International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[chickengr]

I know the title says BCM, but I've been reading through for a bit and see other Marans?

I have a pair of wheaten Marans that are about 13 weeks old. I wasn't planning on the roo, but my cockerel is beautiful and I want more babies from him. The pullet is my #1 in the flock, and has her moments where she's just a punk, but my roo is well mannered.

She's obviously not laying yet, so I don't know how dark her eggs will be. We also have EE, SLW, and BCWP. None of which are laying, as they range from 12-14 weeks.

I know I want more Marans. But my boyfriend likes the colorful eggs, which is why so many EE. Realistically, we have room for 4 more birds before I feel like our coop would be crowded (puts us at 3.5 sqft/bird in the coop) until we move to a larger setup hopefully next year.

How can I optimize my roo to get pretty eggs? Is there a hen I should bring in to mate him with?
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we are happy to see the other colours of marans as well.

if you breed marans roo with blue/green layers you will get some olive eggers.

 

[marchick]

@marchick

I like this pullet a lot .lovely hackle marking good quality silver as far as I can see . love her eyes ,they ll be correctly coloured when fully matured .

I can see some white feathers on her toes .she still young .they ll go away with time .hope .

chooks man

Yes, I seen that white feather. I am liking her so far. I do hope it falls out.

 

[marchick]

good looking and great type pullets and cockerels . love that thick Birchen cockerel ,far back with his wing spread to cool down ,must be hot .he look very chunky .
love the pullets , the birchen is stunning .

chooks man

Thank you Chooks man, Some of the Birchen cockerels could be clean if they are from my clean Birchens. If they are from my pen #2 then it is a high chance of them being clean. It had two Birchen hens that are clean and the rooster is clean. The one Blue Birchen hen is a toss up as far as carrying brassy. Time will tell. I did hatch some blues from that Blue Birchen hen. It would be awsome if she where clean. I put her in that pen because she is the one you liked the best.
Pen #1 all that hatched was 3 cockerels. Curious to see if any end up clean. Which would mean at least one of the 4 hens in that pen is clean and we know the rooster is clean.

 

[marchick]

@marchick
love the pure silver hackle on the Birchen cockerel . shoulder and back are taking colour too .great stuff .his comb is going to be big .

The Splash has a correct body type ,correct tail .and correct comb . I like him a lot .

we ve done well .BRAVO

chooks man

I ended up with 4 splash. A pair of older and a pair younger. I am not sure what I am going to do with them. I need more pens.

 

[marchick]

Sorry so many pictures.

 

[kcrandall]

Just some update pictures of the brave ones that ventured out.


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@marchick,

Very nice chooks...they are starting to color up nicely. Well done!

Take Care,
Keith

 

[marchick]

@marchick,

Very nice chooks...they are starting to color up nicely. Well done!

Take Care,
Keith

Thank you Keith! I hope they do good. They are only 11 weeks old so they will change a lot. I hope to the good and not bad.

 

[kcrandall]

Thank you Keith! I hope they do good. They are only 11 weeks old so they will change a lot. I hope to the good and not bad.

@marchick

It looks like they are on the right track! You got really good type now you just have to wait for the egg color. Everything else is fixable in time.

Keith

 

[Chooks man]

Sorry so many pictures.
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love the white cockerel .great body type and tail.
you have some nice pullets too .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

some eggs from my younger pullets .solid black and splash .
those eggs are #6 and #7 but my camera is getting old .I need a new one .
well pleased .they are the darkest of the this year .happy about it .plus those pullets are correct on conformation and comb .
still working on the dog run .few more days and I ll be done . this run is about 75m long 2 to 3 m wide with 2 large ward at each end on the run .this run will be used as well as a cockerels run too .

chooks man