International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[Chooks man]

I have the habit of doing the same thing.
Comparing my Marans to folks who have been breeding for years and have improved their line.

I sometimes want to just cull them all and start over.
If I were to do that, I would STILL have faults to breed out.

The elusive perfect Marans that I am striving to breed will be a life long process.

As Chooks man says, "We work with what we have".

There are steps to take in breeding to improve them.

Do your hens lay dark eggs? To me, this is #1 question which allows me to decide whether to keep or cull. Egg color is what defines a Marans.
If the eggs are dark, I will keep and work toward SOP from there.

if you want to breed correct looking marans you have to see the equality and the importance of both ;Dark eggs genes and correct looking marans . if you start to prefer one over the other ,you will never be able to breed correct all rounded marans .
there is few breeds out there lay dark eggs .Welsummer is one of them and there is more ,but that does not make them marans . they are just dark eggs layer. you don t want to have just dark eggs layer .
balance has to be achieved between egg color and correct body type . other wise it is not marans what we are breeding .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

Finding a good rooster is the hardest.

Who knew a couple of years ago that I would be crossing my fingers that I hatch a bunch of cockerels!

I have been telling you guys for years the importance of cockerels . I always wanted to hatch more cockerels then pullets . cockerels are very hard to breed ,because of the extra sex linked genes .
hens are easy to breed .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

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

one in the front is sick ,
the other one is very nice ,thick body type and good head . she look like the older BC pullet ,similar body type and head .
she is over colored but she has a body type we are looking for . let see her eggs .

you should remove the sick chooks from the healthy group . you have some nice looking marans pullets if I was you I will keep separate and safe .

you seem to like the photos of my chooks ,but you forget I hatched 765 chicks and I only kept 120 in the end .lot and a lot culling . I cleaned the place out .best thing I ever done . I only kept the healthy ones ,now I m so pleased I took that decision .
all the chicks I hatch this year over 150 are very healthy .lost few because I 100% free ranging minimum shelter . no major sickness .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

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?

very hard to tell ,we need better photos .
I can see over the wire there is coloreful cockerel. only his back . look like good copper to me .need more photos , working photos .

chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

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?

the older one look like he has a good copper and good pattern for his age .but his tail look long . photos of him are needed .
chooks man

 

[chickengr]

I really like your BCM pullet especially the older one ,very correct and heavy boned specimen . the tails on the 2 youngest pullets are a little longer ,rather than that they look great to me .

if you have Marecks in your place ,you have to make sure you get out of there .
if you want to know how .let me know and I ll explain to you .very long process but efficient . I did my self and cleaned my farm from all sort of sicknesses .

chooks man

I had rats who probably brought some disease to my chickens. they have mucus, runny noses and make rattle sounds. I am interested how to clean my place. (chicks in a cage next to them are 100% healthy.)

 

[chickengr]

I have been telling you guys for years the importance of cockerels . I always wanted to hatch more cockerels then pullets . cockerels are very hard to breed ,because of the extra sex linked genes .
hens are easy to breed .

chooks man

I might have 1 good pullet and no cockerel. I will grow them a bit more then see if I can keep any. unfortunately most of them are bc/cuckoo mix.

 

[Minky]

Chooks man- I am glad you see some potential in my pullets. I will get better photos of the cockerels. Why do you think one of my marans pullets is sick?

Mareks.
So when I moved here 4 years ago and got chickens I got ready 8 to lay birds (marans, orpington, easter egger). The blue copper marans never laid an egg...but eventually would just stand by a wall, eyes squinty or closed. Would hardly eat. Then after a couple of months, would need to put her winds down to balance. Then died. I was totally new to chickens and didnt know what was going on. Despite extra vitamins and different foods (scrambled eggs etc) she faded away.
Each year I seem to have one chicken that falls ill to this. This year I had 7 I think. I sort of lost count. All pullets except one cockerel. All around 14-20 weeks. First stage seems to be sleepy/tired/ standing around during the day. Not venturing outside, just staying in the barn, usually against a wall. Within a month they are dead. I separate them as soon as I notice. I have had long discussions about this with my vet. He says "pretty much around here if you have chickens, you have Mareks.Its so common, but there is no way to know without spending hundreds on a necropsy and most people are resigned to just loose a chicken or two here and there. Its so hard to get rid of".
If you have a way, to rid me of this I am very interested. I have sandy soil, so coop/barn is very dry and dusty. The outside barnyard gets scraped down twice a year, and with lots of rain and freezing temps for 5 months of the year, I am not worried about the outside areas. I have 6 pens/coops in all, and 5 holding pens (3 x3 ).

I will get more pictures.

 

[Minky]

Received VIRKON S today. (disinfectant that kills Mareks apparently) Will try and figure out what to do with it to spray down everything.

By the way, Chooks Man, that BCM was dead the day after you said she was sick. Went out there to see how you could have possibly thought she was "sick" and she was laying in the hay, stiff. Amazing that you can tell a sick pullet from one photo. You really are the Chooks Man. My kids even know your name now. Chooks Man the chicken whisperer.

 

[Minky]

My "2nd in command" rooster is a gentle, docile Lavender orpington. For some reason, the other day he was chasing one of my younger blue copper marans pullets around to mate. (Ive never seen him do this before, he is usually quite a gentleman.) I saw them fly over the fence, and around the barn. Later, I found her hiding inside the barn near the workshop, I put her back in general population but the next day I noticed she was limping. I didn't separate her (rookie mistake) and then yesterday I heard a commotion, came around the corner and same rooster was yanking out her neck feathers and she was running away from him. I jumped in to her rescue, but again, (DUH) I didn't separate her (or him!!) And an hour later I found feathers all over the coop- and went to look for her... he had one foot on top of her back and was pecking her neck and head and crowing to the world, proud of himself. I was so mad. He got a free short haul flight from my foot. Then he got locked up in isolation. My pullet just lay there (I thought she was a goner). It appeared her wing was broken and she was limping heavily, almost a shuffle. She is alone now in a lovely holiday pen which has no roost or anything to hurt herself on. Its been 12 hours, and she is eating and chatting to me, but Im not sure the extent of the damage. How long should I wait before inspecting her injuries, and do you give any pain killer? I have just given her scrambled egg and vitamin water along with her regular food. What are my next steps?
Also, does this mean this rooster should not ever be put back with her? I am thinking he needs to go to freezer camp, or be sold with my lavender pullets as a breeding trio. Thoughts anyone?

I sprayed the coop down with Virkon S. Now I just have to hope no other chickens are actively spreading the virus. Im sure one or two are, so it will all need to be repeated in a few weeks likely. What a mess.

On a side note- I thought I'd ask how Covid is in your area? What are your restrictions if any? Here in Ontario, masks are mandatory in stores and had sanitizing before entry, Arrows, one ways, and social distancing. But outside if you are distanced no masks. I think most people over 12 are getting vaccinated - many are fully vaccinated. What's it like where you are?