How many roosters to start with?

[NatJ]

Off topic just slightly... @NatJ
Black Copper Marans Roo x SLW hen produces? I haven't thought of that cross until you just mentioned it. Is there a name for them or just BYM?

I do not think there is a specific name for a cross of Black Copper Marans rooster with Silver Laced Wyandotte hen.

The chicks should be sexlinks (gold daughters, silver sons), but they will also have a lot of black. There might be so much black that sexing by color is not actually practical (maybe not enough gold or silver visible.)

For mature coloring, probably not actually laced, but something sort-of like that, with more black. Daughters should still show gold, and sons show silver, although the sons will probably have red leakage in their shoulders when they grow up, and the "silver" on them will probably be yellowish rather than the nice clean white their mothers have.

Chicks should have rose combs, or a chance of single combs (because some Wyandottes have the not-rose comb gene). Soles of feet should be white (white from the Marans being dominant over yellow from the Wyandotte.)

Daughters will probably lay eggs darker than the Wyandotte mothers, but not as dark as full Marans.

 

[wrathsfarm]

I do not think there is a specific name for a cross of Black Copper Marans rooster with Silver Laced Wyandotte hen.

The chicks should be sexlinks (gold daughters, silver sons), but they will also have a lot of black. There might be so much black that sexing by color is not actually practical (maybe not enough gold or silver visible.)

For mature coloring, probably not actually laced, but something sort-of like that, with more black. Daughters should still show gold, and sons show silver, although the sons will probably have red leakage in their shoulders when they grow up, and the "silver" on them will probably be yellowish rather than the nice clean white their mothers have.

Chicks should have rose combs, or a chance of single combs (because some Wyandottes have the not-rose comb gene). Soles of feet should be white (white from the Marans being dominant over yellow from the Wyandotte.)

Daughters will probably lay eggs darker than the Wyandotte mothers, but not as dark as full Marans.

Thank you for the detailed explanation. That helps.

 

[Pumperkinz]

Are Marans good? I admit I haven't really done alot of research on them. I will definitely look into them though because I love the color of their eggs

My personal opinion as I'm very biased towards them.

The French Black Copper Marans hens tend to run the coop even over all the roosters I've had the hens keep at the top of the pecking order. They are also very adaptable to weather and resilient to stress. Also the eggs add a nice rich dark brown to your chicken rainbow.

They also have some beautiful variations now on them. I should be getting a few black coppers/blue coppers come next week and I'll post them in the forum. Maybe do a grow along if you wanted to follow and see .

 

[wrathsfarm]

My personal opinion as I'm very biased towards them.

The French Black Copper Marans hens tend to run the coop even over all the roosters I've had the hens keep at the top of the pecking order. They are also very adaptable to weather and resilient to stress. Also the eggs add a nice rich dark brown to your chicken rainbow.

They also have some beautiful variations now on them. I should be getting a few black coppers/blue coppers come next week and I'll post them in the forum. Maybe do a grow along if you wanted to follow and see .

I agree...
I'd like to follow along if you do a grow along thread.
I frequent the Marans thread if you haven't been there...lots of great info there.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ng-to-the-sop.1122465/page-2326#post-27452809

 

[Pumperkinz]

I agree...
I'd like to follow along if you do a grow along thread.
I frequent the Marans thread if you haven't been there...lots of great info there.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ng-to-the-sop.1122465/page-2326#post-27452809

I'll have to check this out! And definitely will I'll try to remember to ping you when I get some pics in .

 

[wrathsfarm]

I'll have to check this out! And definitely will I'll try to remember to ping you when I get some pics in .

I've got 13 due to hatch within the next day or 3 so I'll be posting pics there.. hopefully lots of boys to keep with this thread title.

 

[DarkAngel77]

Both my boys compete thru out the day back and forth but it's not constant, but I've had them both since day olds so their used to each other, now when I was raising a son up the crowing did get out of hand. That boy needed to crow constantly because I had him separated from pullets. The last 3 Olive Eggers cockerels I sold just as the crowing started.

I'm also fortunate enough to only have one neighbor and she loves the sound of roosters. The eggs I hope smooth it over ...
Always a toss up if one is going to crow after hours but keeping the coop dark from traffic lights/any lights helps.

Your doing good with all your planning, but always prepare for it to go off the rails. I have spare pens and coops available for this reason but I'm also dipping into the breeding world....

I'm hoping that maybe if I give my neighbors eggs that will help them overlook any noise the rooster(s) may make

Someone mentioned earlier in my post that having a secondary pen/coop would be a good idea, so I've been working out the details on that, trying to anyway because I have no idea how big it should be, I was thinking maybe big enough to fit 3-4 chickens, but I'm not sure if that's to big or to little, and trying to figure out if it should be close to the main coop/run or if it should be out of sight of the main coop? Also how long should I plan to use it if I have to pull the rooster from the hens, a day, week, month?

 

[DarkAngel77]

A Welsummer rooster can produce red sexlinks too, with some kinds of hens. Examples of hens that would work: Columbian Rock, Delaware, Silver Laced Wyandotte, Silver Spangled Hamburg. It doesn't work with hens that are all black, or ones that have much gold/red in their coloring, and usually doesn't work with all-white hens.


Yes, it can be fascinating!

I will definitely keep that in mind, incase I do get a welsummer rooster. It sounds like if I do ever want to breed some sexlinks a welsummer would likely be the best rooster for that. I've tried looking it up and haven't found any instances where a barred rock roo would be able to.

I do have a question, you seem like you know alot about this type of stuff (definitely more then I do). But would a welsummer rooster x cuckoo maran hen result in sexlinks? I know there is some difference as far as barred and cuckoo goes, but I'm curious if cuckoo would be able to make sexlinks the way a barred hen would?

 

[DarkAngel77]

I live in central Mississippi and I have some Orpington hens and an Orpington rooster. They are very sweet and calm birds and they don't seem to mind the humid and hot Mississippi summers.

View attachment 3733364

That is good to know, especially with the humidity because here in Southern Oklahoma we have extremely humid summers. Honestly, I'm glad I can put them back on my list because everytime I've ever thought of having chickens, Orpingtons were always top of my list because of how sweet and calm they are.

Also that's a beautiful rooster. I love how he has 2 different. I think 1 of the hatcheries I was looking at had some orpingtons labeled as like "black into blue/gray", something like that, is that what your rooster is, his coloration?

 

[DarkAngel77]

My personal opinion as I'm very biased towards them.

The French Black Copper Marans hens tend to run the coop even over all the roosters I've had the hens keep at the top of the pecking order. They are also very adaptable to weather and resilient to stress. Also the eggs add a nice rich dark brown to your chicken rainbow.

They also have some beautiful variations now on them. I should be getting a few black coppers/blue coppers come next week and I'll post them in the forum. Maybe do a grow along if you wanted to follow and see .

I'd definitely love to follow along. I was looking into the marans and found the blue copper marans, I think they are absolutely gorgeous.