International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[kcrandall]

Eggs today from my BLCM and Splash CM Pen. My Splash CM is 3-years old - her color is holding nicely for her age (her egg is far right). Does anyone else have a problem reading the Marans Club Shade Card? Sigh, maybe my eyes are getting old.
Keith

 

[marchick]

@marchick,

I’ve had them peck / bite my hands pretty hard at that age but I was feeding them mealworms so they were just fighting their hatchmates for food and my hand was in the way. He may be simply associating your hand with food since you were filling the feeder. Now for the one that tagged you when you were leaving the coop I’ve never seen one do that at that age. If I’m not mistaken you wing band. I would make a note of the attack on His record so it comes culling time and if he is in the mix as a keeper then that will help you make your decision.

Good luck!
Keith

Unfortunately I am not sure which one got me as I was going out the door. If it happens again I will pay more attention. I do wing band.

 

[Acre4Me]

BLCM

Just to clarify, this refers to "Blue", whereas BCM refers to Black?

I see copper coloring on her back and side of her breast. Can you confirm she has coloring on back / breast?

I'll confirm when I'm out there today, but overall she stands out from the others.

Great info - thank you.

 

[Acre4Me]

I will not keep or breed a mean rooster or hen for that matter.

I make Chicken & Sausage Gumbo. May seem harsh but I just don’t have the time to deal with a mean Rooster.

Not harsh, as a full grown rooster can cause harm, not to mention stress if you cant fully pay attention to your chores due to fear of attack.

We had a BA rooster - very handsome and nicely shaped, but he had it in for my tween. We sold him in January. That left our BJG male as the sole male in the flock. He has it in for me, unfortunately, but interestingly leaves the tween alone and allows tween to handle him. But, once fair is over in July, we will sell him bc of his aggression towards me. And it was unexpected bc BJG are known to be docile, but at age 15 months, I think his behavior is not going to get better. He is also conforms very nicely to breed standard, so maybe someone else can use him for breeding.

My tween wants to keep the splash CM in the previous pics as one of the potential males from our straight run batch of 10 breeds. Spouse wants a more colorful rooster, so from pics I have seen online, the splash CM might be a good choice for a more colorful rooster.

 

[Acre4Me]

I see copper coloring on her back and side of her breast. Can you confirm she has coloring on back / breast?

turns out I had a pic of her from the front. Yes, I would say she is likely "mossy" in color. So much lighter than the 2 black ones behind her.

 

[chickengr]

Looking for more information! We have black CM and blue CM chicks, appears both are male. We plan to keep a male and neighbor may take a male (we have seven other breeds of straight run chicks to choose a male from so might not choose a CM). Chicks are nearly 6 weeks, and we will keep till the fall before we sell them at auction (either August or October or November).

Spouse wants a more colorful male than we have now (our current rooster is all black except comb and wattles)...and the CM (black or blue) are more colorful. However, I’ve read multiple posts over the last year where posters comment that the Maran boys are often mean/aggressive -including to humans. We don’t want this type of male.

1. Pictures of your male black and blues. FWIW, we have a darker blue and a splash blue, so pics of both would be good.

2. What is the 1 year old or so personality of your males? Tolerated humans? Mean? Good to the hens? Etc.

Thank you!

my marans boys have always been my sweetest boys. but they don't tolerate other roos.

 

[chickengr]

Here are our 6 week update pics.
We ordered 2 Blue CM and 4 Black CM - all straight run.

There appears to be a darker blue and a splash blue. But look at the two pics of the 4 black CM - is one blue? And they vary quite a bit in their overall coloring anyway. Could this be due to breeding variations or gender variations? Do these look like decent quality CM?

@kcrandall, @chickengr - tagging since you both replied previously when I posted the 4 week pics with good information.

So far, I'll guess that the Splash Blue CM is a male. And there look to be two males in the Black CM pics. So, three males out of 6 Maran.
View attachment 1806833View attachment 1806834View attachment 1806835

50:50 is my luck with marans too.

I am not so good with colours.

 

[chickengr]

turns out I had a pic of her from the front. Yes, I would say she is likely "mossy" in color. So much lighter than the 2 black ones behind her.
View attachment 1807835

she would be great olive egger mom.

 

[Acre4Me]

she would be great olive egger mom.

Interesting! how does one get Olive eggs? I'm recalling brown egg+blue egg layer, but which needs to be hen, which needs to be rooster? Or is it a green egg layer that is needed (not blue)?

 

[kcrandall]

Just to clarify, this refers to "Blue", whereas BCM refers to Black?



I'll confirm when I'm out there today, but overall she stands out from the others.

Great info - thank you.

@Acre4Me - Yes, BLCM = Blue Copper Marans. Best, Keith