International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[Chooks man]

Thank you! Glad to hear that. I hope to produce some cockerels to show next year.

I have tried to research the genetics of eye color in poultry and apparently it is very complicated and not well understood. That is why a male with marbled eye color like Duke mated to hens with clear eye color can produce a mixture of brown eyed offspring, clear eyed offspring, and marbeled eye color as in my case this year.

I think Perfect has amber/light brown looking eye color. I will look at her closer on my days off. She and Dark Angel may not be the best pairing because of the high volume of dark eyed birds they likely will produce. What are your thoughts on this?

dark eyes are not problem as long as you have one breeder with bright orange eyes .they will be some split progeny .select from a well coloured eyes for few generation .
Back crossing to the parent with bright orange eyes will help to fix a problem .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

So I will not be needing Duke this year? I can pen him by himself then on my next set of days off.

I think Duchess would pair well with Vortex as she has a low tail angle. I may try that first. I can trio mate him to Duchess and another female simultaneously as I know what Duchess's eggs look like. The well colored pullet I showed has a low tail as well. She may be a good match for Vortex also. Perfect still is rather immature, I looked at her yesterday but couldn't get good pics because she was wet. Her comb is still small.

yes Duke can sit aside .let his boys do the work this year .
Agree with you Duchess and Vortex will do a good pair . just not sure if she is a carrier of Split hackle marking .because she come from a same breeder and maybe she is Duke s sister .but it is worth to test it to Vortex .best way to know .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Thanks for all the advice! If the females he is mated to have correct tail angle, what will be the volume of chicks he will produce with high tails vs correct tails? I know that my high tailed blue copper hen produces mostly high tailed progeny despite being mated to Duke who has a nice tail.

I did see all of Vortex's good qualities, that's why I initially had him up to show. He was the nicest looking bird on the yard and was the biggest, very wide. He was up for a little over a month until I noticed his tail angle getting high and that is when I threw him out into the fenced in area with the dogs. I just didnt want to backpeddle with tail angles and was hesitant about using him because I have struggled with tail angles so long. However if he will help me improve color, it will be worth it to use him as long as he doesn't throw all high tailed offspring. That would be a nightmare for sure.

he is Duke s son ,that mean he is a carrier of one high tail gene ,not both . one good gene is there from his sire Duke .so mating him to a low tail hen/pullets { as long as they are not related to him} he will throw a lot chicks with a good tail .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Thank you! Glad to hear that. I hope to produce some cockerels to show next year.

I have tried to research the genetics of eye color in poultry and apparently it is very complicated and not well understood. That is why a male with marbled eye color like Duke mated to hens with clear eye color can produce a mixture of brown eyed offspring, clear eyed offspring, and marbeled eye color as in my case this year.

I think Perfect has amber/light brown looking eye color. I will look at her closer on my days off. She and Dark Angel may not be the best pairing because of the high volume of dark eyed birds they likely will produce. What are your thoughts on this?

seem to me Duke s brought some extra unwanted stuff with him.no chook is perfect .
so avoid matting his progeny together
mate the cockerels DA and Vortex to the hens .Queen/ Malika /Duches .

mate the pullets Perfect ,show pullets and nice hackle to Prince ,different sire line . different traits .that will be good way to do it too .

chooks man

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

My journey with Marans came to an abrupt end two nights ago. This morning we found this guy in a trap. I only have 1 hen left (a cross). All the Black Copper and Blue Copper birds are gone So sad to loose them. I need to build a new coop with superior predator resistance. The mink squeezed in a 2" gap over a door. It's been dispatched but that's never easy. Even though it needed to be done.

 

[KF0002]

My journey with Marans came to an abrupt end two nights ago. This morning we found this guy in a trap. I only have 1 hen left (a cross). All the Black Copper and Blue Copper birds are gone So sad to loose them. I need to build a new coop with superior predator resistance. The mink squeezed in a 2" gap over a door. It's been dispatched but that's never easy. Even though it needed to be done.

View attachment 1966274

I'm so sorry to hear that! Minks are the devil.. kill them all. Likely there is more than one so keep your trap set to make sure there are no more. If there is any way I can help let me know. I know it sucks to lose good birds to varmints.

 

[KF0002]

seem to me Duke s brought some extra unwanted stuff with him.no chook is perfect .
so avoid matting his progeny together
mate the cockerels DA and Vortex to the hens .Queen/ Malika /Duches .

mate the pullets Perfect ,show pullets and nice hackle to Prince ,different sire line . different traits .that will be good way to do it too .

chooks man

Yes he did. He brought in good genes as well as bad, but I'll get it worked out. I will take what I've got over all high tails anyday like I've had in the past.

 

[KF0002]

he is Duke s son ,that mean he is a carrier of one high tail gene ,not both . one good gene is there from his sire Duke .so mating him to a low tail hen/pullets { as long as they are not related to him} he will throw a lot chicks with a good tail .

chooks man

Ok great! Good to know! Thank you!

 

[KF0002]

if perfect has a brown eyes than can not be mated to DA .she will be mated to Vortex and Prince .
never mate chooks with a same faults ,regardless what you breeding for .
chooks man

Ok I just wanted to make sure. I will get better pics of her ASAP.

Perfect and Vortex are siblings so that leaves her strictly for Prince then I suppose if you dont think I should do sibling matings this year.

 

[KF0002]

she has a correct comb type and size but not a proper points numbers that all .

I see correct progeny will come from her and Dark Angel . they look compatible to me .
chooks man

I agree, I think Malika and DA will pair nicely together. I hope to see good colored birds from them.