International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[wrathsfarm]

I have seen just the slightest yellowish tint a couple of times and man, I did freak out.

It was gone in days and never could tell which chick it was so, yes. But once you see it, you see the difference between yellow tint and YELLOW.

Im the same way about not wanting to spread bad info. Thats why I hesitate to give info without being able to back it up.

I sure do wish this thread was in chapters and divided into subjects. It would be so much easier to direct folks to the answers they need. And me too!

This is true!
And here I am wanting to cull em all. This years chooks are the biggest and best improvement ive seen in 1 season.

Now, these 10 cockerels, having the sire that they have, are going to carry a lot of parasitic white. Some are already showing white underfluff.

Do I want to keep that in my flock or begin breeding it out?

Most have correct type and straight pink legs with slate wash. Very nice.

I have these 3 adult roosters without any white but I dont know their egg color.

I feel like this new start is to get things right. I just dont know how to procede. Go forward and not backward.

Yes, chapters and dividers. I've screenshot a slew of pages and started writing down but that takes a lot of time I don't have.
Need to print/cut/paste like a scrapbook...

 

[chickengr]

Yes I realize I shouldn't have said 'worse fault than'. Like saying my Marans laying white eggs is a fault.

I do try to stay away from the 'Marans chicks thread' when someone points out their day olds have yellow feet. I could swear I've read Chooks Man say it's not uncommon for day olds to present yellow but then change to pink.

I could be totally way off here and wrong.. so I don't try to post bad info.
I'll try searching for it later.
@BlueTheBrahma your rereading the thread, mental note if you happen across it?

I had day/week old chicks with yellowish feet that turned pink later.

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

So she's BCM x splash EE. Interesting. Be worth digging into find out what coloring percentage she might produce bred back to BCM.
50-25-25 black-blue-splash?

And also curious what she would produce with both your BCM's? As well as egg color variations depending on what color your boys hatched from?
Would be a fun experiment... Especially if you threw a Blue Copper or Splash roo back in the mix.

If the hen is blue and she gets bred to black then it’s 50/50 blue and black. There will be half blue/black coppers and half solid blue/black. A blue bird has one copy of black and one copy of splash, unlike your typical recessive and dominant genes, they get mixed together to make blue. To get splash you would need the other parent to also carry a splash allele, so be blue or splash. The BCM will only give a black allele, and the blue hen will give either a black or splash allele. This results in black/black (pure black) or black/splash (blue).

 

[NanaK]

This years chooks are the biggest and best improvement ive seen in 1 season.

This is great!

Now, these 10 cockerels, having the sire that they have, are going to carry a lot of parasitic white. Some are already showing white underfluff.

Do I want to keep that in my flock or begin breeding it out?

Most have correct type and straight pink legs with slate wash. Very nice.

You don't have to keep all 10. Use what you know to narrow them down to maybe the best 2. Save those 2 for "just in case" for now. Don't have to breed them right now. But once they are gone, they are gone. You can always cull later.

I have these 3 adult roosters without any white but I dont know their egg color.

This will take test mating. No way around it. All have good qualities. You need to know the best for the hens you plan to breed. Since none show parasitic white, again narrow to best 2 boys for your hens.

Then consider culling the 2 boys that may carry parasitic white. This should leave you with the 2 best roosters to continue to breed an even better group.

Always keep a back up. 2 if you can. Stuff happens when we least expect it.

Of course all of this is your decision. You have a good eye. I have a lot of confidence in your abilities.

 

[wrathsfarm]

This is great!

You don't have to keep all 10. Use what you know to narrow them down to maybe the best 2. Save those 2 for "just in case" for now. Don't have to breed them right now. But once they are gone, they are gone. You can always cull later.

This will take test mating. No way around it. All have good qualities. You need to know the best for the hens you plan to breed. Since none show parasitic white, again narrow to best 2 boys for your hens.

Then consider culling the 2 boys that may carry parasitic white. This should leave you with the 2 best roosters to continue to breed an even better group.

Always keep a back up. 2 if you can. Stuff happens when we least expect it.

Of course all of this is your decision. You have a good eye. I have a lot of confidence in your abilities.

I agree with you.... Well said.

 

[Punkybrewster]

This is great!

You don't have to keep all 10. Use what you know to narrow them down to maybe the best 2. Save those 2 for "just in case" for now. Don't have to breed them right now. But once they are gone, they are gone. You can always cull later.

