International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[Chooks man]

I keep two of every color on average. It's always good to have a backup.

very good practice my friend . better to be safe than sorry .
chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

I let them all run loose and keep the hens and pullets penned. a bachelor pen is on my list of projects.

me I do it other way around .I keep all my roosters penned { still free ranging because all my pens are large with a lot trees and grass } and I keep all my hens free in one large group ,they are free to range in one acre pen .
hens eat more grass and they are better forager than roosters . they are the one need to be free .

chooks man

 

[chickengr]

sorry guys I haven t posted for a while ,we are in lockdown in Sydney week4 .have not see the .for all this duration .can not go to the farm .
I can not go to the new farm up north either . so all my breeding and building have stopped for a time been .shame we are throwing some gorgeous dark eggs .
what we can do ,just wait to see what happen ,if the lockdown will ease or will go more harder .

it is very hard for me not to see my chooks for that long .what we can do .
chooks man

sorry to hear that.

I don't know low in australia but people who have farms here are allowed to take care of animals even in lockdown.

 

[Chooks man]

sorry to hear that.

I don't know low in australia but people who have farms here are allowed to take care of animals even in lockdown.

here we can too but the infected zone like they call it here is between me and the farm ,so it is better to leave Troy along and safe from any outsider including me ,better to be safe than sorry .
farm is safe as long as there is not visitor ,a reason we stopped breeding ,so we don t need to go to the post office to post the eggs .
chooks man

 

[Bantambird]

me I do it other way around .I keep all my roosters penned { still free ranging because all my pens are large with a lot trees and grass } and I keep all my hens free in one large group ,they are free to range in one acre pen .
hens eat more grass and they are better forager than roosters . they are the one need to be free .

chooks man

for now I am letting everyone out because it is so hot that I want them to be able to move to the coolest places as they change around the yard. The century old apple trees are the best places to be in this blistering heat as I maintain irrigation to them come heck or high drought, I won't neglect those old trees. There are shrubs around for them to lay under as well and they like rotating where they go along with hanging out under the tarps protecting the hay. Once it cools down from record heat waves pounding us, I will likely reconsider the pens. The biggest reason I pen the hens over the roosters is predators and nesting box training. the hens are super valuable to me and a select group of cocks are valuable to me, the extra cockerels are food for my family and a buffer to the hens. You are so right about hens and pullets being better foragers.

 

[Bantambird]

I let the girls out later in the morning when it starts to get hot at the moment. I would like for them to utilize their nesting boxes and not the hay stack, but I guess I would rather let them out in the summer

 

[Minky]

Hi everyone. Floods, pests, fires, drought, and Corona Virus. Thank goodness for chickens.... When I watch the news and reconnect with the world, I feel like I am living in a bad sci fi movie. I just can't do it, so I just watch my chickens.

I've had 6 pullets and 1 cockerel die (I'm assuming Mareks) this spring. I have tried to remove all debris and soiled straw as well as the top 2 inches of sand (sandy soil here) from the barn and coop... but now all I can do is hope the rest are ok. I usually have 1 chicken a season die from this, I guess with more chickens you just get more deaths.
I wish a vaccine for homeowners would be available. (?) who has liquid nitrogen storage?
What do you guys do about Mareks? I notice it when there is a young bird who just stands around, moves slowly, doesn't eat much, weighs nothing. Usually starts about 3 months old, dead by 4 months, or right around point of lay.

As well, we have a fox mama and her 3-4 pups living within 100 meters of us, so lost 5 hens and 2 roosters to her in late May/early June.

Anyways, on a happier note, I am going to post a few photos of my pullets. It seems my pullets are much better looking than my cockerels. The cockerels are WAY over coloured, and their tails are a bit long and high. Not even worthy of a photo. However, I am quite pleased with my pullets, especially the blue ones. I ended up with 3 Blue pullets and 2 mossy black pullets.

What do you think? The first couple of blues are 2-3 weeks older than the 3rd one who was in the barn. I think the feather colour looks so different just because of the sun. They all look very similar, except the younger one is a little smaller. Couldn't get a tail shot of the two older pullets.

 

[Minky]

And here are my two black copper pullets from this year. Some toe feathers on middle toe of one of them.

 

[Minky]

Roosters- my rooster (Firestorm) who I used to breed my pullets above, ran into the forest after being chased by my Crested Cream Leg Bar rooster and never ever returned..... My "back up" rooster injured his leg, and never recovered, so we ate him.
I bought eggs from two local back yard breeders this spring. Out of those eggs, I ended up with one cockerel from each breeder (no pullets). Both of them have what I think you guys refer to as parasitic white (none of my Marans flock have ever had any). You can see one or two white feathers on their wing tips. So if I use them, I will be introducing this into my Marans. So do I just eat these guys? The younger of these two roosters came from the darker egg. At least a #6. The other came from a #5. Sorry the photos aren't the best.
What do you think?

 

[Punkybrewster]

Roosters- my rooster (Firestorm) who I used to breed my pullets above, ran into the forest after being chased by my Crested Cream Leg Bar rooster and never ever returned..... My "back up" rooster injured his leg, and never recovered, so we ate him.
I bought eggs from two local back yard breeders this spring. Out of those eggs, I ended up with one cockerel from each breeder (no pullets). Both of them have what I think you guys refer to as parasitic white (none of my Marans flock have ever had any). You can see one or two white feathers on their wing tips. So if I use them, I will be introducing this into my Marans. So do I just eat these guys? The younger of these two roosters came from the darker egg. At least a #6. The other came from a #5. Sorry the photos aren't the best.
What do you think?

I would let the cockerels grow up more before making a decision to cull. Are these your only male Black Coppers to choose for breeding? If so, wait and see how they grow out before making any decision.

So sorry about the Mareks. I dont have any suggestions for that.

Nice pullets!