International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[wrathsfarm]

Thank you all for the compliments and I truly appreciate all the dedication to helping those of us here trying to learn and better our birds. It makes this thread all it is.

I miss Chooks Man too. That guy needs an emergency contact for us or at least a gps locator.

 

[Punkybrewster]

if you pair a bird with a good tail and a bird with a bad tail you'll get chicks with good/better tails. that's what @Chooks man said. don't cull pullets for tail. find a roo with good tail. pullets are precious.

True.
I was just out in the pullets pen. I see a big improvement in tail size and angle compaired to last year. I know these pullets grandfather. He was mr. Good Comb with a nice tail.

This time around, I have to cull properly. For instance, I kept Dark Eyed Carol because I was sentimental and she laid a dark egg.
Guess what. I have a few pullets here with dark and marbled eyes, even 3 generations later. (No cockerels ever show up with dark eyes though?)

But yes, I agree. Pullets ARE precious. Especally dark egg laying ones.

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

Thank you all for the compliments and I truly appreciate all the dedication to helping those of us here trying to learn and better our birds. It makes this thread all it is.

I miss Chooks Man too. That guy needs an emergency contact for us or at least a gps locator.

I’m starting to agree that we should send a professional to find him. And while we’re at it we could get someone to kidnap @Punkybrewster ’s roosters!

 

[Punkybrewster]

I’m starting to agree that we should send a professional to find him. And while we’re at it we could get someone to kidnap @Punkybrewster ’s roosters!

I cant keep all 3 so I do need to do something. I just dont know who to get rid of. I am going to quickly run out of cockerel room as I grow all the others out.

I have a pen of 10 more cockerels from the chicks I picked up a couple months ago. Def not as nice. I may just cull all 10 and be done with it. Keep just the 9 pullets from that group and 2 of the 3 big boys.

For now, I just wait.

 

[wrathsfarm]

I’m starting to agree that we should send a professional to find him. And while we’re at it we could get someone to kidnap @Punkybrewster ’s roosters!

I'm flying out to steal some of @Bantambirds silver blacks so I'll just grab a connecting flight and swing by Punkys. Hopefully there's no limit to birds on flight.
#cargoplane

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

I cant keep all 3 so I do need to do something. I just dont know who to get rid of. I am going to quickly run out of cockerel room as I grow all the others out.

I have a pen of 10 more cockerels from the chicks I picked up a couple months ago. Def not as nice. I may just cull all 10 and be done with it. Keep just the 9 pullets from that group and 2 of the 3 big boys.

For now, I just wait.

I’m in a similar boat, too many boys as it is. My two BCM cockerels I’m growing aren’t as good as yours but have some promising quality. One is more similar to his dad, the other had a much better body, fantastic copper but yellow legs. I can only keep on BCM at the moment, so I’m stressing about which to keep, Loki (the sire), or one of the two sons. Like you I just have to wait, the tails will be a big factor for my decision, I think both have high tails but I’d like to think they will be better than their sire’s, as their dam has a lovely small and low tail.

 

[Punkybrewster]

I'm flying out to steal some of @Bantambirds silver blacks so I'll just grab a connecting flight and swing by Punkys. Hopefully there's no limit to birds on flight.
#cargoplane

Pick me up a couple of @bantambirds silver blacks too!

 

[Punkybrewster]

Looking at these pullets im growing out, I have come a long way in a short amount of years.

There are 9 total and I dont have all of them memorized yet. I dont see any with really high, big tails and I dont see any that are U-shaped. I had a big problem in these 2 areas.

The U-shape was a big problem. These girls look well chunky so far. I cant decide if the pullet with the pink band is square shape or rectangle but she is big. Hackle color is an easy fix this year.

They were all hatched mid october to mid november.

I dont think I got photos of them all. Their not perfect but a notable improvement.

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

This one’s my favourite. Black flat and ling with a very low tail. Body type will produce some lively cockerels and pulleyed alike. I noticed she doesn’t have feathered legs, or is this just the photo?

 

[wrathsfarm]

I cant keep all 3 so I do need to do something. I just dont know who to get rid of. I am going to quickly run out of cockerel room as I grow all the others out.

I have a pen of 10 more cockerels from the chicks I picked up a couple months ago. Def not as nice. I may just cull all 10 and be done with it. Keep just the 9 pullets from that group and 2 of the 3 big boys.

For now, I just wait.

I have no insight whatever, but Chooks Man would not like you culling all 10.
Maybe keep your best 2 or 3 if you can... I guess what I'm saying is, think about how you felt having to regroup all over again. I can't imagine how that hit you hard.

I can't wait to get some boys....