International Black Copper Marans Thread - Breeding to the SOP

[Bantambird]

mostly blue, though, very little silver on this one. i still really like how the blue turned out.

 

[wrathsfarm]

mostly blue, though, very little silver on this one. i still really like how the blue turned out.

She's gorgeous...congrats.

 

[NanaK]

@Bantambird Love the blue and she has a pretty face too!

 

[wrathsfarm]

A belated Happy Mothers day to all the moms out there. I hope you all had a very wonderful day.

Just a small update.. I framed in under the poop boards to separate the broodys. Joannie being head hen I don't worry too much about her but she was allowing the others to come in and lay and I needed to stop that. I've got 9 of Angels eggs under her. Momma is a lower ranking hen was getting bullied off her nest of iirc 9-10 of Betty's eggs, so needed to separate her also. Not quite done yet with her side, need to build a door. I built it so that both spots are interconnected but I can quickly separate both broods if things go sideways between the two.
This entailed having to move the remaining nest box from under there and luckily I had 2 extras floating around so fashioned the 3 on the wall.
The babies hit 6 weeks old yesterday and are basically fully integrated, with the typical normal behavior from the bigs.

I've been letting them out to free range an hour or so before lock up under watchful supervision and they haven't ventured too far from the run door.
Pics last night of them just before bed time.

 

[wrathsfarm]

I need another broody... Just saying.

 

[Tstraub]

A belated Happy Mothers day to all the moms out there. I hope you all had a very wonderful day.

View attachment 3830358

Just a small update.. I framed in under the poop boards to separate the broodys. Joannie being head hen I don't worry too much about her but she was allowing the others to come in and lay and I needed to stop that. I've got 9 of Angels eggs under her. Momma is a lower ranking hen was getting bullied off her nest of iirc 9-10 of Betty's eggs, so needed to separate her also. Not quite done yet with her side, need to build a door. I built it so that both spots are interconnected but I can quickly separate both broods if things go sideways between the two.
This entailed having to move the remaining nest box from under there and luckily I had 2 extras floating around so fashioned the 3 on the wall.
The babies hit 6 weeks old yesterday and are basically fully integrated, with the typical normal behavior from the bigs.

I've been letting them out to free range an hour or so before lock up under watchful supervision and they haven't ventured too far from the run door.
Pics last night of them just before bed time.
View attachment 3830356View attachment 3830355View attachment 3830357

All those single combs sure make it easy to tell the boys from the girls. Most of my chicks are olive Eggers with pea combs. About 1/2 also have beard feathers so they don’t grow big wattles either. So I’m still guessing on a few of mine.

 

[wrathsfarm]

All those single combs sure make it easy to tell the boys from the girls. Most of my chicks are olive Eggers with pea combs. About 1/2 also have beard feathers so they don’t grow big wattles either. So I’m still guessing on a few of mine.

Yes it does. I have a hard time with peas and rose and don't even start with Silkies. I love my Marans...

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

I need another broody... Just saying.

my two silkies who were not looking after the chicks have both gone broody. I think I’m gonna give one some silkie eggs and buy myself some cuckoo marans eggs.

If I get Cuckoo marans, I think this is my plan:

Grow the best cockerel and all the good pullets.

Introduce the pullets but not the cockerel.

Set of some DCM eggs fathered by Loki (maybe some BCMs too).

Grow up the best cockerel and pullets, allowing no squirrel tails.

When the DCM is ready, sell Loki and introduce the DCM.

Hatch BCM/BlCM (probably Chanel’s for her type) eggs fathered by the DCM.

Grow up the best cockerel and pullets, allowing no squirrel tails.

Replace the DCM with the best F1 cockerel and breed to the pullets from the opposite cross.

Grow up the best GCM F2 cockerels and pullets, cull Dark or incomplete cuckoos unless exceptional in type.

Now, the BCM/BlCM hens and the F1 hens can be used to breed GCM hens as I perfect them.

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

These are the parent stock of the eggs I’m looking at. Tails seem low (the English standard asks for high tails compared to the French standard, but not squirrel or anything like that), face seems good enough for me to work with and the type seems nice (Chanel’s genes will improve this further).

these are the pullets being produced, their tails seem a bit higher so I don’t know what’s going on there, they may be alert. Bodies seem long they just need to fatten up at the front.

Anyone’s input is welcome. Please point out any positive AND negatives I might not have spotted.

 

[wrathsfarm]

my two silkies who were not looking after the chicks have both gone broody. I think I’m gonna give one some silkie eggs and buy myself some cuckoo marans eggs.

If I get Cuckoo marans, I think this is my plan:

Grow the best cockerel and all the good pullets.

Introduce the pullets but not the cockerel.

Set of some DCM eggs fathered by Loki (maybe some BCMs too).

Grow up the best cockerel and pullets, allowing no squirrel tails.

When the DCM is ready, sell Loki and introduce the DCM.

Hatch BCM/BlCM (probably Chanel’s for her type) eggs fathered by the DCM.

Grow up the best cockerel and pullets, allowing no squirrel tails.

Replace the DCM with the best F1 cockerel and breed to the pullets from the opposite cross.

Grow up the best GCM F2 cockerels and pullets, cull Dark or incomplete cuckoos unless exceptional in type.

Now, the BCM/BlCM hens and the F1 hens can be used to breed GCM hens as I perfect them.

That's a great plan...

View attachment 3831859View attachment 3831858These are the parent stock of the eggs I’m looking at. Tails seem low (the English standard asks for high tails compared to the French standard, but not squirrel or anything like that), face seems good enough for me to work with and the type seems nice (Chanel’s genes will improve this further).View attachment 3831860these are the pullets being produced, their tails seem a bit higher so I don’t know what’s going on there, they may be alert. Bodies seem long they just need to fatten up at the front.

Anyone’s input is welcome. Please point out any positive AND negatives I might not have spotted.

What are the specifics/traits your looking for in the face?

Both parents look really nice to me, btw. I like their tails and body type also. The big man stands tall and proud.

I sure wish @Chooks man was here to give his thoughts.