International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[Red Banks]

Hey everyone. I have been keeping up with this thread and figured it is time to officially join. It will be easier than searching for it each time. I have already learned a lot from the posts here and will have to get photos of all mine to put on. Ours don't look quite as nice as our hens are all wearing saddles at the moment. It is a sorry sight!

Welcome to the thread..... so glad you are here. I have to tell everyone that I got all my beautiful BCMs from FeelsRightFarm. I felt like crying when I got my first batch of chicks from her. I knew I was getting the best and it was the beginning of my BCM adventure. Thanks again Amanda!

 

[Chooks man]

Cricketfarm your BCM hen her egg is nice color she s a breeder for sure .we need a rooster to go with her.

Do you have one or More .this year seem to be cockerels year

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

welcome to the thread FeelsRightFarm .

So you are the lady with Sold eggs to RedBank .

Impressed by the progeny your stock is throwing. Bravo

Yeah I need to see your chooks .I think I can help you tuning them to perfection .

Why you use saddle on the hen s Do you ride them ? hahaha

I do no use a saddle on my hens .a pair them properly ( correct density and timing ) good for the over all health of the hens and increase the fertility .

Hens need to be mated to the Rooster one s every 4/5 days for a great fertility .

loosing the feathers from the hen s back is a sign of over matting .

Over matting harm the health and the well being of the hens PLUS decrease the fertility .

chooks man

 

[Red Banks]

welcome to the thread FeelsRightFarm .

So you are the lady with Sold eggs to RedBank .

Impressed by the progeny your stock is throwing. Bravo

Yeah I need to see your chooks .I think I can help you tuning them to perfection .

Why you use saddle on the hen s Do you ride them ? hahaha

I do no use a saddle on my hens .a pair them properly ( correct density and timing ) good for the over all health of the hens and increase the fertility .

Hens need to be mated to the Rooster one s every 4/5 days for a great fertility .

loosing the feathers from the hen s back is a sign of over matting .

Over matting harm the health and the well being of the hens PLUS decrease the fertility .

chooks man

I am lucky enough to live near FeelsRightFarm. I get to pick up my chicks! I also live 45 minutes from Greenfire Farms. Pretty nice location for a chicken fan.

 

[Chooks man]

that is a great location for a BCM lover /breeder.

Lucky you.

chooks man

 

[FeelsRightFarm]

welcome to the thread FeelsRightFarm .

So you are the lady with Sold eggs to RedBank .

Impressed by the progeny your stock is throwing. Bravo

Yeah I need to see your chooks .I think I can help you tuning them to perfection .

Why you use saddle on the hen s Do you ride them ? hahaha

I do no use a saddle on my hens .a pair them properly ( correct density and timing ) good for the over all health of the hens and increase the fertility .

Hens need to be mated to the Rooster one s every 4/5 days for a great fertility .

loosing the feathers from the hen s back is a sign of over matting .

Over matting harm the health and the well being of the hens PLUS decrease the fertility .

chooks man

Thank you! I am far from knowledgable when it comes to breeding. We were trying to make some side money originally to support starting up with all the breeds we liked. We ended up preferring the marans to all our other breeds and have decided to really put in some work with them in the future. We got hatching eggs from Little Peddler originally, but unfortunately out of 12 several arrived cracked and we ended up only getting 3 to hatch. The risk you take with shipped eggs. Silver lining was that two were hens. However, our LP rooster is a total jerk and he is all we have until we can hatch more, which we plan to do in the future.

We got two batches from Greenfire and have 7 hens and one rooster from that batch. Only problem is we started having a lot of issues with predators so they are all locked up which is why they are being overmated.
I had no idea about that being an issue in regards to fertility, however. Perhaps we will work out something smaller temporarily and separate them for a while. We aren't hatching or selling eggs right now anyway, so maybe they will enjoy the summer off.

We used to have a big farm dog but we don't have one now. All our birds used to free range and we never had any issues. Unfortunately, since she has been gone we have lots a lot of birds to bobcats, foxes, owls, anything you can think of ( this week we got a raccoon problem-it never ends!) so to protect them we have to keep them in their pen (it's 40x40 so very large but still not the best situation and the girls can't really get away from the roosters so that is why they aren't doing so well with the back feathers.

