International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[Chooks man]

this is explanation why I have all black hens. is it possible to breed all black marans from them?

not all the black BC hens are true Black ,some do carries the Extended black . uniform black .
to know the difference which black hen is truly black ,you need to mate her to a well colored BC rooster .if her sons have red shoulder or most of it red ,than she is a BC hen .
IF her sons have no red on they shoulder .Black shiny shoulder and minimum lancets or nothing than ,they mama is true black or has one gene of E on her genome .

if one Black hen produce Black shoulder ockerels .than she should be mated to one of them to produce all black or almost black progeny .

I have done it with with my Black hen Sahara . just did not have time to finish a project .
but I managed to get a pure black cockerel .my friend who was looking after my chicken for me when I was in Europe few years back .sold them by mistake .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Setting these for the new year's hatchalong. BCM and Olive eggers

View attachment 1613987

love the dark color of those eggs .Bravo and good luck.

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

@marchick

here the method you should use if you want to breed your Blue Birchen ,I think you should .they are great birds .no much work is needed to get them 100% perfect .

Step one=work with both your cockerels .and 2 pens .

Pen1= old cockerel { Need Name } mate him to the 2 Birchen pullets and a Silver cuckoo pullet..you ll get nice pullets and cockerels .most of them will be well marked with a pure silver.
Pen 2 = Young cockerel mate him to your Blue Birchen pullets .

Step 2 = after you hatch a good number of chicks from both pen ,SWAP the rooster .the older will go to pen2 and the youngest will go to pen 1 . hatch a god number of chicks and select the best one .

if you do I m telling to do you ll have a correct Birchen marans Blue and Black correct in all aspect in no time . your chooks don t have many fault as flock .

let me know if you are interested and I ll explain to you more different steps of breeding

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

I see barring on her head. I would have expected some in the body too, but I guess I have never seen one, so

the Barring genes stand out better over a Black body .
when the black is replaced by the blue ,the barring genes as one copy on the hens or a dark cockerel will fade ,no much contrast
.Doubled Barred rooster will be very hard to tell a difference ,because the double barring genes will dilute the black to turn it into grey/Blue .so will be nothing for the Blue genes to dilute .
Genetic rules = the Blue gene s will be dilute a single Barring gene to almost invisible pattern .
Double barring genes will dilute a black to a Grey/Blue color.

So the Barring Cuckoo genes are better on Black uniform body .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Lost my blue copper Chester last night. He was such a good roo and I was really excited to pair him up with 1 of my girls. His comb was huuuuge and he lost a couple points last year but this weather really wrecked him. I think I probably should have cut it off

sorry you lost Chester.

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

I have not worked with the marbled eyes. I would think if you breed him to a hen with correct eyes. You would get some with correct eye color. Chooks man or someone else with more knowledge will chime in I'm sure. I am so sorry you lost your rooster.

Eye color can be fixed by both parent .the difference is the rooster usually sire more chicks that all .
if you mate him to a well colored eyes hens you should get a split chicks .some with a well colored eyes others with a dark eyes .select and take it from there .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

my new young flock of marans are getting used to the place .all healthy and happy .they do not stop running .they loving they new roosting bare .top bare always to busy .

look at this little guy the way he is standing .he thinks he is a big guy . love him

some wheaten eggs

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Blue Wheaten cockerel . long and stretchy .

late maturing male for sure .big frame need time to fully develop . he ll big boy .
love the color of his hackle .uniform golden without any flames .

chooks man

 

[chickengr]

not all the black BC hens are true Black ,some do carries the Extended black . uniform black .
to know the difference which black hen is truly black ,you need to mate her to a well colored BC rooster .if her sons have red shoulder or most of it red ,than she is a BC hen .
IF her sons have no red on they shoulder .Black shiny shoulder and minimum lancets or nothing than ,they mama is true black or has one gene of E on her genome .

if one Black hen produce Black shoulder ockerels .than she should be mated to one of them to produce all black or almost black progeny .

I have done it with with my Black hen Sahara . just did not have time to finish a project .
but I managed to get a pure black cockerel .my friend who was looking after my chicken for me when I was in Europe few years back .sold them by mistake .

chooks man

sorry for that mistake.

I will test my black girls. my friend I got my marans from had all black chicks 2 years ago. I thought they had been faulty. if he gets again black chicks I will take some of them. I guess if still all black at 4 mo they stay black.

 

[chickengr]

@Chooks man

not marans, but is he blue wheaten, or what?

what colour is she?