french black copper marrans

[Sillystunt]

Ok, sorry if in wrong spot! I found a lady (local)who has eggs(fertile) and they are 5 bucks a piece. her birds are beautiful and came from a breeder in NC. Do you think 5 per egg is a good deal? I am gonna get 5 of them to hatch.
Here birds have the feathering on the feet and all. Is there anything i should look for?

 

[onthespot]

That is my normal selling price. Right now I am discounting heavily for shipped eggs due to the weather. Things to look for... Have you seen her birds?
I would read the CBM standard first. I would avoid roosters with too much copper on their chests. I would avoid hens that look sort of golden partridge on their breasts. I would look for hens with well shaped combs, straight toes, with the outer toe same lenth as the innermost toe. Getting really picky here, in a perfect world I would avoid a bird which the outer toe does not point down to the ground and wear off normally. If the toenail sticks straight out and is small and straight, pass. There are foot issues with CBM's involving fused two outer toes, as well as badly shortened outside toes. Count the points in the rooster's comb. Supposed to be five points. Does the comb hug the contour of the head? Are his eyes reddish/orangey as opposed to black. Does he have mahogany feathers on the bow of his wings? Dark legs preferred. Are his hackles and saddle feathers truly copper? Avoid dark mahogany and gold tinted hackles. There shouldn't be white feathers in the wings and preferably none on the foot feathers too. Those can come in later, or be there earlier on and then disappear from what I have seen. Do their tail set out at a 45 degree angles? Squirrel tail (curled up over the back) are serious faults and extremely hard to breed out. Do the hens have sufficient copper on their necks as to be recognizeable from several paces away from the bird? Also, temperament. They are supposed to be gentle, manageable birds, ESPECIALLY the roosters. Hens should not be flighty.
They should lay DARK eggs.

 

[monarc23]

them having feathers on their shanks is great!

I would also make sure to look at the adults leg and eye color, leg color can be grey and or pink should NOT be yellow. Eyes should be almost a firey orange/red not yellow.

Egg color should be atleast a 4 on the french marans egg chart if it's lower than that it's NOT considered a marans if the breeders birds aren't laying 4s or higher, ask if they have eggs saved that were 4s saving egg shells is a common practice in marans breeders to show proof that they DO lay 4s or more every egg layed does not have to be a 4 or higher, but they have to every now and then lay a 4 or higher to be considered a marans

http://marans-club.club.fr/ncuiang.htm#NCUI <--should help

as should this:
http://marans-club.club.fr/echllang.htm#echelle


also, no $5 per egg is not a bad price if the birds are to the standard or close to it

There is no offical standard yet in the US so most follow the french standard

 

[Sillystunt]

She is super nice and i commited to 4 eggs but i might get more depending on my hatch of BLRW'S which isn't looking good!!

 

[onthespot]

If that is a young roo, he is nice, If he is already a year old he is WAY scrawny. His tail looks very correct. Color looks good. Comb looks good. My eyes are not good enough to see the eye color. Feet look good. So does the foot feathering. If that is a full grown roo... eh! I don't think I could get past the slight build, but that's just me. Mine looked slender like that and didn't start to fill out until eight or nine months old. He looks old enough to do the deed though... The hen is CUTE! I like her little tight comb, very well formed and shaped to her head. Nice wattles on her too! She is cute as a button! Neither one looks the least bit disturbed by photo day, so just on looks I'd give them a passing score on temperament. Four eggs won't give you much of a start. Marans eggs don't hatch the greatest in incubators anyhow, even if they are not shipped. I would pick up as many as you could afford and try to get a start that will get you up and running. Even to the point of holding a yard sale or part with some treasure on craigslist to help pay for a bigger batch of eggs. Remember, if you are LUCKY only half of them will be roosters. With four eggs, what if the odds are off by one! You get a single pullet and three roos, or worse. You need more eggs. Get a dozen if you can. I'm serious. Even with six of each, you will cull out most of those roos and maybe a pullet or two even by the time they have been laying a couple months.

 

[Chicks_N_Horses]

I agree with onthespot.

You will LOVE BCMs! I do and need more!!