This will take test mating. No way around it. All have good qualities. You need to know the best for the hens you plan to breed. Since none show parasitic white, again narrow to best 2 boys for your hens.

Then consider culling the 2 boys that may carry parasitic white. This should leave you with the 2 best roosters to continue to breed an even better group.

Always keep a back up. 2 if you can. Stuff happens when we least expect it.

Of course all of this is your decision. You have a good eye. I have a lot of confidence in your abilities.

I always value advice!
I will do this.

We are all at different stages of breeding.

I do not have the problem with narrow knock kneed Marans anymore. That whole problem is gone from what I see. I have no progeny from that issue.

Im beginning to see this as kind of a blessing starting over.

I get to regroup and go forward with better chooks and knowlege I can actually use to solve the faults I have. And a plan.

My faults from here on seem to be parasitic white, marbled/dark eyes.

Type is fixed, legs are fixed, u shape fixed, high tail fixed for now. Im sure it will still pop up on ocassion.

When I say fixed, I mean they are not presenting in this group of chooks.

I guess we will see what the pairings produce. I am looking forward to it.

 

[NanaK]

I guess we will see what the pairings produce. I am looking forward to it.

Looking forward to this too. You've already come a long way!

 

[wrathsfarm]

I'm hoping this year becomes a banner year for everyone here...

Let's do this.

What's everyone plans for the season ? You all know mine for the most part. Test hatch as many Marans as I can do.
But, I also want some Olives and Midnights. Just a couple each would be fine.
Id like to start selling hatching eggs but I really only have the 2 dark layers so I could/should start small and local with them and BCM x EE and BCM x BR.

And I'm hoping, really hoping to have a new color appear this year. If that happens I'll be all kinds of gah gah.

So what's your plans, hopes, future birds, experiments, anything...

Annnd GO!!

 

[Punkybrewster]

Y'all know my plans for Marans but I failed to mention Lemon Owlbeards are on order for May!

And a small group of Whiting true blue. I would like to try them for blue eggs. Also May.

The nice thing about these 2 are they do not have an American standard. Less stress.

I will be checking for standard on the Owlbeards Dutch standard though. Very exciting!

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

I'm hoping this year becomes a banner year for everyone here...

Let's do this.

What's everyone plans for the season ? You all know mine for the most part. Test hatch as many Marans as I can do.
But, I also want some Olives and Midnights. Just a couple each would be fine.
Id like to start selling hatching eggs but I really only have the 2 dark layers so I could/should start small and local with them and BCM x EE and BCM x BR.

And I'm hoping, really hoping to have a new color appear this year. If that happens I'll be all kinds of gah gah.

So what's your plans, hopes, future birds, experiments, anything...

Annnd GO!!

What do you mean about banners?

I’m waiting on the pure breed auctions to start because I need to ho and find myself a new silkie cock, and I thought I may as well treat myself with a good one. My budget for the silkies is maybe £150 for a trio, preferably £100. I sell their eggs throughout the year so I should make my money back from them.

As for marans, I need to keep on hatching some new pullets. Only two hens leaves me quite restricted, I have one blue copper pullet but I really need (and want) more to ensure Chanel’s dark eggs get passed on, I’d also like to see what here sons would look like.
I don’t think this will be this year, but I plan to get some English type dark cuckoos and cross them to my French BCMs to produce a line of English show quality Golden cuckoos with French blood and quality.

For the wellies, I’m less strategic, my main goal is to breed the black out of the boys’ necks and regain pullet numbers.

And for the Brahmas, I’ve just got to pray that Blue somehow manages to sire fertile eggs, but he’ll be three this year and has never had a single chick. If I see a Brahma I like at the auctions I might bid.

Also I can’t wait to hatch my first olive eggers. I have 5 CCLs in with Loki (BCM), Freddy (Wellie X Warren X Brahma) and Spot (Wellie X leghorn), so can’t wait to see all the shades of green I get. Only one legbar is laying right now, even though they are all 30 weeks old, and she already lays a greenish egg rather than blue. I also am going to hatch out some red sex link, white leghorn and cross breed eggs from the same pen to replace my oldest layers who I don’t expect to last another year or two.

And finally I plan to do some actual weeding so I can actually manage to get a good harvest from more crops than the potatoes!

They are all my plans for the chooks this year, my more elaborate plans like the golden cuckoos might have to wait a few years to be done properly, hopefully I can get them moved onto some land of my own eventually.