International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[Chooks man]

Thank you! Her eggs didn't hatch well and she held her tail too high. Also Dark Angel stripped the feathers off her back terribly so I turned her out to free range.

good on you .it is a reason I don t pair the hens with a roosters till all of them are laying and I m ready to breed .
I like to keep my hens in a good shape for most of the year .
all my pullets are by them selves except 1 cockerel left there from group#5 , group #6 are not split yet .

over mating interfere with fertility . or the season .
doesn t mater if her tail is high ,her baby girl has stunning tail . so if she can produce then let it be , we are not showing ,we are breeding .

choks man

 

[Chooks man]

I wish mine would lay more but their color is good so mine are the opposite. My breeder Marans are stingy with eggs! I have dewormed, added calf manna, oyster shells, they always get a good feed mix. I dont know what their problem is.

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stunning egg color my friend .
marans hens are the most complex hens to breed ,too many traits to balance ,

my pullets all look good by laying eggs is last thing in they mind .looking good yet .
my Marneck pullets they are laying like there is no tomorrow all start laying at 5and half months .
my marans are up to 8 months now and just few eggs here and there .

lot work need to be done to breed a true marans .robust/ productive farm hen .
chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Here is Dark Halo so he isn't left out. He went through a mean spell after I put him with females but hasn't attacked in a few weeks. Hopefully he has settled down for good. Couldn't get a good picture of Jolie to save my life. She has the chicken equivalent of ADHD.

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the is long and thick . hope he will pass those god traits to his progeny .
shame his hackle marking is split and his shoulder are not colored { french call this fault proivrage . peppering }

love his head
chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Here is Dark Halo so he isn't left out. He went through a mean spell after I put him with females but hasn't attacked in a few weeks. Hopefully he has settled down for good. Couldn't get a good picture of Jolie to save my life. She has the chicken equivalent of ADHD.

View attachment 2162794

who is the BC hen with him ,she has a good hackle marking.
chooks man

 

[KF0002]

who is the BC hen with him ,she has a good hackle marking.
chooks man

That is Jolie. She is hard to photograph in that pen. She is constantly moving and scratching, and never stands still. I showed her in November.

 

[KF0002]

That I think will be my problem Harvey's line has lots of color so some of my BC chicks are mossy. Middle toe feathers can also be a issue.

I have hatched a few chicks with middle toe feathering as well. Last year I hatched 2 or 3 mossy pullets but I documented it so I could avoid breeding them. Hope all your birds are doing well! I am slowly trying to go back through the thread. It may take me a while. Lol.

 

[KF0002]

Well, split wing and side sprigs continue to rule the flock. 8 of the 11 first hatch were boys and all 8 have split wing, 2 with what looks like a side sprig. They are 7 weeks. I haven’t gone over the 3 girls yet but expect similar results. The second hatch of 17 is only two weeks now so will probably be a couple more weeks before I can see how they are turning out. Both of these hatches from same cock and hens, KY boy “Buster” over my only two hens. Buster is very human aggressive so I planned on only keeping hens from his line, hoping for the better copper.

My other cock bird is half sibling to my hens and does express split wing. This leads me to believe the hens are carriers of the gene. I think Kayla told me Buster’s half brother expresses spilt wing.

so now I guess I am at a crossroads of diving into years of correcting my current line or starting a new. Either way I enjoy the birds, except the aggressive punks.

there is a bright side to this years hatching but it is not my Marans. Moses my new cream legbar cock has thrown some very nice chicks and I am excited about those. I also did a small hatch of olive Eggers and had 6 of 6 turn out to be pullets.

I will try and get some pics for everyone. I have been crazy busy with work, bathroom remodel and birds. I usually only last 30 minutes or so once I stop and sit down before I fall asleep.

I hope everyone is well,
Ben

I hate that split wing has reared its ugly head in your progeny. In trying to fix tails I have brought split wing in from HM's cock bird Duke. That means that a percentage of his offspring carry the gene. I will work to eliminate the gene as recessive genes are present in all lines of Marans in some form or another.

 

[Chooks man]

We need years of selective breeding to get ready of all recessive traits.
Outcrossing lines doesn t help

Chooks man

 

[KF0002]

We need years of selective breeding to get ready of all recessive traits.
Outcrossing lines doesn t help

Chooks man

I feel like I have worked too hard on my line to part with it and start over because of the split wing. I will just cull hard for it and hopefully one day eliminate it.

 

[KF0002]

@Chooks man what recessive genes have you encountered in your Marans? Have you been able to eliminate them?