes to just above my knee to give you an idea. So I expect my BCM roo to be that big too. I don't have any adult Marans hens right now, but I sure got to see plenty in the 4-H fair. Got to pet a big beautiful girl too. Sweet girls they are. All I can say is, if Chickytocks birds were small, then yours will be too, but to my knowledge, they are suppose to be a large, robust bird. Maybe someone more knowledgeable will come along and have more sage advice. Here is a picture of my CM roo so you get an idea of how big he is. My daughter that's holding him is 11 and stands 5 ft tall:


This is Mystery. He appears to carry both the Silver and the Golden gene. He's quite stunning to look at, and very gentle:

 

[geebs]

Same bird... You are seeing different "lines" They can sure look different huh?

 

[crj]

chicken_china_mom, that is a big rooster! Beautiful too. I have FBCM, BCM and BM and they are the size of Tala's birds. The rooster is fairly big but no where near 12 lbs. What are you feeding them?!?!?! Three of mine are around 9 months old. I'm not sure I'm awful with keeping up with the ages. I also have 5 that are maybe 4 months. Do you have pictures of you hens? They seem to be really big too.

 

[chicken_china_mom]

My girls are all about 5 1/2 months old and younger, so they are still growing, but here is a pic:


This is Odette. At the moment she's my oldest, hatched out April 7th. To give you an idea of how big she is, she weights around 4 lbs right now and the babies she is standing next to are BCM and Blue Marans, and they hatched July 7th. Odette is a beautiful girl, well on her way to being a BIG girl. She hatched from a beautiful chocolate egg and I can't wait for her to start laying. I probably have another month or two before she does. The next batch of girls hatched in June, and then there are chicks that hatched in July. I have 3 BCM pullets, 3 Blue pullets, and a Blue Copper pullet. They're all good sized girls though.
Odette:

Here is my BCM cockerel, Pierre:

He's already about half the size of my CM roo and weights probably 5 lbs.

When I chose what breeders to go with, I chose breeders with big, healthy, feather legged birds. I'm quite proud of my birds. They'd weight more but they do sort of free range, so they get a lot of exercise.

 

[Tala]

I tried my darndest to get a current pic (about 6 months old) of the Cuckoo and in EVERY one of them she ran at the last moment and blurred herself into oblivion....

It was getting a little dark and I was only using my phone, but here's the CM girl behind two of the BCM ladies

 

[Tala]

Here we go. The BR on the left is a full 6 weeks younger than the CM on the right

 

[chicken_china_mom]

They do look small. I dunno. Were you planning to show them? You might want to see if anyone has a copy of the Poultry Standard of Perfection and see if your birds meet the correct criteria for a CM. You won't find your BCM's in there yet, but you should be able to gauge their weight about the same as what a CM should weight. I'd buy a copy of the book myself, except it's nearly $90!