International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[Chooks man]

Mine lost theirs from frostbite this past December. Southern coops are made for hot and humid climate and not built for the kind of cold that we had.

But my guys have large combs I am working on improving.

Lucky me I don t have this problem. My chooks have to deal with extreme heat . They don t know what cold weather mean.
Up at the new farm is it more wormer semi tropical weather lot of humidity lot trees( it is a forest any way)
I m like @chickengr don t like the cold.
Chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

This does help a lot. I see it!

Happy that information does help .
I always breed from these type of hens( correct body type) even if they don t lay dark eggs .
Body type is very important in my breeding programs.
When they finish they molt I will take photos of each breeding hen and highlight here quality and her fault plus what rooster I need to mate her to so I can get a best result.
This breeding season I ll be working with pairs and trios not group mating .I have a lot breeding roosters to work with .
I m trying to keep the genetic diversity in my Marans flock.
Chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

View attachment 3437775View attachment 3437776
The first one is the most dominant guy in the pen, and the best looking.
There are a few in there as backups, but that big daddy is going on two years old, pretty sure that's John. There are several yearlings in there, along with Jean, who I'm thinking about pulling out. There is the one guy with the white tail feathers, but he's pretty low tier so most of the chicks will be out of John.

Gorgeous silver . Does he always carry his tail high or just he is excited ?
Chooks man

 

[Sussex19]

Thank you . I ll take one of then . I will keep him in isolation for as long as I need to see if any thing pop up .
My flock have been isolated from any outsider birds for over 3 years . I have not any sickness .
I still have chooks around Picton area nsw highland . I ll be bringing them up here to the new farm in couples of months start of the winter befor the breeding season .
We have a lot of time .
Chooks man

Ok, sounds good!
My concern was that they might be immune to it, and so it wouldn't show up in isolation, but then might still pass it on to all your birds.
But there are plenty of other things it could have been, like injure followed by infection.
Let me know when and what you want to do!
I've got some culling to do of my cross breeds, and I might do the Marans with yellow legs as well, if that sounds ok.
I really don't like his shape, as well as the leg colour; he seems very leggy and lightly built
Here is another pic, just to make sure, before I go ahead.

 

[Bantambird]

Gorgeous silver . Does he always carry his tail high or just he is excited ?
Chooks man

I caught them while they were trying to eat, and I made a noise to get them to look up for me.... they alerted when I did that, unfortunately.

 

[Chooks man]

Ok, sounds good!
My concern was that they might be immune to it, and so it wouldn't show up in isolation, but then might still pass it on to all your birds.
But there are plenty of other things it could have been, like injure followed by infection.
Let me know when and what you want to do!
I've got some culling to do of my cross breeds, and I might do the Marans with yellow legs as well, if that sounds ok.
I really don't like his shape, as well as the leg colour; he seems very leggy and lightly built
Here is another pic, just to make sure, before I go ahead.
View attachment 3438304

He is a cull for sure.
I have very large property I can keep the cockerel from you in isolation with few breeding hens and they chicks for as long as I need to make sure nothing pops up in they progeny .
I like the body type of your 2and 4 cockerels dark cuckoos and I like the body type of they sister . I look to me they are well bred that why I m interested to get one of the 2 cockerels to add to my genetic pool . Some thing new to work with .
I have enough blood lines in my flock in reality I don t need any more but I like your Marans . Let them do more growing and see what we can do .
I will send ferrules eggs any way even if I don t take the cockerel . I don t want you to breed from sibling . Bad practice.
Chooks man

 

[Chooks man]

I caught them while they were trying to eat, and I made a noise to get them to look up for me.... they alerted when I did that, unfortunately.

He look like he is in high alert pose .
He has a perfect silver . Love to see more photos of him when possible . Cheers
Chooks man

 

[Sussex19]

He is a cull for sure.
I have very large property I can keep the cockerel from you in isolation with few breeding hens and they chicks for as long as I need to make sure nothing pops up in they progeny .
I like the body type of your 2and 4 cockerels dark cuckoos and I like the body type of they sister . I look to me they are well bred that why I m interested to get one of the 2 cockerels to add to my genetic pool . Some thing new to work with .
I have enough blood lines in my flock in reality I don t need any more but I like your Marans . Let them do more growing and see what we can do .
I will send ferrules eggs any way even if I don t take the cockerel . I don t want you to breed from sibling . Bad practice.
Chooks man

Thank you so much for your help, it has been very much appreciated!
I'll keep 2 and 4, and post more photos as they get older.
Then at some point we can meet up, hopefully!
I don't mind doing a bit of traveling, so could come up your way.
I haven't got room for any more chicks in the moment, but by next spring should be good to go in that respect.
I'll be clearing out some of my older sussex and mixed stock over winter and make room for chicks in spring

 

[Chooks man]

Thank you so much for your help, it has been very much appreciated!
I'll keep 2 and 4, and post more photos as they get older.
Then at some point we can meet up, hopefully!
I don't mind doing a bit of traveling, so could come up your way.
I haven't got room for any more chicks in the moment, but by next spring should be good to go in that respect.
I'll be clearing out some of my older sussex and mixed stock over winter and make room for chicks in spring

Spring sound great to me .
I ll be coming your way . I m going to see Fiona at Nowra to pick couple black copper roosters from the import line s
We chat about at the end of winter .
Chooks man

 

[Bantambird]

this guy is standing on one foot, hes slightly smaller tjan the other guy but these two are my favorites in that pen. The bigger guy with the dub comb is i believe a dark blue silver, but hes pretty great anyways.he makes chunky babies with good qualities.