I had never considered it a problem health wise though--now we will definitely get something worked out. How do you suggest we do that? Keep the roos separate except for every few days? Allow them conjugal visits 2x weekly?

I just got a new phone so i don't have all my pics on it. I will go through my computer and get some posted here!

 

[FeelsRightFarm]

This is our LP rooster. I wish I had some better photos of him but he is the one who is rude. He attacks me if I am in there alone and I'll be honest, I totally hate him. I would try to get photos of him from different angles but I am a little nervous to get close enough with out anyone else with me, LOL sad but true (redbanks has seen the photos of my eye after he got me a couple times!)

I will keep looking through my files. I am unorganized with photos at the moment but would appreciate any feed back you have.

I am by no means good at this yet! All we did was decide we wanted to start off with good quality, untainted stock. We figured if we started with pure LP and pure GF we would have a much better beginning than getting birds people have worked with and potentially messed up over the years. However, we haven't even begun to start 'selectively' breeding or anything of the sort. I am looking forward to finally hatching our own and really starting to work with them more. I have already learned a lot and I know from this thread alone that our greenfire roo doesn't have the right coloring on his hackles. I will post a photo of him once I get it. He isn't as pretty as the LP but he sure is nicer!

 

[Chooks man]

Wow FeelsRightFarm. that a pretty gorgeous BCM Rooster you have.

Wow,wow,wow................... the purity of the copper color is second to none . nice red copper with solid flat black body.

great type a good comb .alright size and shape. he s just gorgeous DO NO LOOSE HIM do what ever you can to keep him alive as long as you can.

Rooster like him hard to past by. never mind free ranging for him. never let him out never, never never WITHOUT assistance .

He s your asset .from him alone ( regardless of the type of the hen s he s mated too ) you can create you own line .just based on him .BACK cross his daughter and G daughters to him .Line breeding.

he do have all the trait of a great breeder.

the BCM hen s in the photo with him .she is walking very hard to see a true type. he havea nice face, comb and a good hackle .is she his sister ?

post more photos of the hen s when you have time .

Good chose ,stick with a marans .they are the best far I m concern .

chooks man

 

[Red Banks]

This is our LP rooster. I wish I had some better photos of him but he is the one who is rude. He attacks me if I am in there alone and I'll be honest, I totally hate him. I would try to get photos of him from different angles but I am a little nervous to get close enough with out anyone else with me, LOL sad but true (redbanks has seen the photos of my eye after he got me a couple times!)

I will keep looking through my files. I am unorganized with photos at the moment but would appreciate any feed back you have.

I am by no means good at this yet! All we did was decide we wanted to start off with good quality, untainted stock. We figured if we started with pure LP and pure GF we would have a much better beginning than getting birds people have worked with and potentially messed up over the years. However, we haven't even begun to start 'selectively' breeding or anything of the sort. I am looking forward to finally hatching our own and really starting to work with them more. I have already learned a lot and I know from this thread alone that our greenfire roo doesn't have the right coloring on his hackles. I will post a photo of him once I get it. He isn't as pretty as the LP but he sure is nicer!

Maybe if you do have the LP Rooster in a separate pen most of the time it will relieve some of the stress of having to deal with him. I have heard that batchelor roosters in a pen together will calm down and stop with the nonsense. I put three BCM and one Cream Legbar in a coop for a week and the hens and I were much happier! Tonight waiting for everyone to get in the coop I was watching all the cockerels and their rituals and I thought to myself it sure was a lot nicer when I didn't let them out. Well..... I just made up my mind, tomorrow morning the cockerels are in lock down indefinitely. The oldest cockerel (first group) is wearing two hens out. He is inexperienced and he feels confident with them but those poor girls are miserable.

 

[Chooks man]

Fertility is not based on how many time a hen is mated to a rooster . is based on when the hen want her eggs to be fertilized . SHE is a boss NOT we a breeder OR the Rooster.

keep the hen s healthy and happy and the fertility of your flock goes up.

the hen s have a power to store the sperm for a long period up to 3 weeks from the rooster they really like.and use t when they need t .very clever girls .

there is many method out there to how to run a breeding pen during the breeding season .

I ll go around that one day soon when I move to the new farm and start pairing and hatching .

I ll post all my work here and I ll explain the reason behind t .

long breeding journey . is just started.

chooks man