International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[aliciaplus3]

top row right first 2 plus bottom row first right one = from a same hen .
top row first 2 left plus the one on left bottom row = from a same hen
top row third egg on left plus second and fourth egg from the left on bottom row - same hen
the other 3 are from a 4th hen .
all this is speculation .looking at the eggs size/shape/color .

can you ask the person you got them from how many hens where used to get these eggs ?

chooks man

I can ask

 

[Punkybrewster]

Your pullets do have lovely copper! Nice job!

The cockerels from the same line have beautiful copper too but sadly 2 have vulture hocks so i cant use them. The third one looks promising though.

 

[Minky]

cockerel #1
View attachment 2357261


cockerel #2
View attachment 2357262
@Minky

those are 2 impressive cuckoo marans cockerels .they are silver and golden mix not a pure silver . very very impressive body type and head .short on they feet ,great .
cockerel #1 has a better comb .
cockerel #2 has a better tail .
every thing else is similar .

I will breed them to BC hens to make golden cuckoo marans .
what color eggs they hatched from .

I really like them both .
chooks man

Awesome- that is good news! Thanks for the reply. You mean they will end up looking like this? How long before any of that colour comes in?

They hatched out of these eggs... (vertical rows 3,4,5 from left) don't know which ones. Sorry. What colour level is that? I recall thinking what the heck? these are Maran eggs?? lol. But I had already driven an hour. It never occurred to me to ask for photos. Lesson learned.

 

[Minky]

Here are my pullet eggs. I think from at least 2 of my 3 maran pullets. One is squatting for me, the blind one. My daughter has named her Cyclucks. What do you think? Any point breeding them?

 

[Minky]

I found a guy ( craigslist) lives 20 minutes away who has marans. He is selling chicks they came from these eggs. Wasn't sure if these counted as dark enough. What do you guys think? He didn't have photos of the parents but his 5 month old pullets don't have much copper on them.

 

[Bantambird]

so here's another potential keeper, he's been marked to save from the pot, and a second feller. This first one suffered a wee bit of comb damage early on.

 

[kcrandall]

Here are my pullet eggs. I think from at least 2 of my 3 maran pullets. One is squatting for me, the blind one. My daughter has named her Cyclucks. What do you think? Any point breeding them?

Cute name for your pullet!! The eggs from September 29th and October 1st have the correct shape and texture for a Marans Egg and I think they come from the same pullet. The color of all the eggs are on the lighter side (#4) of the Marans Color Scale. I would breed the pullet with the correct shape/texture to a Cock known to have come from a dark egg just to reinforce the correct egg shape and, hopefully, inject some dark egg color in your birds.

 

[KF0002]

This is a hen from Queen and Duke I didn't pen up because she has some white spots in both wings that came back after the molt. She is about 18 months old now and just finished molting. I really like her eye color and am thinking I may use her as a breeder in the spring to try and remedy eye color in my line. She does have some parasitic white so chicks from that single mating would be culled through hard for white. Her comb is ugly, but she has nice copper in her hackle. Its just an idea I've been thinking about. Thoughts?

 

[kcrandall]

I found a guy ( craigslist) lives 20 minutes away who has marans. He is selling chicks they came from these eggs. Wasn't sure if these counted as dark enough. What do you guys think? He didn't have photos of the parents but his 5 month old pullets don't have much copper on them.

IMO these eggs look to be a #5 there may be a couple of light #6s. Do you know if this is a recent picture of his Marans Eggs? The reason I ask is because a Marans Hen’s egg is always darker at the beginning of their lay cycle than at the end. So given the time of year we are at the end of the lay cycle so it is likely that his Marans Eggs were a little darker earlier in the year.

I would ask him for some pictures of his Marans so that you can access their type, conformation, color, etc. I would also ask him what faults he has seen in his line so that you know what to look for if you decide to purchase from him. If he is reputable then he should have no problem answering your questions.

 

[kcrandall]

This is a hen from Queen and Duke I didn't pen up because she has some white spots in both wings that came back after the molt. She is about 18 months old now and just finished molting. I really like her eye color and am thinking I may use her as a breeder in the spring to try and remedy eye color in my line. She does have some parasitic white so chicks from that single mating would be culled through hard for white. Her comb is ugly, but she has nice copper in her hackle. Its just an idea I've been thinking about. Thoughts?

View attachment 2359207
View attachment 2359208View attachment 2359210

Agree with you, I like her eye color and copper color on her hackle. Does she always carry her tail that high or is she just on alert? Did she inherit the parasitic white from Queen or Duke? If from Queen then I may consider breeding her back to Duke to reinforce type and eye color plus he is proven to lower tails. I think her dark copper color would offset Duke’s halo influence. Just some thoughts...